"case studies" and "disaster"

Reading Summary 12:  :  Human Response to Extreme Events: a review of three post-tsunami disaster case studies.

Jeff Neal

Reference: Bird, Deanne K.,Chague-Goff, Catherine, Gero, Anna; Human Response to Extreme Events: a review of three post-tsunami disaster case studies; Australian Geographer, Vol. 42, No. 3,pp. 225239, September 2011

Theme: Risk and Crisis communication involve methods of how to communicate to the public and stakeholders information related to an emergency event.

Summary: To prepare to future tsunami's knowing that a tsunami may happen is important to prevent loss of life, Bird states the Australian Government has invest millions of dollars in the development of detection, monitoring and early warning systems.  Early warning systems will notify people of an approaching tsunami, that information must be joined with training the people what to do before and during and after a tsunami hits.

According to bird post-disaster surveys including video and questionnaires are critical in preparing for future events.  We must study the past tsunami's if we what to learn how to prepare for future tsunami's. This article looks at the following three tsunami's: Indian Ocean tsunami 26 December 2004, Java tsunami 17 July 2006, and the South Pacific tsunami on 29 September 2009.  When interviewing people involved in all three tsunami's they learned many valuable lessons.  It was evident that fewer people died in the 2006 tsunami because of what was learned in the 2004 tsunami.  People who were fishing along the shores ran to higher ground when waters started receding because of training they had received. The people were taught that they should run to higher ground as soon as they feel an earthquake, because it is possible for a tsunami to follow. One other important sign was the behavior of dogs and cats.  Two prior to the tsunami's  there was a noticeable absence of dogs and cats near the beach areas,  the animals seems to have a sense of what was coming. Like many disasters, following a tsunami the people needed homes, food, utilities, and work.

Following the recommendations were given at the conclusion of the study:

• Maintain and enhance community-based tsunami education activities for early warning and response;

• Work with communities to identify ways to facilitate the re-establishment ofpost-event livelihood opportunities.

• Establish an annual Tsunami Memorial Day to honor the lives lost and practice tsunami evacuation exercises.

Application to the lesson: This article made many good points, but the final results were similar to other types of disasters.  Preparations is critical, training and preparing prior to the disaster helps reduce losses and recovery.  I have learning many things in this class which center around gathering information and learning lessons from past disasters to help us in the future.                                                                                                                      

Application to emergency services: Emergency managers need to be prepared for disasters in their communities.  This article is a good example of the importance of CVA's and the importance of knowing our communities.  If we know what the hazards are and how our communities will be affected in the event of a disaster than we will be able to design a disaster preparedness plan that is affective.   We need to learn from the past so that we do not keep making the same mistakes.  From this article it appears this is happening.