Solving the Problem of Hurricane Disasters in Houston Texas - Research Paper Example

Natural Disaster Management: CREATING AN UNDERGROUND ELECTRIC CONNECTING LINE FOR HOUSTON TEXAS Introduction Houston Texas has long been known as the hurricane alley of the American society. Likely though, even though this is a known fact, it could not still be denied that through the years, amidst all the natural disasters happening around the region, the situation has been rather dealt with conscientiously by the local government of the said city, thus allowing for better systems of progress within the area. Today, Houston Texas is known to be among the most progressive cities round America. Likely, for this reason, it could be pictured that Houston Texas is now under a reconstructed state that is rather much viable for handling both economic and industrial advancement among all the other states around USA. Even though this is the case, Houston still needs to considerably deal with the natural disasters such as hurricanes that visit the city annually. Likely, with this particular matter in mind, anyone could picture the devastating effect of the sad disaster especially in terms of the life safety of every individual living within the area. One of the most dangerous matters that should be considered in this matter is that of the existence of aerial electrical lines. When hurricanes hit the area, almost 54% of the people dying from the said event results from being electrocuted by cut live wires from aerial electric connections (HOUSTON TEXAS REAL ESTATE DAILY, 2008, 3) Besides that, it could also be denied that because of the current situation of the city with regards the regularity of hurricanes coming in the area every year, the rate of power interruption just after every hurricane becomes much enticingly disturbing to many residents and even business owners of the city. Hence, as a proposal, it has been moved and continuously suggested that the electric connections around the city be linked underground. Like modern systems of Internet connections which uses fiber glass protection while placed underground, the electric system of the city is moved to be placed underground so as to ensure the safety of the people living within the area during the occurrence of certain disasters as well as to ensure the convenience of both the residents and the owners of the business establishments within the area. It is rather believed that through this, about 60% of hurricane caused deaths could be reduced and at least 36% of power interruptions issues could be solved. Yes, the project seems certainly feasible and beneficial for everyone living within the city of Houston, Texas. However, with a closer look, like other projects, would certainly be subjected to certain issues that might jeopardize the level of effectiveness as well as the benefits that it is expected to offer the human society living within Houston. Within this particular research, the said issues shall be addressed herein to be able to give a better chance for the project to be pursued further in an aim of stabilizing the electric connections in the city even during the occurrence of regular hurricanes around the city. Target Project Around the world, natural disasters are becoming a regular trend. For this reason, before this decade, during the past years, several worldwide organizations moved to create possible approaches to be sure that natural disasters be treated conscientiously. Changing global thinking is, however, far more difficult than naming a decade, for “decision makers,” states UNESCO Environment and Development Briefs, “tend to focus on relief to the exclusion of prevention.”(Gordon, 1991, 43) Of all money spent today on natural hazard management in Latin America, for example, over 90 percent goes to hazard relief and less than 10 percent to prevention. After all, notes the IDNDR’s newsletter Stop Disasters, politicians “obtain more support consoling disaster victims than from requesting taxes for the non-dramatic measures that would have avoided or reduced the disaster.”(Gordon, 1991, 38) To alter this spending pattern, the United Nations defined three targets for the decade. By the year 2000, all countries should have in place their (1) assessment of the risks posed by natural hazards, (2) long-term preparedness and prevention plans, and (3) warning systems. National committees were formed to translate the IDNDR’s philosophy and good intentions into concrete plans, and in May 1994, Japan was host to a UN-sponsored World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction (Hougan, 2006, 58). With all these activities planned or under way, why was Boutros-Ghali not content? Because of a disturbing trend. On the one hand, the efforts of the IDNDR are paying off (Hougan, 2006, 54). Scientists’ awareness about disaster reduction has increased, and some measures, like improved warning systems, are saving lives and reducing losses. However, despite these gains, notes Dr. Kaarle Olavi Elo, director of the IDNDR’s secretariat, “the number and the magnitude of disasters continues to grow, affecting more and more people.” We have seen “a 3-fold increase from the 1960’s to the 1980’s,” confirms another UN expert, “and a further major rise in the 90’s.” (Hougan, 2006, 49) Indeed, in 1991, 434 major disasters killed 162,000 people worldwide, and in 1992, losses exceeded $62 billion (U.S.) (Gordon, 1991, 45). The world, concludes UNDP (United Nations Development Program) administrator James G. Speth, has become “a disaster machine, producing crises with distressing regularity.”(UNDP Update, November 1993) What is behind this disturbing trend? To answer, first note the difference between a natural hazard and a natural disaster. The first is a natural event—such as a flood or an earthquake—which has the potential to become a disaster yet does not always do so. For instance, floods in Brazil’s uninhabited Amazon basin are natural events doing little harm. However, floods striking Bangladesh in its densely populated Ganges delta cause widespread human, material, and environmental losses. Often such losses are so disastrous that stricken communities cannot cope without help from outside. In that case, the natural hazard has become a natural disaster. Why, though, are these disastrous collisions between man and nature on the increase? Disaster expert James P. Bruce notes that “a trend towards more severe and frequent hazards” may be “a contributing cause.” (Hill, 2007, 67) He and other scientists concur, however, that the main cause for the increase in disasters is not an increase in natural hazards but an increase in man’s exposure to these hazards (Hill, 2007, 66). This increased exposure, points out World Health magazine, is caused by a “mix of demographic, ecological and technological conditions.”(Hill, 2007, 69) What are some components of this disaster-triggering mix? For one, the expanding world population. As the size of the human family keeps growing, the likelihood that a natural hazard will find some of the world’s 5.6 billion people in its path is growing as well.(Hill, 2006, 40) Moreover, population pressure keeps forcing millions of poor people to settle in unsafe buildings in areas notorious for receiving regular assaults from nature. The result is not surprising: Since 1960, the world population has doubled, but disaster losses have increased almost tenfold. (Hill, 2006, 59) Environmental changes add to the problems. From Nepal to the Amazon and from the North American plains to the islands of the Pacific, man is cutting down forests, over cultivating the land, destroying coastal barriers, and leaving a trail of other ecological footprints—but not without a price. “As we stress the bearing capacity of our environment and modify its character,” says a former IDNDR director, Robert Hamilton, “the greater the likelihood that a natural hazard might become a disaster.”(Kellr, 2007, 49) If man’s actions, however, are contributing to the increasing appearance of disasters in today’s headlines, then the opposite would be true as well: By taking preventive measures, man can change tomorrow’s headlines. Death and destruction can be minimized. For example, 90 percent of deaths from earthquakes, say experts, can be avoided. Nevertheless, although the arguments for prevention are compelling, many people continue to regard disasters as inevitable. This fatalistic view, reports UNESCO Environment and Development Briefs, is “the single greatest barrier to disaster reduction.”(Keller,, 2007, 65) On what side of that barrier are you? Especially in the developing world, this feeling of helplessness is widespread. Of all the people killed by natural disasters during the last 50 years, 97 percent lived in the developing world! In some of these countries, notes Stop Disasters, “the frequency of disasters is so high that it is difficult to delineate between the end of one disaster and the beginning of another.”(Keller, 2007, 54) In fact, 95 percent of all disasters occur in the developing world. Add to this an endless cycle of personal disasters—poverty, unemployment, cruel living conditions—and you can see why helplessness engulfs the poor like a rising tide. They accept the losses caused by recurrent disasters as a bitter but fated part of life. However, are these losses inevitable? THE U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency recommends a number of ways to cope with hazards. The following are some highlights. Get information. Contact your local emergency management office and find out which disasters could strike your community. You may be aware of some, but others may surprise you. If you learn that your home is exposed to natural hazards: □ Meet with the family and discuss the types of hazards that could threaten you. Explain what to do in each case. □ Plan how the family will maintain contact with one another if separated by such an event. Pick two meeting places: one outside the home in case of a sudden emergency, like a fire, and the other outside the neighborhood in case not anyone can return home. □ Ask a friend to be a family contact so that if is case the members cannot reach the arranged meeting places, all family members can call this contact and tell where they are. Choose a friend who lives away from within the area because after a disaster it’s often easier to call long-distance than to call within the affected area. Teach children how to call this friend. Discuss what to do when you have to evacuate. Consider how the family would help the neighbors who may need special assistance. Plan how to take care of the pets as well. □ Post emergency telephone numbers by every phone. □ Locate the main electric fuse box, water main, and natural gas main. Show responsible family members how and when to turn these off, and keep necessary tools near the main switches. □ Prepare for fire. Install smoke detectors, especially near bedrooms. Yes, through the years, the entire human society have been trying to create possible ways to answer the impending need for safety of every human individual in the society. In Houston though, it is undeniable that the search for safety require much drastic measure than that of the ones cited above. Hence, along with the aim for safety and the fight for protection, the Houston Texas local government aimed to create more possible procedures to handle the situations that they are in at present. One of the most impeccable procedures that the city officials are looking into right now is the establishment of underground electrical linking connections that are primarily made to protect the connections even when hurricanes occur. The pursuance of the said proposal though has not been much seen as a feasible process for most of the areas surrounding the city. There are indeed issues of inconveniences that have naturally hindered the application of the process during the past years. Why the doubt over the process? Issues of the Project Like many other projects, many critics had questioned the creation of underground connections for the electric lines in Huston. Particularly, the major issues that are considered for this particular proposal could be noted as follows: Budgeting and finance: It is obvious that a massive and drastic approach as this one shall require a huge amount of support from the major organizations or institutions such as the local government itself. Likely, because of the materials that are to be used as well as the effort that needs to be applied for the pursuance of the said process, the amount for the application of the proposed solution for hurricane and electricity issues during the said natural disaster received a touch down for many critics of the matter. Getting the Supporters for the Project: Since the project requires financial funding, the ones who used to propose the said process of safety and security measures for the electric wiring solution realized that looking for the institutions [particularly financial support organizations] is not that easy. Convincing them that the project would be most beneficial for the city is easy, but finding the supporting evidences is not that well accepted by he said institutions. Finding the Right materials needed for the process One of the major keys to reducing amount of the project is that of choosing the materials that might be reasonable enough to be used for the project. As there are still a few producers of the most high tech protections for the underground electric line link connections, the amount for the materials is still expected to be of a high rate. With these primary hindrances, the particular project enthusiasts naturally need to fix the issues first before actually proposing the process again. To do so, the diagram below would help in the process of applying the project in actual sense. Source: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/fig/0040450605001.png. (November 11, 2008) Yes, certainly, to implement this particular process deeply, team management is especially needed to be applied. In this particular phase of the project, strategic management is required. Strategic management is a contemporary approach formulated by the scientific society of modernized world regarding the aspect of management.(Schwindt, 2005, 87) It is generally an approach in management and planning wherein certain steps and procedures are develop and systematically incorporated in the normal process to achieve the desired goals of the institution. This is actually planned with a general outlook in the present and the future where different aspects and factors are incorporated as a whole to develop a plan towards the objective. Implementation of the said management strategic is viewed to post certain advantages and disadvantages to the institution and management in general. (Levine, 2002, 79) Through adapting the process noted above, it could be noted that the project managers for the said proposal for Houston electric system would better be able to use all the possible sources available in their midst for the sake of implementing the different benefits of the project towards the society which would particularly be able to realize the impact of the said approach to security as proposed. On the Way to Approval Once the issues are given the needed attention that they deserve to be solved, the pursuance of the proposal could now be given way. Through adapting the process of project management to be presented below, such proposal could take considerable success. DIAGRAM SOURCE: http://facilities.usask.ca/about/major_projects/process.jpg. (November 11, 2008) Diagram analysis: As noted from the process above, there are actually four major phases of planning the project that should be addressed well by the management team of the said proposed plan. Mainly, these project phases include (a)project request; (b) project pre-planning; (c) project approval; and (d) project governance.(Stuckenbruck, 1981, 54) Through the guidance that has been presented through the diagram, it could be observed that t he entire project plan should be implemented in a certain phase top phase process to attain the wanted success from the project with regards the creation of underground lines for electricity in Houston Texas. From the suggested process above, the proposals to be handled by the major institutions that would pursue the project would surely make a great success in creating what is best for the majority. Conclusion It could be observed through this research that obtaining the right support for the project of creating an underground electric line connection for Houston, Texas is not that easy. However, with the utilization of the right process of project proposal towards the right process of project management any proposal for such drastic change could be won.(Verzuh, 2005 43) Moreover, if the realization of the major benefits of the process would be well recognized, the search for the necessary supporters for the project would not become much of an issue. It should be noted that in this situation, finances should not be an issue as the results of the project would be much of a feasible status for the entire city’s protection and security. References: Gordon, G.G. (1991). “Industry determinants of organizational culture”. Academy of Management Review, 16, (April), 396-415. Haugan, Gregory T. (2006) Project Management Fundamentals: Key Concepts and Methodology Management Concepts, Vienna, VA Hill, Gerard M. (2007). The Complete Project Management Office Handbook. Principal, Hill Hill, Charles W. L. & Jones, Gareth R (2006). Strategic Management Theory: An Integrated Approach. Houghton Mifflin Company, 7th Edition. Keller, R. 2007, Sustainable improvement requires a cultural change. Industryweek, April. Levine, Harvey A. (2002). “Practical Project Management: Tips, Tactics, and Tools, John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY. Schwindt, C (2005). Resource Allocation in Project Management, Springer-Verlag, Germany. Stuckenbruck, L (1981). The Implementation of Project Management: The Professionals Handbook, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts. Verzuh, Eric (2005). The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management. John Wiley and Sons,New York, NY. UNDP Update. November 1993. World Report Edition. Wiley Publishing company. Understanding Project Management. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/fig/0040450605001.png. (November 11, 2008) Phases of Project Management. http://facilities.usask.ca/about/major_projects/process.jpg. (November 11, 2008) Read More