Disasters and Infrastructure

            

       There is most certainly a relationship between various elements to disasters. Lets first look at disasters mitigation and infrastructure. According to ESCAP,1995. Asian and the Pacific Report on Natural Hazards and Natural Disaster Reduction. There is a significant reduction in loss of life from what then was an annual average of 100,000 during the past 50years then to 41,000 persons during the past 15years and this progress is tied to infrastructure development. Investment in disaster management infrastructure generally falls into,
1. Investment in infrastructure to support sustainable socioeconomic development.
2. Investment in infrastructure for reconstruction and recovery.

picture of viterbi.usc.edu

Obviously some considerations must be taken. These are,

A. Operations. This means operations are able to continue in the event of a disaster. Backup generators and communication tools are among the most crucial. It also means that essential goods need to be backed up in case of a disaster. Medical supplies are a great example.

B. Critical information and communication.

This to ensure that critical information is backed up and that the information is easily accessible. It can be information on employees, financial information and customer data for example.

C. Infrastructure planning. This elements need that the planning to have a foresight and thus it can best be done when the conceptualisation of the projects to properly address natural mitigation needs. The design should take into account the prevailing hazards and thus methods that can be used in the infrastructure planning to prevent, minimize the effects of events prevalent in their jurisdiction. For example people living in Nyando in Western Kenya should always build their
facilities and homes in a site that ensure that the effects of flooding are not adverse. After the site then the designs should have structural systems that minimize the effects of the event. Asian engineers for example have been building structures that take into account the likely hood of earthquakes using construction materials that fit their needs and working with architects to ensure the design is safer than conventional structures.

D. Mitigation Activities at Home.

 This comes as a bolster in my opinion to infrastructure planning only that it now comes down to a domestic level. Through home improvement and initial planning of the house a family can become safer and able to survive a disaster. Stronger roofs can for one minimize the effects of strong winds and a safe room can mean life or death to a family or community. In the wider scope of things it would be important to ensure that homes build in these areas are by law required to be of a set safety standards meaning building codes must be created to meet this requirements. They are challenges to these activities especially in rural Africa and in slums.

E. Insurance.  This ensures that all valuables are insured against the hazards that can affect them.

blog.fema.gov

Benson Mutahi Githaiga
Disaster Management Enthusiast

References

Emergency Management: the American Experience,1900-2010. ed. Claire B.Rubin 

http://www.google.co.ke/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDsQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.col.org%2FSiteCollectionDocuments%2FDisaster_Management_version_1.0.pdf&ei=TU0fUu2pCcPD7AaN5YCwBw&usg=AFQjCNFTu0x4d83emTdP7PeqNce5_tocqw&bvm=bv.51495398,d.ZGU

http://www.google.co.ke/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&ved=0CFkQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gobookee.net%2Fintroduction-to-disaster-management%2F&ei=TU0fUu2pCcPD7AaN5YCwBw&usg=AFQjCNGfJUQc_bdnzhgRaoFoKkVLME69bw&bvm=bv.51495398,d.ZGU