Managing the Unexpected - Case Study Example

Managing the Unexpected “Disasters are complex events. Using case studies of your choice, critically evaluate what useful lessons can be learned from the deconstruction of such events using a systems methodology.” Introduction For the purposes of this paper, we shall construe disasters as serious disruptions of the proper functioning of any society and whose consequences are widespread human, environmental and material losses that exceeds the momentary ability of such an affected society to adequately cope. In most cases, the repercussions of a disaster are overwhelming on a society’s own resources to a point where external assistance becomes crucial especially in humanitarian, and infrastructural recovery (Goldstein, 1990). As shall be discussed in the paper, disasters are complex events that we can only gamble in anticipating, managing, controlling and responding to. The duration of a disastrous event can be seconds’ long to a number of years. Same goes for severity; the severity of a disaster in its damaging effects varies in degrees. Some disasters are completely unpredictable and unpreventable (Remember Katrina?). Others though are consequent to man’s creation of a habitat that is susceptible to disastrous damage or an environment in which both property and life are at a great level of risk (The unforgettable nuclear installation leak in Germany for instance). Complexity of Disasters Disasters become complicated when one begins to look for a universally applicable theory to their causes and appropriate responses. What works for one type of disaster however, rarely works in another. To elaborate this unique complexity of formulating disaster theorems there is need to inspect the underlying causes of disasters. Some deep-rooted factors in a society may complement in forming and maintaining that society’s vulnerability to disasters. Train disasters in India are almost a given, consequent to the poor maintenance of the engines, overcrowding and poorly designed routes in some areas (Buchanan, 2000). A disastrous famine in sub Saharan Africa can be consequent to civil war in such a state may result to lack of basic provisions such that a disaster accrues as a result of the macro-forces of human action. A hurricane in Haiti may be as a result of global climatic deterioration whereby, pollution and wanton degradation creates unsafe conditions. Coal mines in the US or gold mines in South Africa may result from careless mine construction and exploration activities. Now in all these examples, we have a disaster whose causes, preventive measures and response mechanisms vary. Not all of them can be effectively theorized into one set of principles. Add to this complexity, the disasters that occur after terrorist attacks, some being airborne and others ground bombings. Furthermore, a single disaster can lead or trigger domino effect disasters. The Earthquake disaster in Haiti can set a trail of humanitarian disasters long after the earthquake seized, with health and infrastructural risks being key causes of such disasters. A famine in Africa may lead to civil conflicts that in turn result to mass displacements. Flooding in Asia may cause mass migration across international borders as people seek refuge, thus upsetting the balance of resources in receiving regions. That could trigger other disasters. It is clear that dealing with such a wide range of disasters, with varying causes and effects needs much more than a singular approach. Yet in most cases, governments are never given the time to formulate proper responses to a disaster before another happens. In fact, some compound disasters may not necessarily occur sequentially since some do occur simultaneously. The effects and consequences of disasters are also another element of complexity. A wide range of repercussions accrues from disasters with varying degrees of severity. Many people lose their means of livelihood, families and communities are separated from basic services, there is lack of food and food supply, shelter becomes a problem alongside many other household necessities, cooking fuel is unavailable, clean drinking water inaccessible and there is a high risk of communicable diseases due to poor sanitation and over-crowding. In most instances, women and children are pushed into conditions of great suffering while children are unaccompanied children and separated from their families. Additionally, there is loss of land or tenure in some cases; aide and self-help efforts are riddled with logistics and communication problems. Examples of Disasters Most governments and government agencies refer to disasters as major incidents; major incidents being any form of incident, accident, hostile act or natural disaster that requires special arrangements for the society to cope with effects such as casualties and service provision (Gary and Bosworth, 1994). Almost every nation in the world has faced a disaster at one time or another. The list of historical disasters cannot possible be published in one book. Let us pick a few informative examples to help in exemplifying the argument projected in this paper. Katrina is a term most people are familiar with. Hurricane Katrina was a 2005 Atlantic hurricane. Katrina became the costliest and among the top five deadliest hurricanes ever recorded in history (Dyson, 2006). In all recorded hurricanes, Katrina was the sixth ranked in strength. The hurricane formed around the Bahamas on August 2005 before crossing through southern Florida as a category 1 hurricane (moderate). It reached southeast Louisiana as a category 3 hurricane, by that time having caused insurmountable destruction from Florida to Texas. Severe loss of life and property was experienced in New Orleans where 80% of lands and city was flooded for weeks (Time Magazine). Katrina killed more than 1,836 people and destroyed over $100 billion property. It thus ranked as the deadliest hurricane in the US since the infamous 1928 Okeechobee hurricane and many times worse that the 1992 Hurricane Andrew (McNulty 2008). The most recent disaster in the news was the January 12, 2010 Haiti quake. Though casualties are not yet precisely determined, the Red Cross believes that over 3 million people were affected by the disaster. The massive quake measured 7.0 magnitudes on the Richer Scale and a 16 kilometer epicenter, was the single most powerful earthquake to have ever struck the Haiti Island in 200 years, (Ouattara, 2010). The above two examples illustrate instances when Mother Nature unleashes the worst of her fury, instances when humanity and all form of civilization seems frail and indeed subordinate and moments when disasters become a complex phenomenon to comprehend. Tsunamis, cyclones, earthquakes and even volcano eruptions (Such as the 1985 Nevado del Ruiz volcano eruption in Columbia where 25, 000 died in a massive erupted mudflow) have in history kill thousands within a few minutes and wrecked unbelievable damage. Disasters aren’t always natural. An example of manmade disasters is the 2005 Buncefield oil depot inferno caused by explosions at a Total and Texaco owned oil storage terminus in Hertfordshire, England. During the disaster, the fifth largest UK oil storage depot lost 272,765,400 liters of fuel and over 50 lives. It was the biggest explosion in peacetime Europe, the biggest in the UK ever since the Flixborough Disaster of 1974 (Where a chemical plant exploded killed 28 people and injured over 40 others). Complexity of Deconstructing Such Disasters The above disasters have been precisely handpicked to elaborate the wanton nature of disasters. They can be caused by almost anything and usually occur without warning. Sometimes, they can be avoided while at other times, people can only hold their breath as helpless victims even as the disasters approach. If you say that proper safety procedures are necessary in averting such disasters as the 2005 Buncefield oil depot inferno for instance, the same would not be practical for such disasters as Katrina, Haiti quake and the Nevado del Ruiz volcano eruption. In deconstructing such disasters, the intent is in learning how to prevent, manage and control disasters in future, numerous complications result. No two disasters are alike, no two disasters are caused by similar circumstances, no two disasters result in similar consequences and no two disasters are responded to in the same way. That means while deconstructing such disasters, the findings you come up with may only be applicable to that disaster and not to any other, past, present or future. The same complexity accrues in determining the amount of preparedness a nation or society can put in place for future disasters. The resources, planning and preparedness that could have been adequate for hurricane Andrew could not have sufficed for Hurricane Katrina in any way. That is how complex learning from past disasters becomes. Core Theoretical Issues at the Heart of Managing Disasters There are some theoretical issues relevant to both the causes and effects of disasters. Life is best when it is linear. Disaster situations epitomize a nonlinearity reality in human life. Disastrous are events that bear relationships between very many variables, most of which are beyond human control (Bower, 1988). In understanding disasters, the objective is usually to create some order and regain control over disastrous situations. The idea is to create logical explanation to disasters in two most essential areas namely, what creates disaster situations (causes) and secondly, what effects do disasters have to human life (Bower, 1988). In modern social settings, we have some causal factors for many disasters that are within the control of man. These six causal factors have a central role in determining both the frequency and severity disasters. Their importance and applicability vary across societies but in most areas a combination of some or all of these factors are responsible in determining a society’s vulnerability to disasters (Goldstein, 1990). Perhaps the most important determining factor in causing disasters is poverty. Impoverished people lack the education, economic ability and the political clout to galvanize them against hazards and natural phenomena. Uncontrolled population increase usually leads to settlement of people in overly hazardous areas, areas susceptible to diseases and areas prone to manmade and natural disasters (Goldstein, 1990). Thirdly, rapid urban migration yields rapid urbanization as the poor ruralnites move to metropolitan areas to seek for economic opportunities. Disaster-prone settlements quickly come up in an overwhelmed urban area that cannot plan for and accommodate the arrivals adequately and safely. Slums will soon come up in landslides, families will always be caught up in flood-prone river banks others will build temporary structures on ravines, slopes and steep hillsides (Walker, 1991). One important cause of disasters and the major one perhaps in contemporary times is environmental degradation. Most disasters accrue from or are exacerbated by degradation practices meted out on the environment. Such degradation practices as deforestation, overgrazing, unchecked urbanization, water pollution, air pollution etc usually trigger the environment to act in unpredictable ways (Cutter, 1993). Lessons Gleaned from the Cited Disasters In all but the natural disasters exemplified above, effective safety precautions could play a central role in preventing such events. Such safety planning and implementation must not be left to individual players, especially when such sensitive areas as oil, nuclear and power plants are concerned. A standardized safety mechanism should be enforced to protect the public from such avoidable disasters (Lindell, 2006). In responding to and preventing natural disasters, it is important that empirical research based on factual data be used instead of basing disaster management on hunches, assumptions and common-sense. Had that been done, Katrina effects could have been toned down, at least in the number of casualties. It took over a week for the hurricane to travel to the US Gulf coast and in all that time, people were allowed to remain in what scientist had determined as its most probable path. While not saying that there was negligence in the Katrina case, the point that needs to be passed on is the need for science in detecting, preventing and managing the effects of natural disasters (Cutter, 1993). All these disasters, natural and manmade, have a common denominator. Their most profound and damaging effects are felt by the vulnerable members of a society, the poor, the women and the children (Goldstein, 1990). Again, it is clear that no two disasters can be the same or equal, no matter how similar they may seem from the outlook. In planning for future disasters, flexibility is key. All partnering parties in disaster responsiveness must be given room for innovation, creativity and adoption to each disaster event as they deem fit. The natural, physical and built environments in which a nation’s population lives need to be checked for disaster vulnerability (Begal, 2007). Conclusion Disasters are unpredictable and very complicated to theorize on. It is almost impossible to derive a universal standard definition, preparedness, management and control measures appropriate for all possible disasters in the world (Gary and Bosworth, 1994). Nonetheless, nations and communities must embrace the initiative of preparing for disasters and preventing those that are preventable. Man’s testimony over the years has been colored by the ability to adapt to nature and to master ways of surviving the onslaughts of adverse natural phenomena. As Alexander, (2002) says, disasters too can be controlled to an extent, and with proper all-inclusive planning, those that cannot be prevented can be dealt with in a way that reduces their damaging effects. References Alexander, D, 2002, Principles of Emergency planning and Management, Terra Publishing, Harpenden: Begal, J, et al. 2007, City Adrift: New Orleans Before and After Katrina; A Center for Public Integrity Investigation, Louisiana State University Press, New Orleans. Buchanan, S, 2000, “Emergency preparedness." from Banks, P, et, al. Preservation Issues and Planning, American Library Association, Chicago, 159-165. Bower, B. 1988, ‘Chaotic Connections’, Science News, Vol. 17, no. 8, pp. 58-59. Cutter, S, 1993, Living With Risk, Edward Arnold, London. Dyson, E, 2006, Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster, Basic Civitas Books, New York, pp. 48-51. 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