The Nature of Accidents and Catastrophes - Term Paper Example

Accidents and Catastrophes Introduction Accidents and catastrophes have a way of happening when we least expect it. Oftentimes, no matter how we prepare for these catastrophes or accidents, they still end up greatly impacting on our lives. This paper shall discuss the nature of accidents and catastrophes and how these can be classified. It shall discuss the numerous variables which interact in order to produce disasters and catastrophes. This paper shall discuss modern threats like terrorism and the changing trends in the frequency of disasters. Finally, this paper shall also discuss the disaster life cycle and the UK disaster management plans and the differences between disaster and catastrophe planning. Nature of Accidents and Catastrophes Accidents are basically unplanned events with unacceptable and often unexpected consequences. These unexpected consequences are often seen in injuries to a small number of people or to damages to physical structures in the vicinity of the accident. In some instances, the effects of these accidents may not always be obvious or manifest, but nevertheless, they may cause losses in time or production when manufacturing firms or workplaces are involved. The unintended nature of accidents is mentioned by Perrow (1999, p. 64) and he mentions that these events may not always bring about injurious or disastrous consequences for people involved. However, it may happen that damage to some people, objects or both may be seen (Perrow, 1999, p. 64). These are the instances when we might come to give greater notice or attention to these accidents. They are tainted with an uncertain nature and there is little element of deliberateness in these accidents. Accidents have to be assessed in terms of two aspects: the event and the consequence. The lecture notes mention that the event is the incident which has to be prevented and in preventing such incident/event, the consequences can then be avoided. When events do take place but do not manifest any consequences, these are referred to as ‘near misses’. From such ‘near misses’, people can learn and consequently take necessary actions in order to avoid or prevent the recurrence and the ill consequences of such events. The second aspect owing to the nature of accidents is the consequence. The actual severity of a consequence is very much dependent on whether or not lessons were learned from previous experiences involving similar incidents. When the people involved in previous incidents have learned well from their experience and henceforth have made the necessary adjustments, then the consequences of the event or incident would not be as severe. There is also an element of luck involved when considering the consequences of accidents. When ‘good luck’ is seen, the lecture notes mention that good design, sound procedures and systems, right protective clothing and equipment, safe working practices, and positive attitude towards safe working may be involved. Such preparations would then affect the action and the recurrence of the event; and consequently a protection of people and property is possible from the consequences of the event. Safety planning involving consequences seen in accidents largely depends on analysing events, avoiding near misses, assessing dangers, and taking appropriate measures in order to avoid recurrence. In instances of ‘bad luck’ seen from the consequences of accidents, this may actually be assessed or gauged from: the safety precautions taken by the person; the following of procedures; the wearing of safety equipment; the carelessness or inattentiveness of the person; and such other precautions which may or may not have been taken by people involved. Classification Accidents and catastrophes can either be natural or man-made. Man-made catastrophes can be further classified into technological catastrophes and attacks. Natural accidents and catastrophes manifest as avalanches, earthquakes, lahars, landslides and mudflows, volcanic eruptions, floods, limnic eruptions, tsunamis, blizzards, droughts, hailstorms, heat waves, cyclonic storms, fire, epidemics, famine, impact events, and solar flares. It is important to note however that fires are classified both as man-made and natural accidents, depending on the cause or triggers of these fires. Some are caused by lightning strikes and some are indeed caused by man (Goudie, 2005, p. 42). Technological man-made disasters often involve matters of transport, nuclear/chemical matters, armed conflict, oil spills, and terrorism. The most controversial nuclear accident was the April 1986 Chernobyl Plant accident. The accident caused increased levels of radiation in the immediate and surrounding area of Chernobyl; and such effects are still felt by the people today. There are also several oil spills that occur every year from oil tankers, oil drilling platforms, and oil transport ships. The largest oil spill was seen in the Exxon Valdez Oil spill which dumped about 10 million gallons of crude oil into a large area of Alaska. In 1990, a major fire in the New York City Social Club caused the loss of 87 lives. In the current age of technology, there are various disasters which are being seen every day. Defence and warfare has also entered a new era – the era of biological and chemical weaponry. They are more popularly known as weapons of mass destruction Variables Interacting to Produce Disasters and Catastrophes There are several variables which interact in order to produce disasters and catastrophes or which can turn daily emergencies into disasters. Hazard agents introduced by humans into the environment often cause environmental degradation. This would include emissions from automobiles and from oil-powered manufacturing firms. Other variables like transportation disasters also cause hazards to the environment. These are seen in oil spills from ships and oil tankers. Explosions at manufacturing plants also cause toxic and thick emissions of smoke and greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming and consequently lead to other environmental disasters. Social conflicts such as wars and terrorist attacks can also encourage the manufacture of biological and chemical weapons which can consequently create accidents and catastrophes. According to the lecture notes, humans are also a significant variable in creating vulnerabilities which then interact with hazards to produce and magnify disasters. Families often migrate and crowd in hurricane and earthquake-prone areas. This increases the possibility of more people being killed and more properties being damaged when hurricanes or earthquakes occur. Other variables involve faulty urban planning, faulty construction of buildings (failure to comply with building codes); no political will to mitigate development and faulty urban planning practices; minimal spending by manufacturing firms; failure of people to understand risks posed by hazards; economic, physical, and political restraints on women, children, elderly, and the disabled; and failure of communities to plan, train, exercise response and recovery operations. According to the lecture notes on this course, in instances of natural hazards, variables involved in creating disasters and catastrophes are geological events which are often triggered by the natural workings of our planet; meteorological events which are caused by variations in global weather patterns; and biological events which result from the action of living agents such as diseases or insect pests. Modern-day threats There are various modern-day threats which can and have brought on disastrous consequences to many people. Terrorism is currently one of the modern-day threats which are hounding our local, national, and international officials. The 9/11 attacks in America are considered by far the most disastrous and catastrophic terrorist attack ever launched on any nation. It caused the most damage in infrastructure, and it caused the loss of a staggering number of human lives. The methods of warfare used in these terrorist attacks have also changed throughout the years. In the past, terrorist weapons were limited to guns, explosives, and such other artilleries; now there are various biological and chemical weapons which are being employed by terrorist groups. Biological weapons include bacterial agents like inhalation anthrax which are difficult to obtain, have stable spores, and are highly lethal; plague which is also difficult to obtain, is long-lasting, and is highly lethal; glanders which are difficult to obtain, are very stable, and have a moderate to high lethality; and other agents like tularaemia, brucellosis, and Q fever (Evan and Manion, 2002, p. 146). Viral biological agents include hemorrhagic fevers which are difficult to process, are relatively unstable, and are potentially highly lethal. Smallpox is also often used as a biological agent (Evan and Manion, 2002, p. 146). Chemical agents are also sometimes used as tools of terrorism. They cause various physiologic responses on the people exposed to such agents, and sometimes they even cause death. Agents which cause choking include chlorine and phosgene; those which affect nerves include tabun, sarin GF, and VX (Evan and Manion, 2002, p. 144). Those which affect the blood are the following: hydrogen cyanide and cyanogen chloride; and finally those which often cause blisters include sulphur mustard and nitrogen mustard gases (Evan and Manion, 2002, p. 144). With the advent of the computer age, disasters and accidents have now been more apparent in the world of cyber technology. The term cyber terrorism has already been created in order to encompass terrorist activities which includes “infecting computer networks with deadly computer viruses that sabotage and delete information and computer files, or distribute[d] denial-of-service attacks (DDoS), which can shut down large computer servers, disrupting financial transactions and other business functions, as well as other means to exploit computer network vulnerabilities” (Cilluffo, Berkowitz, and Lanz, 1998, as cited by Evan and Manion, 2002, p. 141). Hackers can often get into state department’s computer networks and infiltrate a country’s defence system. Viruses can be distributed online and can shut down temporarily or even permanently the smooth flow of communication or the operations of a business. In these moments of virus infiltration, money, time, and similar resources can be lost. And these can sometimes cause billions of dollars in damages. Technological terrorism is also another form of man-made disaster. It is also connected to cyber terrorism, but this type of disaster focuses on “damaging high-risk facilities of critical infrastructure, and - employs dangerous technologies, instruments, and agents” (Frolov & Baecher, 2006, p. 61). The initial effect of this terrorist attack then leads to secondary effects, and so on and so forth. A technological disaster is a disaster that surely “brings on a major crisis, threatens the viability of a technological system, causes massive losses of life and property, and may endanger the social environment in which it occurs” (Manion and Evan, 2002, p. 207). Changing trends in frequency of disasters The frequency of disasters is definitely increasing in frequency. Natural disaster like typhoons, storms, and other weather disturbances have increased in frequency and even in intensity during the past few years. In Asia, studies declare that floods have increased in frequency and severity. “Combined effects of climatic changes, landuse changes and urbanization are considered to be the main reasons of this increasing trend” (Singh and Yadava, 2003, p. 518). Overall in other parts of the globe, natural disasters registered higher numbers. Global warming often causes the increase in temperature levels in the oceans, thereby also causing an increase in the frequency and the intensity of tropical storms, typhoons, and hurricanes (Pelling, 2003, p. 37). Such strong weather disturbances were seen in Hurricane Katrina and Ivan and so many tropical storms and typhoons which have visited the Pacific Islands and parts of Asia during the past few years. These typhoons have caused major damages in infrastructure through the heavy rains and strong winds that they have brought. Man-made disasters have also increased in intensity during the past several years. “Catastrophes such as chemical spills, explosions, fires, and collisions caused $12 billion dollars in total economic losses in 2003” (Messy, et.al., 2005, p. 191). And these catastrophes have been known to cause much damage to infrastructure. They have also been known to cause the death of many people. Fires have caused much damage to forest covers and other infrastructures. The fires in California have caused big losses in forest covers and have caused the destruction of many buildings in the sunny state. Many environmentalists point out that heat waves which were seen in the past few years during the summer seasons have helped to fan the flames of these fires (Office of the Attorney General, 2008). Disaster Life Cycle The disaster life cycle would start off with the mitigation stage or phase which includes all the activities undertaken by the authorities and by the people in general in order to reduce the chance of an emergency happening or to lessen the damaging effect of unavoidable emergencies. The lecture notes make mention that this stage is very much related to the preparedness stage which now includes several remedies geared towards ensuring that the community is prepared to react to any hazard which actually threatens it. Both the mitigation and the preparedness phases are seen or done before the disaster strikes. Most of these measures are set in place even if the actual time of occurrence of these accidents or disasters is not exactly known. But such is the nature of accidents and disasters –their unpredictability. And through these mitigation and preparedness stages, the impact of disasters may actually be minimized. The next stage or phase of the disaster cycle is the response phase. This phase is seen to manifest immediately before, even during, or just after the disaster or the accident. In this phase, the priority is on the rescues, on saving lives, on minimizing property damage, and on enhancing the chances of recovery from the incident. The final phase of the disaster cycle is recovery. The lecture notes refer to recovery as the activity which restores infrastructure systems to minimum operating standards. This phase also helps long-term efforts in order to eventually see a full recovery of the people and the areas affected by the accident or catastrophe. UK Disaster Management Plans In 2004, the United Kingdom created the Civil Contingencies Act in order to update and upgrade its emergency and disaster management. In its entirety, the Act now placed the duty on local authorities, the NHS, and emergency services to make preparations for disasters. As a result, the local officials had to employ emergency planning officers and the 12 regions of the UK had to have resiliency teams (Careers Wales, 2009). The companies which render services were also required to deliver basic services such as water, electricity, gas, and transport during emergencies in order to help keep the business community running. In turn, businesses were also obliged to maintain their services during these disasters (Careers Wales, 2009). First, the emergency planners are set in place in order to identify the risks that a community may face (Careers Wales, 2009). This may include severe weather, acts of terrorism, or train crashes. These emergency planners draw up plans to ensure quick responses to disasters and emergencies. Second, the business continuity managers help to assess, identify risks, and to check that internal systems are sufficiently safe. Third, the health and safety risk assessors are experts in health and safety risks and they are involved in ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the public and of the employees (Careers Wales, 2009). Fourth, the development engineers help reduce the impact of disasters to infrastructures. They are often assigned to developing countries. Fifth, the relief and development project managers are assigned to work abroad and to assist in the education of the people, improvement of their water supplies, or the betterment of their farming techniques (Careers Wales, 2009). They also help distribute aid to those devastated by disasters and catastrophes. Finally, the relief workers consist of search and rescue teams, doctors, nurses, aid workers, constructions workers, fire fighter, and other volunteers. These people help rescue the people; they also temporarily provide people with what they need (Careers Wales, 2009). Differences between Disaster and Catastrophe Planning First and foremost, as was previously discussed, catastrophe planning is at a larger scale as compared to disaster planning. There is a much slower organizational assessment of problems in catastrophes (Quarantelli, n.d). Since the catastrophe occurs at a larger scale, the coordination and planning process would also be conducted at a larger scale, with more agencies involved, including the private sector. Consequently, the coordination process is also more difficult and more uncoordinated in catastrophe planning. Planning in the catastrophes are also more effectively carried out from the ground up, instead of from the top down (Quarantelli, n.d). Disaster planning is usually carried out from the top down because the disaster and the situation are more manageable. Works Cited Disaster management and relief: Leaflet UK 04, August 2009, Careers Wales, viewed 12 November 2009 from http://eclips.careerswales.com/english/full_leaflet.php?leafletID=UK%2004 Evan, W. & Manion, M. 2002, Minding the machines: preventing technological disasters, Australia: Pearson Education Ltd. Evan, W., & Manion, M., August 2002, Technological catastrophes: their causes and prevention, Technology in Society, volume 24, issue 3, pp. 207-224 Frolov, K. & Baecher, G., 2006, Protection of civilian infrastructure from acts of terrorism, The Netherlands: Springer Global Warming Impacts in California, 2008, Office of the Attorney General, viewed 12 November 2009 from http://www.ag.ca.gov/globalwarming/impact.php Goudie, A., 2002, The human impact on the natural environment, Great Britain, MIT Press Messy, F. & Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2005, Catastrophic risks and insurance, France: OECD Pelling, M., 2003, Natural disasters and development in a globalizing world, London: Routledge Perrow, C., 1999, Normal accidents: living with high-risk technologies, West Sussex, UK: Princeton University Press Quarantelli, E., (n.d), Catastrophes are different from disasters: Some implications for crisis planning and managing drawn from Katrina, United Sikhs, viewed 12 November 2009 from http://www.unitedsikhs.org/katrina/catastrophes_are_different_from_disasters.pdf Singh, V. & Yadava, R., 2003, Watershed hydrology: proceedings of the International Conference on Water and Environment, India: Allied Publishers Read More