Emergency Preparedness For Disaster Management Cycle

Disaster Management Cycle

Discuss about the Emergency Preparedness for Disaster Management Cycle.

Dangertown experiences the preparedness stage in the disaster management cycle. Dangertown has experienced severe rain due to which the banks have burst. Housing developments on the flood plains have worsened the effects of flooding. Moreover, previous floods in the current year contaminated the town’s water. The town is prone to floods due to which there is a need to achieve a satisfactory level of preparedness or readiness to respond to emergency situations (Whybark, 2015).

Figure 1: Disaster Management Cycle

Source: (Whybark, 2015)

From the given scenario, it is analyzed that Dangertown faces several risks as the town has extensive refinery production capacity.

Injury or illness – With the exposure of Hydrogen Sulfide in the air, the people in the town shall be exposed to toxic gases that could lead to life-threatening situations if not handled effectively (Lim et al., 2016).

Fatality – Much of the industrial installation in the Dangertown Refinery is old and there have been a number of accidents and deaths in the previous years.

Critical Facilities- The toxic emissions of the gas would also lead to closure of schools and offices as the people in the community would complain of nausea and headaches (Smith 2013).

Lifeline- Hydrogen sulfide gas may mix in the flood water thereby contaminating it for few weeks.

Property damage- The property such as homes and corporate buildings can be damaged due to floods (Smith 2013).

Environmental impact- The gas is highly flammable and produces toxic gases when burnt causing severe environmental damage (Smith 2013).

Hazard	Impacts	Likelihood	Consequence Severity	Total
Health	Business
Fatality	Due to Hydrogen Sulfide gas explosion in the oil and gas refinery, the deaths have been caused people previously. The gas is highly flammable and with increased or uncontrolled concentration of H2S in the air, it can lead to further deaths. The effects depend on the level and time of exposure to the gas. Increased concentrations lead to death. The flood also has a chance of creating a mudslide as the mountains lie at the western edge of the down that can tragically cause deaths (Osha.gov, 2016).	5	2	–	10
Injury or Illness	In the previous times, the leak of gas has affected the community. The industrial installation in Dangertown Refinery is old and is prone to accidents. The illness depends on the level of concentration of the toxic gas and there are possible impacts such as nausea, conjunctivitis, loss of smell, paralysis, knockdown or airway problems (Osha.gov, 2016). Floods can cause water-borne as well as vector-borne diseases such as typhoid, malaria, yellow fever and various others (Who.int, 2016).	6	3	–	18
Critical Facilities	Critical facilities such as schools would be affected as the air quality is hampered. The children would get nausea and headache as the air would be unfit to breathe. The gas is colorless and odorless due to which the gas cannot be detected easily. The presence of the gas can be felt with the deteriorating health (Miller, 2015).	4	–	2	8
Lifelines	The chemical property of hydrogen sulfide allows the gas to dissolve in water.  As the gas can dissolve in water, it has a risk of mixing in the water pipelines or water supply from which the town receives water.  The town is prone to floods which too causes hindrance in the water and power supply. The power can be interrupted for a few days while water supply can be interrupted for a few weeks (Velasco, Cabello, & Russo, 2015).	4	–	3	12
Property Damage	Floods cause damage to property in the form of damage to homes and businesses.  In the given case scenario, Dangertown has ongoing housing developments on the flood plains thereby worsening the effects of flooding. Floods affect the existing paved streets, roads, buildings, vehicles and land. The primary and secondary effects may result in damage to bridges, canals, sewerage systems, roadways, and transport infrastructure. The town would suffer from land infertility as a major issue due to erosion of top soil (Penning-Rowsell et al., 2012).	4	–	1	4
Environmental Impact	Floods impact the natural environment negatively as it causes loss of biodiversity and wildlife in the flooded region. The habitat potential and food present in the ecosystem is damaged. Riverbank erosion shall cause degradation of sedimentation. The local infrastructure is also affected thereby hampering the landscape. The emission of hydrogen sulfide also leads to delirious effects on plant survival and growth (Lisjak et al., 2016).	5	–	3	15
Economic and Social Impact	Flooding of areas leads to several socio-economic negative impacts. Floods lead to damage of human life, livestock, crop destruction, deterioration of health condition and various others. The commutation to places within the town becomes difficult as there are hindrances in vehicles. The costs of removal of property and increased vulnerability would increase living cost. The people might have to relocate thereby suffering mass migration. The flood victims would also be psychologically affected as it can deeply affect their children and family. The economic losses can traumatize and cause stress (Rojas, Feyen, & Watkiss, 2013).	4	–	2	8

Frequency
6			Injury or Illness
5		Fatality	Environ-mental Impact
4	Property Damage	Critical Facilities Economic and Social Impact	Lifelines
3
2
1
Consequence	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8

As discussed in the previous sections, floods can cause severe financial and economic losses. The above risk profile indicates that the people of Dangertown must be prepared for any emergency. Instead of putting emphasis on designing safety into the system from the beginning, the major emphasis instead is placed on recovery from adverse events or investigating them after they occur. Six steps can be followed to reduce risk for people in Dangertown (Ericson, 2015). Firstly, there is a need to understand the risk. The people must be educated about the types of risk. Secondly, a scheme must be planned to manage the identified risk and hazard. Next, the property in the risky areas must be surveyed. Fourthly, design and specification must be compiled for risk management (Chen & Wu, 2015).

However, a few risk reduction measures can be adopted by the oil and gas refineries to prevent spills:

Identification of Hazards

A systems approach can be followed for improving or enhancing the learning process in the industry. The industries can conduct a hazard analysis called HAZOP (Ericson, 2015). The technological and operational design must be improved for maintenance and performance audits. The maintenance and safety equipment must be standardized. The company safety management system must be enhanced. In this given scenario, the factory had a faulty valve that led to toxic gas leakage. The factories must conduct an overall assessment and audit of physical structures. The entire factory must be repaired and no faulty valves must be present. The safety engineers must be integrated into operational decision making. The industry must conduct strong safety programs and engineers must advise the management for both short-term and long-term engineering designs. New safety implications of decisions on operations must be made. The organizational culture of the organizations must be enhanced. The management commitment to safety must be legitimately followed (Ericson, 2015).

Flood prevention is necessary as it causes severe damage. For reducing risk of floods, warnings and watch notice must be provided so that the people get sufficient time to evacuate the regions. The management must not wait for the catastrophic event to happen. The weather conditions must be regularly checked at locations of high-risk. The weather reports must be monitored and broadcasted in the local news media (Ericson, 2015). The communities must also educate the people on the methods and commutation to evacuate the place. Strategic designation of such flood ways, with policies that compensate people who live within them, can be critical to reducing the damage of massive floods. A big piece of this measure includes the protection, restoration and reconnection of floodplains, which is some of the richest habitat in the world. This obviously has the additional benefit of letting floodplains do what they do best: take in water when the river is high (Chen et al., 2012).

According to the risks identified in the risk profile form, there is a need to create a plan for managing hazards as the risks involved in the scenario can cause disruption in human, economic and environmental forces. There is a need to reduce the intensity of the risk through community awareness and protection of vulnerable structures. The emergency plan for risk management can help in guiding people during an emergency. The planning process shall help in managing resources such as food supplies, equipment and training personnel. The emergency plan shall help in preventing fatalities and injuries, protecting the environment, accelerating resumption of normal operations and reducing damage to properties. The planning process involves a health and safety committee that shall help in efficient communication, periodic drills and ensure adequate performance (Kim, 2014).

References

Chen, J., Guo, S., Li, Y., Liu, P., & Zhou, Y. (2012). Joint Operation and Dynamic Control of Flood Limiting Water Levels for Cascade Reservoirs. Water Resour Manage, 27(3), 749-763. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11269-012-0213-z

Chen, S. & Wu, C. (2015). Annual landslide risk and effectiveness of risk reduction measures in Shihmen watershed, Taiwan. Landslides, 13(3), 551-563. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10346-015-0588-z

Ericson, C. (2015). Hazard analysis techniques for system safety. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley-Interscience.

Kim, H. (2014). Learning from UK disaster exercises: policy implications for effective emergency preparedness. Disasters, 38(4), 846-857. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/disa.12084

Lim, E., Mbowe, O., Lee, A., & Davis, J. (2016). Effect of environmental exposure to hydrogen sulfide on central nervous system and respiratory function: a systematic review of human studies.International Journal Of Occupational And Environmental Health, 22(1), 80-90. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10773525.2016.1145881

Lisjak et al.,. (2016). Hydrogen sulfide: environmental factor or signalling molecule? – PubMed – NCBI. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 29 May 2016, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23347018

Miller, E. (2015). The trouble with Casey – Boulder Weekly. Boulder Weekly. Retrieved 29 May 2016, from https://www.boulderweekly.com/news/the-trouble-with-casey/

Osha.gov,. (2016). Safety and Health Topics | Hydrogen Sulfide – Hazards. Osha.gov. Retrieved 29 May 2016, from https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/hydrogensulfide/hazards.html

Penning-Rowsell, E., Yanyan, W., Watkinson, A., Jiang, J., & Thorne, C. (2012). Socioeconomic scenarios and flood damage assessment methodologies for the Taihu Basin, China. Journal Of Flood Risk Management, 6(1), 23-32. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-318x.2012.01168.x

Rojas, R., Feyen, L., & Watkiss, P. (2013). Climate change and river floods in the European Union: Socio-economic consequences and the costs and benefits of adaptation. Global Environmental Change, 23(6), 1737-1751. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.08.006

Smith, K. (2013). Environmental hazards. London: Routledge.

Velasco, M., Cabello, À., & Russo, B. (2015). Flood damage assessment in urban areas. Application to the Raval district of Barcelona using synthetic depth damage curves. Urban Water Journal, 13(4), 426-440. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1573062x.2014.994005

Who.int,. (2016). WHO | Flooding and communicable diseases fact sheet. Who.int. Retrieved 29 May 2016, from https://www.who.int/hac/techguidance/ems/flood_cds/en/

Whybark, D. (2015). Co-creation of improved quality in disaster response and recovery. Int J Qual Innov, 1(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40887-015-0001-y