Analysis of Different Accidents and Catastrophes in the United Kingdom - Report Example

A REPORT ON ACCIDENTS AND CATASTROPHES Submitted to (INSTRUCTOR’S NAME) (INSTITUTION NAME) (ADDRESS) December 5th, 2008 by (STUDENT NAME) (INSTITUTION NAME) ABSTRACT The following report begins with an introduction of the topic concerning accidents and catastrophes. A general background of the various disasters that have taken in the recent past is given. The purpose of this report is then given followed by the scope. This is followed by a description of the methods used when conducting research for this report. Thereafter, then nature of accidents and catastrophes is given where a clear distinction between thee two events is given. This then leads to a classification of both accidents and catastrophes. After the classification, examples of different accidents and catastrophes in the United Kingdom are given together with their consequences. Terrorism and its impact are given as a major example of a catastrophe with great consequences. The report then takes a look at the disaster management plans of the United Kingdom. This is then tied into the disaster legislation as well as the government’s reconstruction strategies after disasters. The report summarily ends with a brief conclusion on the lessons learned from accidents and catastrophes that have occurred together with recommendations on how to deal with these disastrous events in future. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Contents 1 Introduction 2 Methods 4 The Nature of Accidents and Catastrophes 7 The Classification of Accidents and Catastrophes 9 Different Accidents and Catastrophes and their Consequences 10 Terrorism as a Modern Day Threat and its Impact UK Disaster Management plans, legislation and reconstruction strategies Conclusion Recommendations Bibliography INTRODUCTION Background The world has witnessed disasters of all kinds from time immemorial and these disasters are often unforeseen and result in great loss of life and property. Over the recent past, however, these disasters seem to have increased, not only in magnitude, but also in frequency. For instance, in just the past eight years, the world has witnessed such disasters such as the 9/ 11 terrorist attacks in the United States; the tsunami disaster in South Asia; hurricanes of all kinds in both the United States and South America; as well as earthquakes of great magnitudes particularly in Asian countries such as China. In addition, massive car and plane accidents have regularly taken place. These are just a few examples of the many natural and man made accidents and catastrophes that have hit the world in the recent past and are definitely a cause of concern to everyone. Purpose The main aim of this report is to understand the nature of accidents and catastrophes. In addition, this report seeks to analyse how accidents and catastrophes are classified. Further, the goal of this paper is also to look into various examples of accidents and catastrophes that the world has witnessed with an aim of deriving lessons from them so as to better deal with their consequences in future. Scope This report will mainly focus on accidents and incidents that have happened in this millennium so as to give the findings a fresh and relevant usefulness for these modern day times. In terms of the area this paper will focus on, the report will single out cases in the United Kingdom while at the same relating them to similar incidents that have taken place in other regions of the world. METHODS During the research work on this report, the main method of data collection was through secondary means of data collection. These sources of secondary data were obtained mainly from online internet sites as well as books and have been properly referenced in the report. THE NATURE OF ACCIDENTS AND CATASTROPHES There is often confusion about what accidents and catastrophes are and what the differences between them are. The two terms are often mistakenly used interchangeably by people so it is thus necessary to find out what the exact natures of these two events are. An accident by its very nature is an unfortunate or undesirable occurrence that happens unintentionally and often results in injury, harm, damage, casualty, loss; or; mishap1. It is often on a small scale; affecting a relatively small area and a limited number of people. Examples of accidents include automobile accidents; oil spills; and industrial chemical accidents. A catastrophe is a calamity that results in great misfortune and loss- an extreme ruin that often turns out to be irreversible and irremediable2. Catastrophes are wider in scale and affect a lot of people directly or indirectly. There is great loss of life and property and in many cases, the government of the area affected has to declare a national disaster and even has to intervene to help their citizen. Other countries may also step in to provide whatever financial and humanitarian assistance since the country affected may be unable to deal with catastrophe alone. Examples of catastrophes include terrorist attacks; earthquakes of great magnitudes; hurricanes, tsunamis; and so on. THE CLASSIFICATION OF ACCIDENTS AND CATASTROPHES As previously mentioned, defining accidents and catastrophes is often difficult. There are many general events that can be termed as accidents or catastrophes but this lack of specificity can often be confusing since even within these two events, there exist sub- groups. Not every accident is of the same degree and the same can be said of catastrophes. It has thus been seen to be necessary to classify or categorise accidents and catastrophes so as to differentiate them. This is important in that it affects the type and level of response that will be given to the accident or catastrophe. For instance, an accident of a greater degree will obviously be treated with more seriousness than a minor accident and so on. There is no one way of classifying accidents and different people have employed their own methods of classification. One way of classification, however, is by classifying accidents by the level of injury; type of location; and cause3. In terms of classification based on injury, an injury scale is often adopted to categorise the level of injury severity. In existence in the United States is what is known as the ANSI Injury Scale which categorises injuries that are non- fatal in three levels. The first level is Level A (also known as the Incapacitating Injury). Here, the injury causes the victim not to be able to walk, drive or resume with their ordinary daily activities. Examples of such injuries are: broken limbs; broken skulls; abdominal injuries; chest injuries; and unconsciousness during or after the accident4. Level B is also known as the Non Incapacitating Evident Injury and includes injuries that can be seen and that do not prevent a person from carrying on with ordinary activities. Examples are abrasions; head lumps; minor bruises; and so on. Level C injuries (also known as possible injury) are non- fatal and non- evident and examples include complaints of pain; limping; momentary unconsciousness; nausea; and so on5. Apart from classifying accidents according to the level of injuries, accidents are also classified on the basis of the type of location. In this classification, consideration is placed on where the accident took place6. Examples of accidents classified in this manner are: road accidents; factory accidents; rail accidents; air accidents; and so on. In addition, accidents can also be classified according to cause of accident. This is probably the most common way of accident classification. Examples of accidents classified in this manner are: car accidents; nuclear accidents; explosives accidents; train accidents; plane accidents; and so on. Catastrophes are similarly difficult to classify because different people have their own methods of classification. According to Posner (2004), however, there are four different types of catastrophe types. These are: natural catastrophes; catastrophic accidents which are caused by unfettered explorations of a scientific kind; catastrophes as unintended by products of technological progress; and lastly, intentional catastrophes7. Natural catastrophes are those that occur due to the forces of nature and examples are earthquakes and hurricanes. An example of a catastrophic accident due to unfettered scientific exploration could be the result of hyper- dense quarks produced in a physicist’s laboratory which causes the Earth’s compression within seconds. An example of a catastrophe as an unintentional by product of technological progress could be the case of global warming and/ or abrupt climate change. Lastly, an example of intentional catastrophes are terrorist attacks such as the 9/ 11 attack on the United States. DIFFERENT ACCIDENTS AND CATASTROPHES AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES As mentioned in the introduction, there have been several accidents and catastrophes that have occurred in the recent past and these have caused untold suffering and damage in terms of loss of life and property. In the UK, several road accidents have happened as well as catastrophes such as the 7/ 7 terrorist attacks that shook London. A good example of a catastrophe in the UK is the severe flooding that took place in the year 2000. In mid October of 2000, great gales brought wind speeds to up to 120 mph causing great destruction in much of Southern England. Severe flooding occurred, first in Sussex and Kent, then on to the rest of England where even a tornado ripped across Bognor Regis8. These floods had massive consequences for England. It affected food supply since it caused great damage to agricultural produce and crops. It also affected soil nutrition by increasing soil erosion. In addition, damage to homes and buildings was immense as the River Uck burst its banks even disrupting rail and road transport. It proved to be so expensive that a total of about £2 billion was estimated to have been used for reconstruction purposes and this definitely affected the British economy negatively9. TERRORISM AS A MODERN DAY THREAT AND ITS IMPACT A very relevant example of catastrophes has to be terrorist attacks. Terrorism has always been a global problem but the sheer scale of it has increased in modern times. The world has witnessed several terrorist attacks in the recent past including 9/ 11 in the United States; 7/ 7 in the United Kingdom; and so on. The most recent terrorist attack, however, happened just last month in India. The attacks, which have come to be known as the Mumbai attacks began on the 26th of November and lasted on until the 29th. Unlike in the past when terrorists almost always used bombs, these terrorist held people hostage at gunpoint, signaling a change in strategy. About 188 people were killed and around 293 were injured. The terrorists executed a co- coordinated attack in about ten places including the famous Taj Mahal Luxury Hotel and the Jewish owned Nariman House10. Like most of the terrorist attacks the world has experienced, the terrorists in this case are suspected to be Muslims. This has had a very negative consequence in that relations between Muslims and other religions have become strained. As a result, hostilities between religions become entrenched causing social relations between peoples of varying beliefs to be strained. To make things worse, ordinary Muslims without any evidence of terrorist leanings are increasingly being suspected of being terrorists and this has greatly angered the Muslim community in the United Kingdom and around the world who feel unfairly targeted and discriminated against. Another impact of terrorist attacks is that it causes erosion in privacy. Since governments have to protect their citizens from terrorism, they have resorted to often extreme methods to do so. In the United Kingdom, the most obvious of these measures has been increased surveillance especially in the form of a greater number of surveillance cameras in the streets. In addition, the government often taps phones and this has meant the creation of a feeling of one being constantly monitored and followed by the government. The greatest impact however has been in the unnecessary loss of lives and property. Many people have lost their lives and the lives of loved ones causing great emotional and psychological distress. In addition, millions even billions of dollars have been lost during the destruction of important buildings such as the Pentagon, the Twin Towers, the Taj Mahal Hotel, and so on. The money used by governments in tracing suspects also is very expensive and the Iraq war fought by the Americans in the name of anti- terrorism is a good example of how expensive terrorism can be. An estimated 1 trillion dollars has been spent so far in this war. UK DISASTER MANAGEMENT PLANS, LEGISLATION, AND RECONSTRUCTION STRATEGIES Following the 2000 UK fuel protests; the severe flooding of the same year; and the 2001 foot and mouth crisis in the UK, the UK government was forced to improve its disaster management plans. They formulated the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. It legislates the duties and responsibilities of all Category 1 responders concerning an emergency response. Consequently, Disaster Management training at the local level by the organizations that are ordinarily involved in disaster response has increased. The government takes this so seriously that professional courses are even given in the Emergency Planning College. Diplomas and undergraduate degrees are also given in various colleges around the UK11. Emergency preparation exercises are regularly conducted. A good example of such an exercise was carried out on 20 May, 2007 near Belfast in Northern Ireland where a forced crash landing of a plane was done at the Belfast International Airport. This was to adequately prepare the UK for the eventuality of a plane crash in future. Reconstruction strategies are pretty adequate in the UK. For instance, £2 billion was pumped in to reconstruct the damage caused by the sever floods of 2000. After 7/ 7, the government quickly jumped in to repair the damage caused to the underground train system. CONCLUSION From the above cases, several lessons can be learned. The most important lesson, however, is that most of the time, these events catch us unawares. The unfortunate truth is that accidents and catastrophes are part and parcel of life and they cannot simply be wished away. The government should thus be at the forefront of ensuring that the lives and property of their citizens are protected to lessen their suffering. RECOMMENDATIONS Here are some measures that should be adopted to prevent and/ or deal with disastrous events in future: Prevention of drunken driving to lessen road accidents. This should be done by enforcing laws on drunken driving. Improving security both internally and with border neighbours to lessen acts of terrorism through increase vigilance, surveillance; incorporating Muslims in anti- terrorism activities as opposed to isolating them; and strengthening the Anti- Terrorism Act. In cases of unforeseeable and unpreventable events, efficient disaster management should take place to ensure that less lives are lost and that the least amount of property is damaged. This can only be effectively done through the implementation of proper legislation and the creation of a hasty, national response unit to react when disaster strikes. BIBLIOGRAPHY Dictionary.com. Accidents. Available from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/accident. Accessed on 3rd December, 2008. Geurt, K et. al. Identifying and Ranking Dangerous Accident Locations: Overview Sensitivity Analysis. Available from http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:Ug--TZd8GtMJ:www.ictct.org/workshops/04-Tartu/C4_Geurts.pdf+common+accident+LOCATIONS&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=ke. 2008. Accessed on 3rd December, 2008. Harris, J. Is Global Warming Responsible for the Recent Spate of Floods? Available from http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/MJH/tes_floods/tesfloods.html. 2000, November 30. Accessed on 3rd December, 2008. MA Crime Analysts. Classifying and Categorizing Incidents. Available from http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:qXJ-boNF5YMJ:www.macrimeanalysts.com/articles/classification.pdf+how+to+classify+accidents&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=ke. 2008. Accessed on 3rd December, 2008. Posner, R. A. Catastrophes: Risk and Response. Oxford University Press: New York. 2004. Pupil Vision. Flooding in South East England. Available from http://www.pupilvision.com/yeareleven/rivers1.htm. 2000. Accessed on 3rd December, 2008. School Bus Transportation News. School Bus Accident Investigations. Available from http://www.stnonline.com/stn/occupantrestraint/seatbeltdebate/126.htm. 1998. Accessed on 3rd December, 2008. Wikipedia. Emergency Management. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_management. 2008. Accessed on 3rd December, 2008 Wikipedia. November 2008 Mumbai Attacks. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/26_November_2008_Mumbai_attacks. 2008. Accessed on 3rd December, 2008. Wordnet. Catastrophe. Available from http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=catastrophe. Accessed on 3rd December, 2008. Read More