System Approach in Managing a Disaster - Report Example

System Approach in Managing a Disaster This paper is prepared and submitted by [Client’s Name] In partial fulfillment of the course syllabus [Subject] Submitted to [Professor’s Name] [Date] Disasters do a lot of damage to lives and properties that communities and societies where they strike. For this reason, communities and societies put much effort to ensure that disasters would not happen and their impacts to the community are lessened to controllable levels. But disasters do not just happen, especially those disasters that are influenced or caused by mankind. There is always a string of events which could be deliberate mistakes, unconscious actions, or totally unrelated phenomena that affects or influence disasters as they occur (Kates, 1971). In other words, disasters are not just local events in space and time; they are connected multi-parallel events in the past that have reached its tension point where everything begins to crumble in very fast and complex manners. Because disasters are not instantaneous and do not occur in a localized point in space and time, understanding them should also not focus on this singular event. In fact, most disasters are not caused by one fatal mistake but rather by a series of mistakes that occur somewhere in the elements that have direct or indirect exposure to that one single event (Blaikie et al, 1994). Hence, there is a need to address disasters using a systemic approach and the best causation model to use is Pressure and Release model. Pressure and Release Model In essence, Pressure and Release model comprehensively accounts the factors that contribute to the disaster. This is because Pressure and Release model is able to explain both natural and man-induced disasters in the same plane of analysis because the model does not look on the event itself but takes into consideration the social, political, and economic vulnerabilities of a community which in some ways explains why disasters occur, why the community was not able to deflect the disasters, and why the aftermath of the disaster escalated to higher and complex levels. Pressure and Release model identifies two different vulnerabilities that lead to disastrous events. These vulnerabilities are the social vulnerability and the natural (or physical) vulnerability. Pressure and Release model argues that the balance between these two vulnerabilities explains disasters and their aftermath. The social vulnerabilities are collectively known as the progression of vulnerabilities and are composed of (a) the root cause, (b) the dynamic pressures, and (c) the unsafe conditions leading to the disastrous event. The root cause refers to the limited access of communities to power, structures and resources. At the same time, this also pertains to the existing social, political, and economic systems adopted by communities which, because of the nature of the existing systems of the community (or a country) results to microcosmic and macrocosmic forces that further deteriorates the vulnerability line. An example of the root cause is the existing political ideologies of a country which, say, tolerates corruption and unethical governance. This leads to a snowball effect where dynamic pressures in the society is being explored and exploited. Some of the many examples of dynamic pressure are the lack of local investments, lack of press freedom, and the rapid change in social demographic pattern. Since the root and the stem are corrupted, one can easily expect to get a corrupted social system that is very vulnerable to physical disasters. When the social vulnerabilities are not enough to balance the pressure brought about by the natural hazards, the whole system collapses in one single disastrous moment. Pressure and Release model further proposes that the magnitude of the disaster is defined by the amount of pressure from the natural hazard multiplied by the degree of vulnerabilities of the community where the disasters occur. Application to Haiti Disaster Haiti is very much vulnerable to natural hazards. The country has experienced various natural disasters like typhoons and earthquakes in the last few centuries that it is no longer naïve when it comes to disaster management issues. However, the lack of strong social and political systems of Haiti plus the unwillingness of the Haitian government to participate and play an active part in the social and moral development caused various social and political decays which encourage corruption and systemic thievery. As a result, many of the country’s social and political agencies turned a blind eye on social issues like poverty and lack of housing space. This further resulted to people laying houses with weak and unstable foundations all over Haiti. Even before the earthquake struck, Haiti is a time bomb waiting to explode at the right moment. As was seen, Haiti was caught off-guard when the earthquake struck and worse, the devastation was so immense and widespread it almost left Haiti with nothing to start with. Expectedly, the Pressure and Release model was able to give an almost accurate, system-wide explanation of the social failures that contributed to the devastation in Haiti. This implies that since the model was able to correctly, if not accurately, determine the primary events leading to the disaster; it can also be an excellent tool to use in preventing disasters of similar magnitude in the future. References Blaikie, P. et al,. (1994). At risk: natural hazards, people's vulnerability, and disasters. 1st ed. London: Routledge Kates, R. (1971). Natural hazard in human ecological perspectives: hypotheses and models. Economic Geography 47 (3):438-451. There is much gravity in the simple statement “disasters are events that should not happen”. Disasters are not isolated occurrences in space and time where things just snap off and turned into disastrous moments. Rather, disasters are made up of events and simple mistakes that stretch for a long period until such time where the tension is no longer manageable, or when there is too much pressure on one side for the other side to resist, and everything snaps together into the disastrous events that could change lives. Had the various elements involved in the accident, from the central government to the organization-specific stakeholders, performed their duties and were serious of their responsibilities, no disasters could have occurred. Two of the disasters that could have been prevented had the system honestly performed their jobs and function are the Haiti Earthquake and the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Haiti Earthquake   The recent earthquake that took Haiti by surprise was probably among the strongest that occurred in the century. The devastation was so immense that there is no doubt of the systemic failure that is partly to blame for such an immense infrastructural damage and loss of lives. Below is the outline of strategies that could have been used or implemented to lessen or prevent failure: Outline of Strategies: Haiti Earthquake 1 – A strong, firm, and ethical government needs to be established. It was identified that the lack of accountability and ethics in the Haitian government led to various social problems like poverty, unemployment, and corruption. The Haitian society should have had established a clean government devoid of any sins of modern society; a government that is sincerely concerned with the status and situation of the people; and a government that looks forward to serve the interest of the mass. By establishing this form of government, common issues like construction standards for residential buildings could have been implemented well and damages in lives and properties of this magnitude could have been avoided. (b) Haiti should have created local and national disaster management and emergency response committees that are tasked to oversee all emergency evacuation and distribution of aid in case of emergencies. Some of the main issues accounted on why there is much difficulty in addressing the rescue and emergency operations right after the earthquake were the decentralization of power and a weak chain of command. Haiti is not prepared to tackle major disaster issues and it did not made sure that it would be able in the future. So when disaster struck, it took a considerable time before the Haitian government was able to handle rescue and operations mission. It also took a while before Haitian government was able to effectively integrate external aides into its own rescue, emergency, and rehabilitation plans. (c) Haiti should have created a committee that handles, allocates, and distributes external help and support. The function of this committee is very similar to that of the previous committee but instead of handling internal responses to emergency situations, this agency will only focus on how to elect, allocate, and distribute emergency response units and resources from foreign countries and integrate external help with the internal disaster management strategies. Hurricane Katrina When hurricane Katrina hit United States, the world was shocked to realize how unprepared and incompetent the disaster management system of United States. The damage that the country took was immense but what surprised the world was the lack of proper coordination of various agencies of the government when it comes to responding to the immediate needs of the victims. Below is an outline of strategies that could have been used or implemented to lessen or prevent failure: Outline of Strategy: Hurricane Katrina 1 – There should have been a central body that will be made responsible for the creation and implementation of disaster management strategies as well as handle and coordinate all emergency responses from various levels of the society. This is the primary issue during the disaster management phase of the Hurricane Katrina. Help and emergency responses were pouring in but there was no central body to control and regulate these contributed efforts and resources which resulted to an inefficient disaster management implementation. By creating a centralized body that will be responsible for the distribution and deployment of resources during emergencies, victims will have a fair idea which department could help them while volunteers can work well with other volunteers because a central body is overseeing their movements. 2 – The local government, knowing that it is a direct path to strong typhoons, shouldhave created fool-proof evacuation plans in such events. 3 – Decision making during an emergency should have come from one single agency to avoid confusion on the part of the victims and the volunteers. 4 – Infrastructures should have been fortified along river banks and shorelines to keep the water from getting into the mainland. 5 – The drainage system of the city should have been regularly cleaned and maintained to avoid clogging during heavy rains. 6 – Budgets for disaster management should have been increased in areas that are direct path to strong typhoons like New Orleans. References Arthur, C. (2002). Haiti in Focus: A Guide to the People, Politics, and Culture. Interlink Publishing Group CIA World Factbook. (2005). Haiti. Retrieved online from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html Robinson, R. (2007). An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President. Basic Civitas Read More