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E book Disaster Management and Preparedness

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Disasters come in many forms. Natural disasters kill one million people
around the world each decade, and leave millions more homeless. Natural
disasters may include earthquakes, floods and flashfloods, landslides and
mud flows, wild land fires, winter storms, and others. Technological disasters
include house and building fires, hazardous materials, terrorism, and nuclear
power plant emergencies. It is estimated that the economic damages from
natural disasters have tripled in the past 30 years — rising from 40 billion
dollars in the 1960s to 120 billion dollars in the 1980s. Some of the more
recent natural disasters have by themselves caused billion dollar losses. For
example, the World Health Organization has estimated that Hurricane
Andrew in 1992 caused 30 billion dollars in damages. The Northridge, Cal-
ifornia earthquake in 1994 also caused approximately 30 billion dollars in
damages. For other types of natural disasters such as flooding, it is estimated
that the 1995 south central Alaska floods caused 10 million dollars in dam-
ages. The May 1995 Ft. Worth-Dallas storm left 16 dead and caused damages
in excess of $900 million. Even worse were the 1995 southern California
floods which left 11 dead and caused over 1.34 billion dollars in damages.
The 1994 earthquake in southern California caused an estimated 13 to 20
billion dollars in damages.
Even more important is the issue of fires. Fire kills more Americans than
all natural disasters combined. Each year more than 5000 people die in fires
and over 25,000 are injured. It is estimated that the direct property loss
exceeds 9 billion dollars. The U.S. has one of the highest fire death rates in
the industrialized world. For example, in 1997, the U.S. fire death rate was
15.2 deaths per million population. Between 1993 and 1997, an average of
4500 Americans lost their lives, and another 26,500 were injured annually as
the result of fire. Fire is the third leading cause of accidental death in the
home and at least eighty percent of all fire deaths occur in residences.
The key to minimizing or controlling the cost and death toll of disasters
is prevention. This is not to say that we can prevent natural disasters but
we can minimize their effects. What this book shows is how we can evaluate,
prepare for, react to, and minimize damage brought on by emergencies and
disasters. One of the better examples of being prepared is a result of Exec-
utive Order 11988 of 1997. This is the floodplain management order is
worded vigorously to reduce the risk of flood loss, minimize the impact of
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floods on human safety, health, and welfare, and restore and preserve the
natural and beneficial values served by floodplains. The Office of Hydrology
and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have done an excellent job in working
toward preventing the damage from flooding.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee recently
approved unanimously an important piece of legislation to help the country
to prevent disaster damage. Senate Bill 1691 authorizes the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation Initiative, Project
Impact.
As this book discusses, the key is pre-planning and preparation — to
develop an action plan and follow it through. People selection and training
are crucial to the success of any disaster preparedness plan. This book will
go through, step-by-step, what you need to do to prepare for disaster and
prevent as much damage as possible

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

616.6 des t

Penerbit

USA : Lewis Publishers., 2001

Deskripsi Fisik

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Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

1-56670-524-X

Klasifikasi

616.6 des t

Tipe Isi

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Tipe Media

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Tipe Pembawa

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Edisi

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Subjek

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Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

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