I would like to add my thanks to Ilan and to everyone who has contributed to this chain.
I have one comment on Kelly's interesting points and then an intervention of my one.
Concerning Kelly's point number 5, I suspect in some situations there are TOO MANY responders. They need accommodation, protection, coordination. For example, there were probably too many responders, especially young volunteers, after the Kobe earthquake.
My own recent work (with others) has been to try to find win-win links between DRR activities and routine work of people working in a number of development sectors. This is a table I have been playing with. What do you think? (By 'win-win' I mean that without out more resources or diversion of staff time, tweaking of the 'how's' of development work can both help to reduce disaster risk while providing more sustainable delivery of the sector's mission).
Sectoral Implications of NEO Hazard
Food security
Consideration should be given to regional stockpiles and alternative logistical arrangement to getting food to survivors as well as, for smaller impacts, de-centralised municipal stockpiles at different points in urban space. [Note much food security work focuses on localisation and ‘food sovereignty’, and this is not incompatible with precautionary regionalisation and decentralisation.]
Livelihoods
Already USD 530 billion is remitted to families by people working as migrants. This is likely an underestimate and is also larger than the total annual ‘development assistance’ provided worldwide (World Bank 2012). Remittance can form an important lifeline and means for disaster recovery. Efforts should be made to break the oligopoly of a few large companies and banks that take large commissions for the transfer of such funds.
Natural Resource Management
Just as the legal, policy and practical aspects of relocation due to sea level rise or repeated inland flooding are being pursued, relocation of survivors following a large NEO impact needs to be considered. However, lessons from decades of relocation experience after disasters and following construction of high dams teaches that people’s knowledge of the new natural resource base and the ways they have been used to managing soil, water need adjustment in the new location.
Water, Sanitation & Hygiene
Secondary fires and chemical spills may contaminate water sources over a large area. Contingency plans need to (WASH) provide rapid delivery of water from long distance regional sources, rapid decontamination and public education about home/ neighbourbood based decontamination of water.
Education
Glass in school windows should ideally be shatter-proof, and students should be drilled in sheltering in place as an add-on to their earthquake and fire drills. As new schools are built and others enjoy seismic retrofits, the use of shatter-proof glass should be considered.
Health
Large numbers of casualties should be expected in even a small NEO impact, such as in Russia, where more than 1,000 were injured. Lacerations and burns are likely to be the most common injuries. Wound management should be taught to cadres in each school, workplace and office. First aid materials need to be pre-positioned. Public health concerns will arise in shelter situations and due tconstraints on WASH.
Protection
Unaccompanied young survivors will need special protection, as well women, children, GLBT individuals, minorities, the disabled and the elderly in shelter and resettlement situations where they might be preyed upon. Forced relocation following an NEO impact raises the same human rights issues as forced migration due to climate change.
All the best,
BEN
-----Original Message-----
>From: kelly <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Feb 23, 2013 10:17 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Meteorite Disaster - relative risks, etc./What you can learn
>
>I think that it is important to use natural, even if rare, events to learn
>about how natural hazards and their consequences can be better managed. So,
>from scanning news stories and a little research, this is some of what we
>may have learned:
>
>1. There is no consistent warning system for "small" solid objects hitting
>the earth, until they get close enough for you to see them. Or is there, and
>it failed?
>
>2. Overpressure can cause a lot of damage to specific elements of the built
>environment. These impacts are much like some of those encountered in
>earthquakes, and mitigating one could mitigate the other. (It would be
>interesting to learn whether specific types of glass or windows were damaged
>more, or less, as an entry point to considering whether the are specific
>seismic safety lessons about windows which can be documented.)
>
>3. Social reactions, as discussed by Cope, may not be too different by
>different types of disasters, i.e., to go out and look, maybe not the safest
>thing to do for most sudden onset events.
>
>4. There is an global network of infrasound stations set up to monitor
>nuclear events, which can also be used to monitor meteors, volcanic
>explosions and similar events, apparently with some precision. NASA used
>data from these stations to establish the size and explosive energy of the
>Russian meteor. See
>http://www.ctbto.org/verification-regime/potential-civil-and-scientific-appl
>ications-of-ctbt-verification-data-and-technologies/ and
>http://news.yahoo.com/russian-meteor-blast-bigger-thought-nasa-says-23492018
>9.html.
>
>5. Russia mobilized a large number of responders (20,000 by media accounts)
>to provide assistance. Having a large population, large military and large
>national civil defense agency seems to be good for the rapid respond to
>disaster, even unusual ones. But what if you don't?
>
>6. Cameras, including those on phones, on dashboards, and for monitoring,
>played a key role in documenting, and quickly transmitting data about, the
>event. This is again a demonstration of the shift in disaster related
>information flows from single channel official reporting to multi-channel
>mass reporting. If this is the future, we need to rethink the role of
>official channels in disaster reporting and response, and not just for
>terrorist events (one of the lessons from the tube bombings). Already, news
>organizations such as the BBC encourage uploads from those involved in
>events, and can base their reporting on these uploads.
>
>So I tend to support Terry's concern that the list should focus on relevant
>matters, but also think list members should use the list to share
>information and ideas. Thus I thank Ilan for starting the thread and expect
>some of the members to look further into the points above.
>
>Regards,
>Kelly
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