Crisis Management - Different Aspects of Crisis - Essay Example

Name: Institution: Title: Crisis Management Tutor: Course : Date: Crisis Management Definition of the terminologies used to describe the different aspects of crisis Crisis A Crisis is an event that is unprecedented that possesses the potentiality of negative effects. The events and the consequences that follow may to a great extent cause damage an organization and its products, employees, financial condition, reputation and services. Hurricane All the hurricanes commence as tropical waves that gather size and intensity to tropical depressions, which eventually grow into tropical storms. A tropical storm is a core tropical cyclone that is warm in which the maximum sustained surface wind speed varies from 74 m/h to 39 miles/h. The winds rotate anti-clock-wise in the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere, clockwise. A hurricane is a tropical storm having winds that have reached a constant speed of 74miles per hour or above that (Haddow & Bullock, 2007). Hurricane winds consequently blow in a huge spiral a relatively center which is calm which is known as an eye. The eye is mostly 20 to 30 miles in width and the storm is bound to extend outward for about 400miles. While the hurricane approaches, the sky will start to darken and winds gather strength. Veenema (2007), notes that as the hurricane approaches land it can bring with it torrential rains, storm surges and high winds. A single hurricane can last for a period of more than two weeks on open waters and can run a path across the whole length of the eastern seaboard. Hurricanes have the ability to cause enormous damage and destruction over a large area. Landslides Landslides happen when masses of rock, debris or earth are triggered to move down a slope. Land slides can be very small or very huge, and their speeds vary from slow to very high. They triggered by fires, storms and by human modification of land. Debris flows or mudflows are rivers of rock, earth and some other debris which are saturated with water. They come up when water rapidly accumulates in the ground for instance incase of heavy rainfall or rapid snowmelt, altering the earth into a flowing river of slurry or mud. Slurry is able to travel several miles away from its source as it grows in size and picking up cars, trees, and other materials found on the way (Regester & Larkin, 2005). Tsunamis It is a series of waves that are generated by a disturbance that happens undersea for instance, an earthquake. Tsunamis can also be occasioned by landslides and volcanic eruptions. From the disturbance area the waves then travel outward to all directions similar to the ripples caused by someone throwing a rock in water in a pond. As the waves come close to the shallow coastal waters, they appear to be normal and the speed declines. Then as the tsunami comes close to the coastline it can grow to a great height smashing into the shore resulting into untold destruction. The tsunami arrival is in a series of “crests” that come successively (levels of nigh water) and “troughs” which are areas of low water levels. The troughs and crests that come successively can happen anywhere from five to ninety minutes apart. They normally occur 45 to 10 minutes apart. The speed of wave in the open ocean averages at 450 miles per hour. Tsunamis that have reached heights of more than 100feet have occurred and registered (Haddow & Bullock, 2007). In 2004, on 26TH December, preceding an earthquake off the coast of the Banda Aceh region in Indonesian that on the Richter scale measured 8.9, a series of tsunami caused destruction on large coastal regions in eleven countries as far away as the coast of East Africa. The earthquake was one of the greatest to occur in forty years and caused waves that reached heights as tall as 60feet on shoreline coastal lands. The devastation of the tsunami, in relation to the number of people affected and geographical range with short time span, was virtually unprecedented in modern day history. Owing to almost complete absence of tsunami warning systems, there was no prior notice of the occurrence or severity of these imminent waves for the local population of whom a large percent comprised of tourists from foreign countries. Subsequently, majority of the people had no chance to escape to higher grounds, a measure that would have seen many injuries and possible loss of life being prevented. Despite the exact figure of the people killed not being known, it is approximated that more than 150,000 or close to 200,000 people died. Over half a million were injured and ten times this figure were left without homes. The period of reconstruction for this disaster is projected to last for many yeas (Veenema, 2007). Volcanic eruptions A volcano is a mountain that opens downwards to the reservoir of the molten rock underneath the surface of the earth. When pressure from the molten rock and gases grows strong enough to trigger an explosion, eruptions will occur. Rock and gases shoot up through the opening and spill over or perhaps fill the air with fragments of lava. Numerous deaths of the deaths from the Mount St. Helens volcano in 1980 were attributed to ash inhalation. Ash from volcanoes is capable of contaminating water supplies, collapse roofs and trigger electrical storms. Hailstorms Anderson & Schroder (2010) argue that hailstorms are a characteristic outgrowth of a thunderstorm which is severe, in which lumps which are irregularly shaped or balls of ices greater than 0.75 inch in diameter fall with rain. They occur more often during the early summer and late spring, at the time when jet stream migrates northward across the Great Plains. Hailstorms result into almost $1 billion in crop and property damage every year. Snow avalanche It is a sliding of snow or a mass of ice that moves at very high velocities. It could shear trees; entirely cover highway routes and whole communities, and level buildings. Human induced and natural snow avalanches most often do result from structural weaknesses or shortcomings in the snowpack. The primary threat is the loss of life of climbers, backcountry skiers, and snowmobilers as a result of suffocation if they are buried in avalanche. Land subsidence It is the loss of surface elevation caused by the removal of subsurface support; varies from broad, regional lowering of the land surface to localized collapse. The major cause of a majority of subsidence is human activities: underground mining of ground water, coal, petroleum and organic soil drainage. Tsunami emergency management systems and examples in practice The community internationally has reacted to numerous human and natural disasters over time, from famine and war to floods and earthquakes. Some national and international agencies have put procedures in place to enable the delivery and collection of aid to the affected areas. Moreover private and nongovernmental organizations usually give assistance to the process. Aid mobilization for areas hit by tsunamis has been expedited owing to the huge extent of the damage in human life and property (Anderson & Schroder, 2010). Tsunami detection, observation and prediction form half of a good warning system. The remaining half entails communication that is effective to facilitate adequate warning to the communities of areas which have a potential of being affected. All of the tsunamis warning systems are characterized by multiple lines of communications, comprising of fax, e-mail, radio, sirens and telex. The systems make it possible for warning to be sent to the armed forces, emergency services, and civilian population. Systems have to be kept in place to make sure that when such messages are received, they are acted upon. Nevertheless, no warning proves to be effective without incorporation of affected areas population education. For the case of notification system purpose, tsunamis are grouped into distant or local tsunamis which are determined by how long it takes the tsunami to arrive at the area of concern. A tsunami that is local will arrive at the coast in minutes whereas a tsunami that is distant may arrive after some hours preceding its generation. A local tsunami can be occasioned by an event that is very local that affects a small area of the coast. An example of this is Lituya Bay, Alaska tsunami which resulted from a local landslide and generated wave run-ups as high as 525 meters which is about 1700 feet. Affected areas by regional events are to a large extent smaller than those affecting the whole Pacific. Due to either a lower level of energy given out or geographical configuration of the region, the spread of tsunami is hindered. An apt example of a regional tsunami is the one that came from off the coast of the Philippines in which about eight thousands people lost their life. According to Botan & Hazleton (2006), a local tsunami can also be occasioned by a major event that possesses Pacific wide or regional effects and consequently it can be considered to be both distant and local. For instance, a tsunami produced on the coast of Chile but is distant to the coast of Japan and the United States. Loss of life and damage to property is more experienced to the source in an event that produces a Pacific-wide tsunami (Regester & Larki, 2005). Tsunami warning centers The tsunami warning centers which are operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) possess the primary mandate of issuing tsunami notices within their areas of responsibility particularly through emergency officials. Managing and coordinating evacuations is the responsibility given to local emergency personnel. The warning centers are responsible for warning emergency officials who in turn notifies and direct the local efforts of evacuation. Two warning centers are found in the United States and Canada. We have Pacific Tsunami Warning center (PTWC) and West Coast/ Alaska Tsunami Warning center. West Coast warning center is locate at Palmer in Alaska and possesses the sole responsibility of issuing warnings about tsunami to coastal locations of Oregon, California, British Columbia and Alaska. Tsunami warnings, advisories, watches, messages and information bulletins are given out basing on the magnitude and location of the earthquake. The bulletins issued by West Coast warning center are defined as follows; According to Canton (2007), a warning indicates that there is the imminence of a tsunami and the coastal locations found in the area warned should look out and prepare for possible flooding. The prior warning is constituted on seismic information alone. Earth quakes experienced within the area registering responsibility of a magnitude over 7.0 sparks off a warning covering the coastal regions within two hours tsunami travel time from the epicenter. If the magnitude is above 7.5, the warned area is added to three hours tsunami travel time. For earthquakes occurring outside the West Coastal, warning will only be issued for earthquakes over M7.5 and for the locations within three hours tsunami travel time of the leading edge of the wave. While the tidal gage data showing that the tsunami is recorded, the warning is cancelled, incrementally expanded, or expanded to cover the entire West Coast in the event of a main tsunami (Kuppers & Zschau, 2003). Watch: An alert that is issued to areas outside the warned area. There are that constitute the watch is based on the magnitude of the earthquake. For earthquakes that are over M7.0, the watch area is 1 hour tsunami travel time from the warning zone. In earthquakes over M7.5, the watch area is three hours travel time from the warning zone. The watch can either be upgraded to a warning in subsequent bulletins or cancelled basing on the severity of the tsunami (Lindgreen, Hingley & Vanhamme, 2009). Advisory: A message given out when a major quake has occurred outside the AOR compelling PTWCM to issue out tsunami warning, and the event is either far enough away so that no region is in the warning /watch area or the tsunami has no threat to the AOR(Area of Responsibility). Advisories are updated every hour as PTWC gives out bulletins and could be upgraded to a watch or warning if necessary. Information Bulletin: Bulletins issued for earthquakes below warning threshold, but more than M6.5 which are unlikely to spark off a tsunami that is destructive. Unless further information is collected on generation of tsunami, only a single Information Bulletin is issued for an event. Information Message: A message issued for earthquakes less than M6.5 strongly felt along coastal areas of the area of responsibility. Its aim is to rapidly inform residents that there is no danger of tsunami. All the prior messages are based solely on seismic data. The West Coast center has come up with a state-of-the-art earthquake processing system that locates automatically and sizes potentially events that are responsible for tsunami worldwide (Lindgreen, Hingley & Vanhamme, 2009). Media coverage and public perception and response to a crisis When the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, the twin disaster got a lot of coverage from the media. Nevertheless it was not long before concerns about the situation prevailing at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor came to be a main focal point of the media. Danger seemed to loom-Possible clouds of radiation set to arrive in Tokyo within hours, more explosions, evacuations of employees from the reactors, and the possibility that a full core meltdown could happen. In every scenario of a crisis the media seem to amplify the crisis and focus more on what cannot be done as opposed to what is being done or what has been lost as opposed to what has been recovered. In so doing, the public feeds on negative media coverage that heightens the tension and causes more panic in the event of a crisis just like it happen in Japan. The major role of the media would have been sensitizing the public on the safe measure to take in such circumstances. The public has been of the opinion that the response to crisis is poor in many circumstances and the governments are caught unawares when such disasters happen despite there being warning systems about tsunamis. The public education has not been done adequately to enable the public take safe measures in crisis time (De Walle, Turoff & Hiltz, 2009). Post crisis recovery and continuity strategies Post crisis and continuity strategies are very important for making any country to come back to normal after a crisis. As it was witnessed in 2004 when the tsunami struck South Asia and also in 2011 when Japan was critically hit, it will take some time before the countries affected come back to normal. In Japan case there is a possible leak of nuclear meltdown radiation that would have a long term impact to the people. Post crisis recovery in some circumstances involves guiding and counseling for traumatized victims and compensation to start a fresh life when their homes are destroyed. Nongovernmental and international organizations like Red Cross have been on the forefront in proving basic equipments to the victims. Many developing countries lack any continuity and recovery programs that will ease the impact of any crisis (Veenema, 2007). List of References Haddow, G.D., and Bullock, J., 2007, Introduction to Emergency Management 3rded, Butterworth Heinemann, London. Canton, G.C., 2007, Emergency management: concepts and strategies for effective programs, Wiley-Interscience, Sheffield. De Walle V.B, Turoff M, & Hiltz, R. S., 2009, Information Systems for Emergency Management Advances in Management Information Systems, M.E. Sharpe, Anderson, J.T & Schroder, W.P., 2010, Strategic Risk Management Practice: How to Deal Effectively with Major Corporate Exposures. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Kuppers, N.A. & Zschau, J., 2003, Early warning systems for natural disaster reduction. Springer, London. Veenema, T.D., 2007, Disaster nursing and emergency preparedness: for chemical, biological, and radiological terrorism and other hazard. Springer Publishing Company, London. Lindgreen A., Hingley M.K. & Vanhamme J., 2009, The crisis of food brands: sustaining safe, innovative and competitive food supply. Gower Publishing, Ltd., Aldershot Hampshire. Botan C. H., & Hazleton V., 2006, Public relations theory II. Routledge, 2006 Regester M., Larkin J., 2005, Risk issues and crisis management: a casebook of best practice. Kogan Page Publishers, New York. Ramasamy S., 2006, Geomatics in Tsunami. New India Publishing, New Delhi. Read More