The Accomplishment of the United Kingdom in Mitigating and Monitoring Catastrophes - Term Paper Example

Accidents and Catastrophes Course Name and Code Institution Name Institution Code Students’ Name Students’ Number Instructors’ Name December 1, 2008 Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction……………………………………………………………..3 2.0 Accidents and Catastrophes…………………………………………….3 3.0 Classification of Catastrophes…………………………………………..4 3.1 Man Made Catastrophes…………………………………………4 3.2 Natural Catastrophes…………………………………………….4 4.0 Modern Day Threats in Preston…………………………………………4 5.0 Analysis of Catastrophes………………………………………………..5 5.1 King Cross Fire………………………………………………….5 5.1.1 Consequences………………………………………….6 5.1.2 Lessons Learned……………………………………….6 5.1.3 Legislation and policies……………….……………….7 5.2 Tsunami…………………………………………………………7 5.2.1 Consequences………………………………………….8 5.2.2 Lessons Learned……………………………………….8 5.2.3 Legislation and Policies………………………………..8 6.0 UK Disaster Management……………………………………………...9 6.1 Management Planning………………………………………….9 6.2 Legislation and Policies……………………………………….10 6.3 Reconstruction Strategies……………………………………...11 7.0 Conclusion…………………………………………………………….12 8.0 References…………………………………………………………….13 1.0 Introduction People die, planes falls and buildings are structural damaged by terrorism. Such incidents cause many deaths, loss of property and environmental spoilage. Such occurrences are usually termed has either catastrophes or accidents. Technological advancement, social decay, natural incidents results in economic loss, cultural discontent and environmental disability. Hence, the aim of this paper is to know the difference between an accident and a catastrophe and the classification of the catastrophe. A case study of Preston has a vulnerable location of catastrophe is analyzed with analysis of King Cross Fire and Tsunami as specific case studies that have occurred. The paper will then bring into consideration the accomplishment of United Kingdom in mitigating and monitoring catastrophes in terms of planning, legislation and reconstruction policies. 2.0 Accidents and Catastrophes/Disasters An accident is an unexpected and undesirable occurrence which usually results into damage. Accident in most cases is small e.g. a cut. However, an accident may become a disaster or catastrophe when it comes to the extent of impact that it has caused. Thus, catastrophe is impact that causes harmful effect that destabilizes both the environment and society. The impact to the area of incident determines whether an incident is accident or catastrophe (Reid 2000). When an incident occurs in a less populated region may not be called a catastrophe. An incident can occur in a city setting while another can occur in a less populated desert. Even if the causative agent is the same, the incident that occurs in the city is catastrophic while that in the desert may be termed as an accident. 3.0 Classification of Catastrophes In most cases, a catastrophe may be classified into two categories: man-made and natural catastrophe. The causative agent determines its classification. 3.1 Man-Made Catastrophe This is usually caused or influenced by the activities of human beings. In most cases, it results due to human intent e.g. terrorism, failure or error e.g. Chernobyl disaster and negligence such has the King Cross fire. Thus, man made catastrophes are those that are caused by man in an environment that has no adequate emergency management measures (Arnold 2000). Manmade disasters are further classified as either technological or sociological disaster. A sociological disaster is the one that is caused by human behavior such as terrorism activities or civil disorder. Technological disaster is caused by advancement of the way human operates. Examples are industrial hazards or structural collapse. 3.2 Natural Catastrophes This results without human initiative. Examples of natural disasters are tsunami, floods and earthquakes. It becomes a catastrophe when there are no developed measures that manage such issues. Thus the vulnerability of the inhabitants determines the extent of natural catastrophe. In most cases, natural disasters are classified into three groups: water disasters such as tsunami, land movement such as earthquakes and weather disasters such as droughts. 4.0 Modern Day Threats at Preston Preston is currently a city with inhabitants numbering 130,000. Thus, there are many weak points that make Preston to be vulnerable to catastrophes. Modern day threats can come in form of natural or man made catastrophe. Catastrophes that may occur include terrorism attack, transport failure, structural collapse and climate change. Terrorism is the most common catastrophe that is been experienced by many cities and Preston is not an exception. Thus, an attack by a terrorist group will have extensive damage to people, environment and economic situation of the city (Cockell 2003). Transportation network is developed, there are sea ports, airports, train line and road transport that are the pinpoints of technological damage. When a plane fails and falls, when there is a road accident it resulted into a catastrophe. Moreover, there are other types of catastrophes that may occur such as weather related problems and may adversely affect the society. 5.0 Analysis of Catastrophes/Accidents Many accidents and catastrophes have occurred in both the natural and man-made. Hence, an analysis of the king cross accident is the field of man-made accident and the tsunami in the category of natural accident is analyzed. The analysis then brings into consideration the consequences, lessons that were learned and legislations or policies that were enacted to curb such incidents (Greenberg 2006). 5.1 King Cross Fire It was a fatal underground fire that erupted in November 18, 1987. The incident occurred at the King’s Cross – St. Pancras that is the main interchange that is located at the London Underground. Generally, the station is divided into two parts; the subsurface station on the Metropolitan Lines and the Circle. The other part is the deep-level tube which is located in the Victoria Lines and the Piccadilly which is the Northern Part (Moodie 1992). The incident or the fire began in the shaft serving the Piccadilly Line. The Piccadilly line and the top level – ticket hall and entrances, were burnt out. The cause of the fire was a cigarette or a matchstick that was not extinguished and the fire was accelerated by the old escalator, poor cleanliness standards – the place was covered by fibrous detritus and grease. 5.1.1 Consequences The fire killed 31 people and injured more than 150 including a firefighter who died because of breathing associated problems. It created a lot of physiological stress to the families of people who were killed and this people doubled up among the bread winners of their families. The people died because they were not able to escape from the smoke and succumbed to it. The fire took placer in the evening hours, which is commonly referred to rush hour. It caused jam and many people delayed in various activities. The catastrophe may be termed has an institutional catastrophe because it is estimate that it caused a damage of more than £4.5 million. 5.1.2 Lessons Learned Ignorance and carelessness was one major incident that made the fire to spread. There were no visible flames and the smoke that was produced was clean which made the security to think that it was a false alarm. This is because the security had attended to more than 400 such incidents. Moreover, ignorance exhibited by the passengers in categorizing some parts of the station to be safer. This is through the belief that fire does not burn downwards. After the incident, passengers and security personnel saw the consequences of there ignorance because of the dead people and infrastructure damage. Careless on the side of authorities and management of the station was evident. Repairs and maintenance of the station was at a sorry state. The station was built at the period of World War II and since then there is no major maintenance and renovation that has taken place. Fibrous materials and grease that was lining the station was a responsibility that should have been checked by the management. Thus, the incident ensured that the management and security personnel ensured that they fulfilled there responsibilities (Sharer 2005). 5.1.3 Legislation and Policies Cigarette smoking had been banned within the station and any other London Underground, but it was not fully legislated. The incident resulted in full implementation of the smoking policy and legislation. Moreover, the wooden parts that were in the World War II era was replaced with modern and fire resistant steel. 5.2 Tsunami This is a series of waves that is created by the rapid displacement of a large body of water. It may be caused by volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, landslides and underwater explosions. Thus, tsunami involves large amounts of water and great energy which results in devastative consequences. An example of an earthquake that is caused by the underground earthquakes is the Thailand which was caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and the one that occurred in Alaska – Lituya Bay that was caused by landslides. For the purpose of this paper, analysis of the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake is incorporated. The epicenter of the earthquake was at the coast of Sumutra – Indonesia. The earthquake was of magnitude 9.1 to 9.3 and lasted for 8 – 10 minutes. It caused a lot of vibrations to many parts of the world with vibration of up to 1 cm in height. 5.2.1 Consequences Tsunami was disastrous and it affected eleven countries. The communities that inhabited the coastal line were covered by waves that had height of more than 30 meters. Among the eleven countries, the hardest hit was Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and Indian. It resulted to the death of 225,000 people. The tsunami destroyed worth of millions leading to many people loosing there live lines, causing damages and physical disability to people. Economies were affected and destruction of the countries’ infrastructure was large. 5.2.2 Lessons Learned Tsunamis to some extend can be mitigated. Living near the sea line or close to coastal waters is a risk business whether for issues that is related with tsunami but also to any problem that is associated with water. Flooding can resulted and to some extent can be a tsunami. It can be avoided by the movement of people to higher grounds. Educating the local community ensures that the people are informed and can maneuver when a disaster arise to reduce the effects and consequences of the disaster. The people will know the way that they will go to safer grounds or higher grounds, priorities to personal needs and assistances to other people. 5.2.3 Legislations and Policies Tsunami consequences have resulted in developing of measures that mitigates the consequences of water. There are equipments and facilities that have been developed those countermeasures tsunamis. Some equipments such has increase of river dike height, tsunami control building and tsunami seawalls have been developed. The community has been educated in measures that ensure that there is high potential and successful risk management when it occurs. The communities have been moved to safer parts or higher parts, tsunami control area, zoning of risky areas and creating buffer zones. Moreover, there are risk management systems that are used to ensure that there is an update of tsunami development. These include system for tsunami forecasting, disaster prevention, disaster evacuation and education ensures that disasters are managed. 6.0 UK Disaster Management 6.1 Disaster Management Plan The emergency management sector is directed to reduce or completely avoid large scale damage that may result because of a disaster scenario. Moreover, the responsibility of the disaster management is supporting the response to accidents and formulates ways that the affected region will be reconstructed. The aim of any disaster management plan is setting the steps that will be followed when disaster occurs; eliminating any shortcoming of institutions involved and lay down leadership structure to avoid the problem of power administration. Therefore, the stages are defined in terms of responsibilities and allocation of resources. The stages that are in United Kingdom disaster management plan are anticipation, recovery, assessment, prevention, response and preparation. Mitigation is methods and measures that are set to ensure that even if a disaster occurs, it is within controllable limits hence not catastrophic. Thus, it is a process that is developed to define long term measures that increases the chances of reducing disasters, reducing negative impacts, and develops ways that ensures future risks are managed. In the stage of preparedness, teams are developed in ways that they are supposed to rescue and administer fast aid and check the availability of resources. At this stage, command line and maintenance of the equipments are analyzed. Response is when the accident or disaster occurs. This stage includes the mobilization of equipments personnel and respondents to the area of incident. Hence, the stage brings together the stakeholders with each stakeholder performing a specified duty. The stakeholders come from private institutions, government agencies and local community. After the incident, restoration stage ensures that the community and environment is returned to its previous state. Measure such has re-employment, re-infrastructure and repairing of the services takes place. 6.2 Legislation Various legislations and policies have been passed by the government of United Kingdom. These legislations and policies determine the way that disasters can be mitigated, controlled and predicted. Moreover, there are legislations that determine which organizations are responsible for certain duties and forms the guidelines that the incident location is returned to the previous state or else better. The have been Acts of Parliaments that have been passed resulting in the creation of various legislation organizations such as the Civil Contingencies Secretariat which was commissioned in 2001. The main duties of the secretariat are to ensure that in plans for emergencies and are monitored by the Cabinet Office. The main responsibility among others for the Secretariat is to be resilient to challenges that are associated with catastrophes and to form a framework that ensures stakeholders can work together. Moreover, the Secretariat is entitled to develop strategies that curbs disasters and manages them resulting in resolving them. Thus, to accomplish these duties the Secretariat is divided into three divisions: Assessment, Operations and Policy. The Act of Parliament gives the British Government authority to employ any means during a time of emergency. An original Act of Parliament was passed in the 19th century - Civil Defense and Emergency Power and was replaced by the 2004 Civil Contingencies Act. This act is farther split into three parts. The first is the Local Arrangements for Civil Protection while the second part is Emergency power. The third part brings together the Local Arrangements for Civil Protection with the Emergency power. In each part, there are two respondents that are defined by the Act with specific responsibilities and play certain roles. Legislations are there that creates institutions that manage disasters. An example of such institution is the Institute of Emergency Management (IEM) which was commissioned in 1996. The aim of the institution is to bring together professionals and managers from varied fields of emergency into developing ways that will assist in disaster management and resolving disaster related issues (Folmer 1998). 6.3 Reconstruction Strategy The government of United Kingdom ensures that all stakeholders are incorporated when it comes to reconstruction of incident area. Hence, it employs a holistic strategy that brings in stakeholders and gives most privilege to the affect community. Thus, she uses an approach that determines the prevalence of the community and ways that prevents such disasters from occurring again or within manageable limits if it occurs. Therefore, some of the stakeholders that are involved in the restructuring are the insurance companies, non-governmental agencies and the owners of the affected assets. Such accomplishment requires a lot of planning and team work. Thus, the government has developed stages that ensures the success of a restructuring process and includes restoration proposal, regulatory process, funding arrangements among others. 7.0 Conclusion There are two types of catastrophes: man made and natural. However, the extent that accident becomes a catastrophe is determined by factors such as the vulnerability of the community or inhabitants. Preston is a vulnerable city that can experience disaster any time because of its technological advancement. King Cross Fire is an example of man made catastrophe while Tsunami is an example of a natural disaster. They bring into play the consequences that are witnessed if mitigation strategies are not put in place. Thus UK, has developed plans, legislation and reconstruction strategies that ensures that catastrophes are managed. 8.0 References Moodie, K. 1992. The King’s Cross Fire: Damage Assessment and Overview of the Technical Investigation. Fire Safety Journal, 18, pp. 13 – 33. Allyn, L. 1993. Man-Made Catastrophes: From the Burning of Rome to the Lockerbie Crash. New York: Prentice Hall. Greenberg, M. 2006. Disaster: A Compendium of Terrorist, Natural and Man-Made Catastrophes. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishers. Arnold, M. 2000. Managing Disaster Risk in Emerging Economies. London: Cambridge University Press. Sharer, L. 2005. Consequences of Catastrophes. Jakarta: Prentice Hall of Jakarta. Palmer, T. 2006. Analysis of Tsunami. New York: Oxford University Press. Reid, B. 2000. Natural and Man Made Disasters. Singapore: Prentice Hall Publishers. Cockell, C. 2003. Common Cause of Catastrophes/Disasters, Accidents. New York: Cambridge University Press. Folmer, M. 1998. Consequences of Climate Change. London: Longman Publishers. Read More