disaster strikes how best to organize relief
DESCRIPTION
April 14th, 2010 panel "Disaster Strikes - How Best to Organize Relief?" at the 2010 National Convention of the National Action Network.TRANSCRIPT
Disaster Strikes - How Best to Organize Relief?"
Dr. Mick Maurer, MHA- Director, Disaster Training and Exercises - ARC/GNY- Adjunct Assistant Professor – NYU Dept. of Applied Psychology- Adjunct Professor - MCNY School of Management,
MPA in Emergency and Disaster Management degree program
Definitions
• The terms ‘resilience’ and ‘vulnerability’ are opposite sides of the same coin, but both are relative terms.
• One has to ask what individuals, communities and systems are vulnerable or resilient to, and to what extent.
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Vulnerability• Is the susceptibility to physical or emotional injury or attack
• In relation to hazards and disasters, vulnerability is a concept that links the relationship that people have with their environment to social forces and institutions and the cultural values that sustain and contest them.
• “The concept of vulnerability expresses the multidimensionality of disasters by focusing attention on the totality of relationships in a given social situation which constitute a condition that, in combination with environmental forces, produces a disaster” (Bankoff et al. 2004: 11).
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Resilient - RESILIENCE• Adj. - to jump back
• Marked by ability to withstand shock without permanent deformation or rupture
• Defined as a dynamic process that individuals exhibit positive behavioral adaptation when they encounter significant adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or even significant sources of stress
• Is the positive capacity of people to cope with stress and catastrophe
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A Seriously injured victims • bereaved family members
B Victims with high exposure to trauma • victims evacuated from the disaster zone
C
Bereaved extended family members and friends • rescue and recovery workers
with prolonged exposure • medical examiner's office staff • service providers
directly involved with death notification and bereaved families
D
People who lost homes, jobs, pets, valued possessions • mental health providers
• clergy, chaplains, spiritual leaders • emergency health care providers • school
personnel involved with survivors, families, of victims • media personnel
EGovernment officials • groups that identify with target victim group • businesses
with financial impacts
F Community-at-large
Population Exposure model
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Natural vs. Human-Caused Disasters
Source: CMHS. Psychosocial Issues for Children and Families in Disasters. A Guide for the Primary Care Physician. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Publication No. (SMA) 96-3077, 1996.
Natural Human-Caused
Causes Forces of nature Human error, malfunctioning
Examples Earthquakes,
hurricanes, floods
Airplane crashes, major chemical leaks, nuclear
reactor accidents
Blame No one Person, government, business
Scope Various locations Locations may be inaccessible to rescuers, unfamiliar
to survivors, little advance warning
Post-
disaster
Distress
High Higher, often felt by family members not involved in
actual disaster
NYC is Vulnerable to hurricanes and nor’easters
October 9, 1804 — Heavy snow falls in Eastern New York peaking at 30 inches (75 cm) as a hurricane tracks northward along the East Coast and becomes extratropical, as cold air fed into the system.
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Landfalling NY Hurricanes
In 1821, when a major hurricane made a direct hit on Manhattan
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August 23, 1893, when a terrifying Category 2 hit at night.
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‘Long Island Express’ of 1938
• With 183-mile-per-hour winds. At the time, Long Island was not a densely populated suburban sprawl.
• The same hurricane today would cause incredible havoc.
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NYC is Vulnerable to earthquakes
• In December of 1811, the largest earthquake (6.8) ever recorded in American History started. This earthquake, called the New Madrid Earthquake
• A 5.0 tumbler in 1737 knocked down chimneys in New York City and was felt from Boston to Philadelphia.
• A magnitude-5.5 quake in 1884 did similar damage in a wider region around New York. Another quake in this range struck in 1783.
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St. Louis 1.5-2 Million
Rural Pop.8-9 million160–200 Cities
Memphis1-1.5 Million
MO
IL IN
KY
TN
ALMS
AR
New Madrid Seismic Zone Catastrophic Disaster Planning
The Response Challenges
Approximately 12 million people at high risk
• No notice event not commonly recognized
• Consequences eclipse Katrina
• Large impact area - 126,575 Sq Miles
• 44M people in eight-State region -(12M in high risk area)
• Multiple jurisdictions with multiple governors
• Significant infrastructure impacts
• Response problems during multiple aftershocks
• Estimated building loss -- $70B
• Severe weather & significant evacuation issues
Directly Impacted States
Indirectly Impacted States
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NYC is Not prepared in the way Chile and California are
• A 6.0 quake could shake the city's buildings with nearly the intensity of the 6.8 quake in Kobe.
• Inexplicably, the city dragged its feet about adding earthquake-mitigating requirements to its building codes until the mid-1990s.
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Manhattan Island is crisscrossed by earthquake faults
• July 18, 1937.--An earthquakestrong enough to rattle windows was felt just before midnight in the borough of Queens
• Indian Point nuclear power plants, 24 miles north of the city, sit astride the previously unidentified intersection of two active seismic zones.
• A 2003 analysis by The New York City Area Consortium for Earthquake Loss Mitigation put the cost of quakes at Magnitude 6 in the metro New York area at $39 billion to $197 billion.
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But NYC Is As Vulnerable as Haiti was
Much of Manhattan sits on a deep layer of soft, post-Ice Age sediment over extremely hard rock, a juxtaposition of geological extremes that bodes ominously.
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Recent incidents Only magnified
The generally well-designed towers in the Manhattan's skyline most likely would survive a 6.0, but the unreinforced masonry townhouses where most residents live might not fare as well.
A 1989 study estimated that a quake would cause more than 130 simultaneous blazes, which could put the fire department under severe strain.
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New York City Risks & Probability Matrix
Severity of
Outcome
Probability
Hurricane
in Atlantic/Gulf CoastEarthquake in NYC
Hurricane in Metro NYC
Regional floods
Indian Point Power Plant
Dirty Bomb
Pandemic Flu
Low
Low High
High
All Level I and II
Transportation
Incident
Power Outage
Large fire
Suicide Bombing
Transportation Incident
Building Collapse
Building Fires
Water main
breaks
Evacuation
orders
3,000/yr.
Last 25 years:
4 Catastrophic
and 10 Major
Disasters Level III
Level IV and V
In Greater New York
WE RESPOND TO 3,000 LOCAL
DISASTERS EACH YEAR
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CRANE COLLAPSESMarch & May 2008 and March 2010
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FLIGHT 1549 January 2009
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Terrorism Trends
Mumbai, India (2006)Toronto, Canada (2006)Possible bomb attack plan on Canadian soil
Belsan, Russia (2004) London, U.K. (2005)Madrid, Spain (2004)
London, U.K. (2006)
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September 11, 2001
And Everyday transit disruptions
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You are on your own and need Five days food and water for every family member
But Don’t wait for the Lone Ranger and Tonto! Or for the Buffalo Soldiers to ride to the Rescue.
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NYC First responders have their role
All Disasters are Local – NY Home Rule
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The State and Feds have their support role
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NY State Guard
But the populace has a bigger role
Becoming Resilient
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Youth and Adults Prepared
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Lifesaving Courses
ARC/GNY trains more than 125,000
people annually in Lifesaving Skills
including CPR, First Aid, AED, Care
Giving and Aquatics.
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Preparedness Training &
Information
ARC/GNY provides
emergency preparedness
training to more than
140,000 people per year.
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Sales of Preparedness
Equipment & Supplies
•Go-Bags
•Safety Flashlights
•Emergency Radios
•Blankets
•First Aid Kits
•Manuals
•And More!
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Training with Public and Partner Groups Human Services Council and ARC/GNY
Table Top Exercise
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Thank youContact:
Webpages:
• http://mickmaurer.com
• http://disaster-exercises.typepad.com/my-blog/
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