disaster strikes how best to organize relief

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).


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.


Landfalling NY Hurricanes

In 1821, when a major hurricane made a direct hit on Manhattan


August 23, 1893, when a terrifying Category 2 hit at night.


‘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.


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.


12

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.


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.


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.


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.


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


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)



September 11, 2001

And Everyday transit disruptions


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.


NYC First responders have their role

All Disasters are Local – NY Home Rule


The State and Feds have their support role


NY State Guard

But the populace has a bigger role

Becoming Resilient


Youth and Adults Prepared


Lifesaving Courses

ARC/GNY trains more than 125,000

people annually in Lifesaving Skills

including CPR, First Aid, AED, Care

Giving and Aquatics.


Preparedness Training &

Information

ARC/GNY provides

emergency preparedness

training to more than

140,000 people per year.


Sales of Preparedness

Equipment & Supplies

•Go-Bags

•Safety Flashlights

•Emergency Radios

•Blankets

•First Aid Kits

•Manuals

•And More!


Training with Public and Partner Groups Human Services Council and ARC/GNY

Table Top Exercise


http://www.fema.gov/index.shtm

http://www.aafny.org/default.asp

http://www.fpwa.org/85anniversary.htm

http://www.hispanicfederation.org/index.html

http://www.ujafedny.org/site/c.ggLUI0OzGpF/b.1409301/k.BCC8/Home.htm

Thank youContact:

• [email protected]



Webpages:

• http://mickmaurer.com

• http://disaster-exercises.typepad.com/my-blog/


mailto:[email protected]




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disaster strikes how best to organize relief

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