Disasters, especially natural hazards are a major problem worldwide and a serious threat to sustainable development. Their impacts are diverse; as well as loss of life, injury and disease and the destruction of property and other assets. Disasters can also cause social and economic disruption, loss of infrastructure and other services and damage to the environment. The 20th century witnessed an increase in disaster losses and this has continued its upward trend to the current century. This necessitated for a comprehensive management tool to reduce the damage caused by these hazards on humankind. The evolution of disaster management field in the Southern African region over the past few years has seen a progressively wider and deeper understanding …show more content…
Other studies have been conducted studying one variable like floods or fire focusing mostly on communities living in the informal settlements. These studies have concluded that in the event of any disaster the communities especially the poor communities suffer the greatest impact, most therefore strategies like intensive training should be done so that they (communities) are empowered to prevent disasters before they occur. “……..Disasters have inflicted a huge cost on human, materials and physical resources, and degradation to the environment. Furthermore, disasters have negative physical impacts (which include casualties and property damage) and social impacts (which include psycho-social, socio-demographic, socioeconomic, and socio-political). A study review of literature has revealed that the development of disaster risk management strategies ought to be undertaken before the event strikes. Moreover, disaster management requires effective community-based strategies which will include programmes and measures to prevent, prepare, mitigate and recover from the impacts of disasters (Ngcamu 2011: …show more content…
van Niekerk (2011:16) on a study whether disaster management is an academic rhetoric or practical reality concluded that it is a practical reality, and should be used as a “vehicle” to reduce disaster risks to all spheres of government, and not only to one government entity. Disaster reduction policies and measures need to be implemented, with a twofold aim: to enable societies to be resilient to hazards while ensuring that development efforts do not increase vulnerability to these
HealthSouth: The Wagon to Disaster Aaron Beam tells all in his novel entitled, “HealthSouth: The Wagon to Disaster” surrounding the fraud case amounting to $2.8 billion. Beam is the co-founder and Chief Financial Officer of HealthSouth whereas his partner-in-crime Richard Scrushy, also the co-founder, is the CEO. Beam was reluctant to work for Scrushy since he was not sure if the man was plain brilliant or just plain trouble. Nonetheless, he decided to work with him since he needed the job.
The disaster of hurricane Katrina identified so many flaws in FEMA. Some of these flaws were due to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 deviated a lot of money from FEMA and weakened its ability to respond adequately to the disaster of Katrina. As you stated this bought on many changes to FEMA, which were now being addressed under the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA).
High winds along with high profile vehicles were a recipe for disaster Tuesday morning in the Antelope Valley. At about 10:15 a.m. all exits to Mojave from State Route 58 were closed to all traffic. Just after 10:30 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol, all northbound State Route 14 lanes from West Avenue D, between Lancaster and Rosamond were closed as gusts of nearly 80 miles per hour wreaked havoc causing several big rigs to topple over. Fire officials said Tuesday morning that a total of 14 were overturned south of Mojave and four overturned big rigs on State Route 58 and State Route 14.
Community health nursing is directed toward improving the health outcomes of the community through the prevention of disease as well as handling crises in the case of a natural disaster. In the following discussion, I will describe the stages to preparing for a tornado because of the potential of happening my local area and the public nurse’s role during each of the stages. Managing a disaster starts with the first stage which is the prevention phase. The demographics of local area need to be identified by trending the vulnerable groups so that extra attention and care can be provided.
Although storms like Hurricane Katrina occur once in every one hundred years, being prepared and storing water, food, medicines, and other supplies keep families ready for any disaster. Natural disasters can leave communities without power for days and even for weeks. Being prepared in the event of severe weather and disasters like Hurricane Katrina, can reduce fear and anxiety that accompanies disasters. A crucial element of self-sufficient living is survival. Our government does not have all the resources to be totally prepared to take care of the vast numbers of people in a disaster.
Natural disasters like earthquakes or hurricanes sometimes cause extreme environments to change, in spite of the fact that most extreme environments have always been this way. In addition to the aforementioned extreme environments, poverty and natural disturbances, can also qualify as extreme environments. Extreme conditions are especially deadly and leave residents vulnerable to the derogatory effects of residing in them. These ideas are very prevalent in the article “In their Own Words: Resilience among Haitian Survivors of the 2010 Earthquake” as they experienced trauma from the earthquake that occurred in 2010. In the article “In their own words: Resilience among Haitian Survivors of the 2010 Earthquake '' by Guitele J. Rahill et al.
These natural disasters can drive distrust within communities. For example, in an analysis of natural disaster data, evidence was found by Dawn Brancati and Rakhi Bhavnani that “...natural disasters result in a high likelihood of conflict because victims compete with one another for scarce resources such as relief aid, housing and so forth” (Kang 1-2). Due to the scarcity of essential resources, those affected are fighting over them promoting conflict within a community. Instead of connecting, the people are competing against each other to survive. However, the use of the resources in a more efficient way can help to reduce fighting over resources.
Social determinants have become an influential component of innovation within traditional areas of research, from overall health of communities to disaster management. Starting in the 1980’s, researchers began to understand that social contexts, both micro and macro, have a significant impact on both individuals and the community as a whole when discussing response and resilience to disasters. After the chaos of Hurricane Katrina, after the sheer difference of separate populations ability to cope during the disaster area came to light, researchers began to elucidate the social factors which affect disaster response and ways to assess those for future disasters. The three largest areas of concerns that should be considered are social stratification and class, race and
Danny Glover once stated, “When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf and the floodwaters rose and tore through New Orleans, it did not turn the region into a Third World country…it revealed one” (Glover). As the winds reached speeds of 100 to 140 miles per hour, water crashed against the levees, which in turn broke them, and flooded 80% of Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina’s peak was a category five, but disintegrated into a category three just before landfall. The third deadliest hurricane is what Hurricane Katrina achieved.
The city of Vincennes is situated in the state of Indiana in Knox County, Indiana, United States, on the lower Wabash River. Its coordinates are 38.6783º North and 87.5161º West. It was originally established in 1732, and at one time was a French settlement. The population of the city of Vincennes has about 18,239 people with a density of 2,486.2/sq mi. The median household income was estimated to be $34.591 in 2014.
Marino makes it known that understanding this relationship is essential in distinguishing how Shishmaref citizens have become a vulnerable community. In fact, these relationships along with historical conditions, influenced how residents in that specific community experienced disasters. In this section, the differences between a hazard and vulnerability are also highlighted to determine their interconnection with disasters; for a disaster to take place both must be present. Marino strategically follows up with chapter three to show the link between climate change, vulnerability, and disasters. The purpose of this chapter was to demonstrate how ecological changes can be contributed to the vulnerability of Shishmaref.
Emergency management describes the process of preparing for disasters, responding to their occurrence and putting in place both structural and nonstructural measures to mitigate against them. Emergency management has come a long way in terms of evolution in the United States of America. In terms of evolution, there have been a number of changes with evidence in shift from state to federal and local involvement in disaster management. This paper will thus discuss the evolution of emergency management as well as the lessons that have come as a result of this evolution. The evolution can be traced back to the biblical times, Moses himself tried to manage floods by splitting the Red Sea (George et al, p. 1).
Loss of life, property damage, economic disruption and environmental degradation all play a part in these devastating events, leaving an aftereffect with devastating challenges for these affected communities in their wake. This essay will examine some underlying social and economic factors which contribute to increased vulnerability while simultaneously challenging adaptive capacity among regional communities when facing bushfires. There are various social and economic factors that make regional communities more prone to bushfire impacts, such as population density. Many regional communities with relatively few residents distributed over an extensive geographical area make emergency response harder as emergency personnel must cover large areas with limited resources; additionally, their spread-out nature makes it more challenging for individuals seeking information or support during bushfire
Homework 7 Gaven D. Crosby Pennsylvania College of Technology Homework 7 This paper will discuss the way that the Mississippi River, and the New Deal have affected emergency management. The Mississippi River is a river that floods quite often, almost every year. The lower portion floods more than the upper portions, and affects more people. This is due to the terrain of the areas surrounding the lower Mississippi.
Though the community only has a small effect on the overall picture, they are the most vulnerable to all disasters and threats. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the community to prepare one another and assess the potential risks and hazards within their community in addition to what steps are needed to address the issues. It is this preemptive response and planning, especially in locations with historically reoccurring hazards that reduce the disaster effects and overall cost. This community-based effort conducted by community groups has the, “potential to make a significant and long-lasting contributions to reducing local vulnerability and strengthening adaptive capacities” (Allen, 2006, p. 97). One example of a community-organized group is Community Emergency Response Teams or CERT.