Disaster Response Activities

Disaster Response Activities
 

Warning. 

               This is the dissemination of information concerning the threat and danger that is likely or will occur. Warnings are ruined by delay and for that reason they require rapid release to all concerned. The result is to set-off preparation activities. The dispersion could be through radio, TV, mass texting and social media.

Evacuation.
              Evacuation means removing people from the area of risk, under imminent danger or been affected by a disaster the lives, emergency medical services being the source of urgency. In Kenya evacuation was recently seen with the evacuation of Kenyans from Sudan after clashes begun. During the floods in western Kenya small evacuations happen and migrations can be seen. The recent Westgate Mall terror attack made the country realize that training for such situations needs to be intensified to help evacuate people and quickly resolve terror related attacks.

From Bbc.

For evacuation to work some conditions are.

1. Accurate and timely warming system.
2. Clear escape routes.
3. An existing policy that requires all to comply with orders to vacate.
4. Public awareness of the evacuation plan.
Interestingly the evacuation of people from where drought or floods are ravaging is called crisis induced migration. We have seen these in western during floods and in norther Kenya where drought in almost an annual problem.

From Bbc

Disaster Management Awake: Response and Recovery.

Disaster Management: Response and Recovery.

      Responding to disasters is not a single institutions mandate and is rather the cumulative actions taken by several institutions and people against a disaster. It starts with mitigation warnings or emergency plans in action in the absence of a warning. When the disaster happens recovery and response has the primary function of meeting the basic needs of those affected until a solution is found. The solution should be permanent or sustainable and with the target being the sustainable livelihoods of the affected as a solution is sort for. The solution should promote faster recovery.

Disaster Response.

      Emergency response seeks to provide aid in maintaining life, health and mental health of the affected. The response can be in evacuation from hostile war zones, emergency health care, temporary shelter and relief food. This response has a main function of meeting the needs of the stricken until a solution is developed.

Aims of Disaster Response

The IFRC defines its primary aims in disaster response as rescue of people from immediate danger and stabilization of physical and emotional states of survivors with an extension of body recovery and restoration of power, water and basic needs.

The main aims of disaster response can be summed up as.
1.   To restore self-reliance and essential services quickly from those at greatest risk and under privileged.
2. Ensure the survival of the maximum number of affected.
3. Facilitate the repair/replacement of damaged infrastructure and encouraged the resumption of economic activities.
4. In the care of was and civil unrest the ago would be ensuring the protection of the civilians esp. with the collaboration of the ICRC and standing international conventions that must be complied.

Benson Mutahi Githaiga

Functional Annexes ..... Cont:of Development of the EOP

 Functional Annexes  

     This part of the development provides the specifications to roles and the responsibilities for the responders and gives direction on operations. Key to it is also is the inclusion of general terms that cut across responders. This helps in quick response in the event of a disaster or emergency.
     EOPs address matters of authority,direction and control, how information is to be exchanged and the communication path and the placement of early warming systems. It also deals with orders of evacuation, mass care, health and medical services and how resources will be managed. Other functions like emergency services, search and rescue and damage assessment are also clarified and the EOP can also have other miscellaneous activites of disaster management.
Exercising the EOP
     EOPs must be tested in development for obvious reasons. One such way is through preparatory training to orient staff of procedures and functions during a disaster. Another way which i think is more thorough is a table-top exercise that focuses mainly on responders and allows them to familiarize themselves with their functions/roles in the emergency system. This method involves them talking through different scenarios. The next phase would be to take the talk into a controlled mimicked emergency operation at an operation center. It involves verbal and written communications, telephone,radio and social media messaging.This moves to the Near-to Real exercises called field drills and there involve participants performing work orders. From here their is a full scale exercise, with all participants responding to the emergency with equipment and support like a real emergency. Next we shall look into publicizing the plan.

Thank you for reading my small research work into this field. I have now attained 1000 plus views. I will keep up the blog and keep hoping it stays relevant to you. 

Benson Mutahi Githaiga

Developing the Emergency Operation Plan.

        Emergency operation plan sets out the scope of activities required for community preparedness and response and has a declaration of what the community can realistically manage to do for themselves. EOP's are short term, and flexible to deal with likely changes that comes from the potential or real situations of emergency. Please not you are unlikely to have the mitigation strategy, administrative plan or the standard operating procedures contained in it. So how do we come up with an EOP? Well for one we need the following contained in it. A description of the plan, abstract, of contents, table of contents, Implementation, purpose of its section and the plans distribution. The document is to be assented by the head of the authority setting out the plan and thus giving it the validity, and authority it needs. The foundation of the plan is to be the prevailing laws and by-laws of the land.

Structure of the EOP

The EOP is specific in its layout as follows:

a)      Statement of Purpose – This is what the Plan seeks to achieve for citizens.

b)      Situation and assumptions – Statements of the emergency events, actual and potential, and describe the warning methods and any situations that may be peculiar/unusual to the community.

c)      Organization and assignment of responsibilities – Dealing specifically with how the jurisdiction will assign the emergency functions to carry out the Plan by roles of local officials in the emergency management structure.

d)      Concept of operations – This section describes the roles and relationships of government agencies, the private sector and how they interact with each other.

e)      Administration and logistics – The management of resources, general support requirements, and availability of services and support for all phases of emergency management and the policies set up to make these activities occur.

f)       Plan development and maintenance – This involve activities to keep the plan current and reflect changes that result from actual experiences in emergency management, changing emergency situations and assumptions, and modifications in the community’s profile.

g)      Authorities and references – These authorities and references apply to those statutes, executive orders, regulations, and formal agreements that pertain to any type of emergency.

h)      Definition of terms – This provides for a common understanding of the terms that will use in communication, directing and control in disasters.

(Courtesy of the VUSSC)