Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
ability to cope with a disaster. It also helps create pressure from the public to change
attitudes, puts pressure upon local politicians to improve readiness, and encourages
local residents to identify and perhaps undertake some of their own risk reduction
policies, rather than simply assuming that higher levels of government will solve
all their problems
At a local level the first line of response in the case of a threatening natural
hazard involves the
government agencies
, principally the basic public security and
safety services—fire brigades, ambulance services and police—as well as specialist
services, such as firefighting teams in forested areas, or avalanche recovery teams
in alpine areas. Questions must be asked as to whether these personnel are adequate
in numbers and skills to cope with extreme events. In developed countries there has
been greater attention to the need to provide specialist training to cope with large
scale emergencies from natural or human causes, as seen in texts such as those
available for nurses (Veenema
2012
). Additional trained help is often provided from
within existing government departments, neighbouring authorities, armed forces—
whether reservists or permanent military—and national emergency organizations.
Specialists also provide advice on how to deal with disasters from human techno-
logical failures, whether toxic chemical spills or radiation leaks, and are able to as-
sess what potential hazards exist in the local area, or from transport passing through
the towns. Several key questions need to be answered. Is there an efficient and
effective command and communication structure able to take the lead in organizing
response, or is this delegated to an existing organization, such as the fire brigade,
that has the responsibility to lead and co-ordinate the emergency response? What
plans and resources exist to warn people of the degree of risk from the hazard and
are they understood? For example, in flood-prone areas there is often a three stage
system of Alert (possible flooding)—Warning (probable floods)—Severe Warning
(threat to life), while sirens are often used as alerts in earthquake or tsunami prone
areas. But are these alerts easily understood by the population and do people under-
stand what they need to do in such situations through emergency drills? Are there
effective plans and available public transport to evacuate people to shelters and
safer areas if necessary? How will this be implemented to avoid panic, and has the
population been alerted to the plans? Is there sufficient information on the location
of the disabled and elderly who need help to be moved? Are the local supplies of
food, water, mobile power and sanitation sources enough to cope with the demands
from what will be a distressed and disorientated population? If local supplies are
not available, are there regional storage places with supplies to cater for disasters
that might occur anywhere in the region? Are these supplies frequently checked and
renewed to make sure they are still useable? Are there enough safe shelters or emer-
gency accommodation, both in temporary or permanent structures, to cope with the
displaced population? Is there an effective National Emergency Organization to
provide extra assistance in personnel, supplies and subsequent relief? How does this
get involved and integrated with local organizations so that there is a single chain of
command and help, rather than agencies duplicating or disputing with one another?
How can extra relief be obtained from existing international relief operations and
various NGOs and how can these work in co-ordination? Are the local airfields,
