Tsunami: Crisis Management

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Disaster Emergency Management Systems (DEMS)
Planning For Responding To Medical Emergencies
Training and Exercising for Effective and the role of the Media
Works Cited

Introduction

To reduce the effects and minimize possible dangers and losses as was experienced in the 2004 Tsunami, all organizations and societies will need to be prepared for possible disasters and emergencies and create systems that should deal with these disasters and emergencies. The saving of lives during a disaster and emergency incident will depend on the proper coordination of the rescue team, delivery of the right skills to the scene which can only be achieved through the proper preparation before the disaster happens. In the UK there are structures that enhance and ensure the adequacy of infrastructure to deliver effective SAR and which are in a frequent state of readiness. The functions are to receive any calls of distress, communicate between various agencies that are involved in rescue operations, and deliver survivors to safety. These functions are shared between the various government departments, the military, statutory emergency services (includes the police, the fire department, and the ambulance services), the volunteers, and charitable organizations like the Red Cross. The police department is responsible for the coordination of the inland disaster response.

A person or body is appointed to assess the risk of an occurring emergency, and this person or body should ensure that any measures are taken to prevent the emergency from occurring, should work on controlling and mitigating the effects, and taking any other action that may be deemed necessary according to the situation at hand. The body or person is also responsible for informing the public and warning them if it is found necessary.

Disaster Emergency Management Systems (DEMS)

Organisations should implement strategies that will minimize risks at all costs, if a disaster strikes, including the use of Information Technology which should be used to provide information to all the stakeholders at all times. The organisation should take a cost benefit analysis balancing the risks management costs with the opportunity cost if no preventive action was taken.

The organisations, the government and other relevant and appointed authorities should at first come up with tsunami and earthquake warning centres. This will be made possible by working in conjunction with the geologists, hydrologists and the metrological departments and a team to coordinate the disaster Emergency management system should be set up.

Evaluation of internal and external factors

There are several procedures in setting up an effective DEMS. This should start by evaluating the internal and external factors that may affect the plan. External factors to be considered include the natural environment, the seasonal weather conditions. Tsunamis are caused by the movement on the ocean floor which may caused by an earthquake, a volcanic eruption or a landslide under the water (Haddow, 83). It is therefore becomes necessary to understand the geology of the region in order to measure the risk of a tsunami occurring. Internal factors include the community and the social attitude of the local community, and how they react and respond to Disasters and Emergencies. The organisation should learn this attitude from the history and how they have previously responded to an emergency or disaster in the past. The cooperation of the city designers will be necessary because the layout of the town or city is important, in planning for the accessibility routes and the sanitation designs of the town. They also provide the street layout, the population density, accessibility to railway lines and motorways. The existing laws and regulations are important as the plans will have to accommodate governmental factors and the local governmental regulations as well as understand the legal constraints so as to comply with these requirements and follow any advice the regulations may provide. In planning for the DEMS it is important to know the emergency and medical services contacts and learn their efficiencies, including the existence of voluntary organisations, the Red Cross, St. Johns Ambulance. Other internal factors include the designs of the buildings and the accessibilities to available escape routes, the available staffs’ perceived behaviours and how they respond to new information.

Establishment of Disaster and Emergency Policy

The second procedure is to establish a Disaster and Emergency Policy for the organisation or society (Tullo, 9). This should start with a statement of policy showing the managements and the authority’s commitment to the plan. There should be arrangements of how the organisation should react in case of a major incident as required by the Management of Health and safety at work Regulations 1999 (as amended 2003). First aid availability should be guaranteed including the training of first aiders, an evaluation of emergency equipments required should be done. The DEMS should be planned in such a way that it is easy to work with the police, fire department, ambulances and Red Cross. A plan of how to handle the media and the pressure from them should be planned.

Disasters and emergencies organization

The next step would be to organise for Disasters and Emergencies. This will include effective communication of the policies to the involved personnel and bodies. The information should also be relayed to everyone in the organisation or in case of a community to everyone but only on a need to know basis. This can be done through pamphlets, where the information should be clear, and user friendly, non technical terms and if possible should be presented in pictorial forms. The plan should then be communicated to the media, local authority, and emergency services. The transmission of information can be done electronically. There should be an allowance for the recipients of this information to give feedback. An awareness day possibly, twice in a year, should be observed with training to as many people as possible, with the objective of at least each individual being made aware of the minimum standards.

Disaster and emergency planning

The next process would be Disaster and emergency planning. This involves the risk assessment of a potential major incident actually happening and a consequent contingency planning. This requires first, the measurement of the probability and the severity of the major incident occurring, and then a plan on how to respond accordingly. It requires planning with an assumption of a worst case scenario that is the major incident will actually occur. This identifies where and what would be affected and prioritise on the most serious and that which would have a more serious effects. For example in case of a Tsunami, this would most probably affect the sanitary systems, transport of food and medical supplies, electricity and power lines would be affected. But in this case priority should be given on clearing the roads and railway line to ensure smooth transportation of medical and food and other emergency requirements. For each assumption a solution should be developed as well as carry out a cost benefit analysis. There should be controlled testing to ensure smooth implementation. The plan should be updated and reviewed for any legal or insurance effects. During the event, coordination is of key importance, and people should be advised to follow the instructions of those in command as well as use their own self initiative as long as it does not contradict the given instructions. After the event, it is important to investigate the plans which require cooperation with the relevant investigating authorities. The handling of the media after the disaster will need to be handled.

Monitoring of disaster and emergency plans

After the disaster and planning the next procedure is to monitor the disaster and emergency plans. This involves assessing and evaluating, the efficiency and the strengths of the Disaster Emergency Plans, identify any weaknesses and loopholes in the previous plan and rectifying them (Moore and Lakha, 104). The assessment should both be proactive and reactive. Reactive assessment should include assessing the fatalities and realizing that the reality is that it overwhelms the plans. It also requires a brainstorming process to investigate what went wrong with the plan, using any audio or visual recordings that would assist on how the plan was being implemented where and how it went wrong.

The final process in setting the DEMS is the Audit review process. This will assess the whole DEMS process and identify those areas that need improvement. The Audit can be carried out either by in-house internal or external consultants. The audit procedure should be proactive and should be holistic, systemic and systematic.

Planning For Responding To Medical Emergencies

At the scene of the major incident, the priority should be on preservation of life, prevention of further loss of life, to relief suffering, protection of property, protection of the property, restoration of normalcy and the investigation of the cause. The emergency services will need to have intelligence services and urgent means of relaying services to the chain of command and to their colleagues in their control rooms. There are common mnemonics that are used to relay these messages, the most common ones being CHALET (Casualties, Hazards, Access, Location, Emergency services required, Type of incident) ETHANE (Exact location, Type of Incidents, Hazard, Access, Number of casualties, Emergency Services Required) METHANE (Major Incident standby or declared, Exact location, Type of Incident Hazards, Access, Number of Casualties, Emergency Services required. The incident officers should be well coordinated and in UK there is already a set up interrelationship between the officers, and coordination should be between the Medical Incident Officer and the Ambulance Incident Officer, Police Incident Officer, the Fire Incident Officer and the representative and Local Authority and other agencies. All personnel working in the accident scene should be well prepared and their own safety should be secured by proper dressings and other precautionary measures taken. The casualties should be sorted out according to the severity of the injuries, with those who require immediate emergency response being given the highest priorities. The Availability of equipment and drugs needed to offer medical help to the victims is important including systems to deliver these facilities.

Casualties should be distributed to different hospitals to reduce overload from one hospital. In UK the Incident Ambulance Officer is responsible for ensuring proper transport of casualties to the hospitals. The information to the destined hospital for each patient should be recorded and provided to someone who is responsible to inform the victim’s relatives. There should be someone responsible for the human aspect, in an a major accident, removing, storing and marking bodies, informing the next of kin, counselling support and dealing with religious and cultural issues. A Control chart arrangements should be drawn. This highlights who is responsible for management of the incident and possibly arranged in a hierarchy form, detailing who is responsible for what and should include the role that other emergency organisations, Red Cross.

An overall person(s) should be in charge with the assistance of coordinators who will be coordinating the teams, who should comprise of the first aiders and other personnel working at the scene. It is also important to have emergency numbers to contact the police, Red Cross and other bodies. The dead should be handled efficiently and sensitively handling relaying this information to the relatives. The police and a medical doctor should be involved in confirming the deaths ensuring that attention is prioritized on the living casualties. Identification should be taken care of as much as possible, and the dead bodies are placed in a specific point o be delivered to the mortuary later. In case there is a risk of a disease spreading from the dead bodies. Then the best option should be to bury them as soon as possible.

An emergency debriefing should be done as soon as possible after the event. This will help in the investigations for the manmade caused incidents. The organisations should show appreciation to their staff that were involved in the rescue operations and cater for any of psychological effects the staff may have suffered. A formal Critical Incident Stress Debriefing should be conducted 48 hours after the incident. This is to minimize the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

In most instances a tsunami will destroy houses and will affect a whole community. Temporary alternative should be created to enhance continuity if life for the survivors. The survivors should be assisted in coping with the losses by offering psychological assistance and medical and especially mental help should be available for a longer time.

Training and Exercising for Effective and the role of the Media

The implementation of the DEMS will on a high percentage depend on the way it is going to be implemented. To be effective, continuous training is necessary including refresher training, drilling exercise. The personnel involved should also be trained on confidence, competencies and quick decision making ideas without the continuous reliance on manuals. They will need to be educated on the competencies and training and exercising learning and simulation concepts.

Control of Major Accident hazards (COMAH) Regulations 1999 and the Control of Major Accident Hazards,(Amendment) Regulations 2005, to address to the prevention and mitigation of major accidents that maybe caused by industrial activities. The regulations are applied to those industries where there are dangerous substances, or their presence is anticipated or there is a possibility of them being generated in the industrial chemical process. COMAH requires that all operators to have a major accident prevention policy which should be reviewed frequently.

I tsunami prone areas there should be a tsunami watching centre. The procedure should then to warn people through the media to be prepared for a possible evacuation. In case the danger exists the responsible authority will make arrangements to have the people evacuated to higher grounds. This authority should be responsible for training the community to recognise the signs of a possible tsunami. This training should be conducted through the media, TV, pamphlets, documentaries radio stations and through websites.

The Tsunami disaster was not an isolated disaster for an individual country. Several nations were affected and they therefore have to work together. The UK is a signatory to several conventions to provide the search and rescue operations among them Convention in the High Seas (1958), Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS 1974), AND Civil Aviation (1974).

Authorities within the Tsunami risk prone areas, in conjunction with the organisations within that area, and emergency service provides should ensure there are proper DEMS procedures in place at all times. The system should run tests, maintain and update the system, assign roles and responsibilities of handling the process. They should then conduct a risk and vulnerability assessment, conduct business and disaster emergency impact analysis. From the findings they should select a disaster recovery strategy and develop a disaster recovery plan. This cycle continues with frequent reviews of the plan.

Works Cited

Haddow, George. Introduction to Emergency Management. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. 2003. Print
Moore, Tony and Lakha, Raj. Trolleys Handbook of Disaster and Emergency Management. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. 2006. Print.
Tullo, Carol. Civil-Contingencies Act 2004 Chapter 36. London: The Stationery Office Limited. 2004. Print.

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