ENGINEERS’ ROLE TOWARDS DISASTER MANAGEMENT Mumtaz Hussain Chief Editor, The Environ Monitor, W 715, Defence Housing Authority, Lahore-54792 theenvironmonitor@gmail ENGINEERS’ ROLE TOWARDS DISASTER MANAGEMENT Mumtaz Hussain Chief Editor, The Environ Monitor, W 715, Defence Housing Authority, Lahore-54792 theenvironmonitor@gmail ABSTRACT Occurrence of disasters whether natural or man-made has been haunting the humanity since the dawn of civilization. Among the natural hazards volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, cyclones, forest/shrub fires, landslides, droughts, storms (dust, hail etc), tsunamis and cyclones are the prominent ones. Common examples of man-made disasters are transport accidents, industrial accidents and outbreak of environmental diseases like plague. History is replete with the worst types of man-made hazards like road/rail accidents, structural failures, nuclear breaches and industrial leakages. Disasters result in colossal losses of life and property depending on intensity and duration of the causative agents. Natural disasters occur without warning whereas behavior of the artificial disturbances may be reasonably predicted. Contingency plans should be formulated for minimizing the negativities of the damages. Disaster Management Cells should be established both in public and private sectors to take immediate mitigation measures to minimize the likely damages at local levels. Professional ethics stress upon the engineers to serve humanity at all levels against natural and man-made disasters. They may do so in design and other stages of a development project on occurrence of disasters they are called upon to help the marooned people with their knowledge and experience of rescue, relief & rehabilitation without discriminating the people because of colour, creed, region or religious belief. 1. PREAMBLE 1.1 Historical Perspective 1.1.1 General · Natural hazard is defined as natural event causing sudden disruption of normal societal life and damage to life and property to an extent that available social and economic infrastructures become inadequate for restoration of normalcy. · Disasters have haunted the humanity through ages. Human beings have been facing both natural and man-made diseases since the time immemorial. Climatic impacts, geological upheavals and hydrological surges have led to occurrence of disasters like flood, earthquakes, cyclone, hurricanes, landslides, snowmelts, erosion, sea water intrusion, droughts, wildfires and volcanoes. The human beings contribute towards occurrence of such crisis situation by misappropriating and ill-managing the natural resources. · The natural disasters are part and parcel of ecosystems and biosphere. These are bound to happen if natural disorders take place. The man has been living with these disasters and has developed social and cultural practices/wisdom to cope with the untoward situations. 1.1.2 International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction Having realized the immense socio-economic devastations caused by the natural disasters the United Nations had declared the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (1990-2000) which was then celebrated all over the world. Such events need to be held regularly for the purpose of mass education. 1.1.3 Man-Made Disasters · Man-made disasters include such examples as transport accidents, industrial accidents, nuclear power plant accidents and environmental diseases like plague. These accidents have resulted in huge losses of life and property. · The world community still remembers the Chernobyl tragedy of the year 1986. The nuclear power plant developed failures in a very short time leading to heavy death toll of human beings and animals, incapacitations and spread of diseases in many countries all around. · The lscocyanate plant in Bhobal (India) led to death of hundreds of persons and incapacitation of many. This is one of the worst examples of industrial accidents on account of which the Company had to suffer from huge financial losses. 2 NATURAL DISASTERS 2.1 History is replete with natural calamities which have occurred from time to time. These had been affected due to natural phenomena which are beyond the control of the human beings. Climatic disasters occur because of factors like LA NINA, EL NINO, Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depleting substances. Earthquakes have been caused due to abrupt geological changes in the Earth Mantle. Floods occur because of heavy rains in the catchment area, sedimentation and denudation of the area. A few examples of the severe natural disturbances are quoted in the succeeding paragraphs. 2.2 In the year 1998 because of flooding caused by Yangtze River 3,000 people lost their lives. More than 13,000 people died during hurricanes in the Caribbean. 2.3 In the 1990s according to Centre of Geneva, CICC natural hazards had risen three times vis-à-vis the 1960s. However the economic losses had increased nine times. In the earthquakes of Turkey and Taiwan 45,000 and 1,600 persons lost their lives respectively. 2.4 From the 1960s to 1999, 8,000 major natural hazards had occurred at the global level. 2.5 In Pakistan serious floods have occurred after every 4-5 years since its creation (1947). People still remember devastating floods of years 2010, 2011 and 2012. 2.6 Earthquake of 1935 had played havoc in Quetta city of Pakistan. Similarly earthquake had brought huge destruction in Azad Jammu & Kashmir and northern areas of Pakistan including Khyber Pakhtunkhawa on 08 October 2005. 3 DISASTERS PREPAREDNES 3.1 Preparedness is one of the most challenging activities which an establishment faces during the pre-disaster period. When combined with principles of prevention and protection, preparedness for meeting the impending disaster pay more dividends. 3.2 Prevention of Hazard 3.2.1 Risk Assessment It is required to judge the impacts of hazard intensity and vulnerability of the area. It can assist in formulating the action plan for hazard prevention. 3.2.2 GIS and remote sensing are the tools by which the hazard maps and threat maps may be prepared. These can lead to effective management of the disasters. 3.2.3 Early warning systems and the forecasting procedure are very important factors in preventing or controlling the negative impacts of the disasters. People living in the hazard prone areas need to be informed well in time about the forthcoming disaster. 3.2.4 Preparation of Action Plans · There is requirement of preparing action plans for varying situations. Such contingency plans should be prepared during periods of normalcy so that these may be implemented without any hesitation. 3.2.5 Communication Network · A plan cannot meet success unless information is passed to the relevant quarters well in time. The information must be communicated from lower to higher echelons and vice versa. Timely warning about the imminent hazard can save life and property in the marooned areas. · Neighbouring countries should speedily exchange data about the current situation regarding the hazard. Also for the sake of humanity the comity of nations must communicate with one another and publish the respective researches and experiences. The ultimate aim is to protect life and property from the ill impacts of environmental hazards. 3.2.6 Awareness Among Masses · Both formal and information education about the multifarious aspects of the hazards be imparted to the common people. Therefore the ultimate affectees of the hazards are the masses. · Demonstration need to be arranged so that the people may learn how to prevent the hazards as well as how to protect against these. 3.3 Problems Faced During Post-Disaster Period It is commonly observed that the local/district government lacks the existence of an effective disaster management organization. In fact such organizations/cells are just made on papers in light of the relevant rules of business. Since they do not have proper establishment and resources and are based on adhockery, they may provide lip service during emergency. A few problems faced on occurrence of a hazard are mentioned below: 3.3.1 Development of panicky situation in various walks of society. 3.3.2 Disruption of essential services like water supply, sewerage disposal, electric supply and gas supply. 3.3.3 Failure of communication networks. 3.3.4 Lack of coordination among the relevant departments. 3.3.5 Disjointed rescue and relief works. 3.3.6 Efficiency of ill organized and poorly trained NGOs. 3.3.7 Delay in commencement of rescue/relief/rehabilitation works. 3.3.8 Slow mobilization of government departments. 4 ENGINEERS AND MANAGEMENT OF DISASTERS 4.1 General 4.1.1 There is mounting necessity of evolving National Disaster Management Council to be headed by the President/Prime Minister. Each province should have Provincial Disaster Management Council whose Chief Executive should be Chief Minister/Senior Minister. National Centre for Disaster Management should be set up under the Federal Government. Similarly each province should have its own Provincial Centre. Disaster Management Policies need to be formulated at federal and provincial levels. 4.1.2 It is encouraging to note that Ministry of Disaster Management has been established at federal level. Similarly each province has its own Disaster Management Authority. In addition Earthquake Reconstruction & Rehabilitation Authority has been (ERRA) formed in Islamabad. 4.2 Role of Engineers 4.2.1 Professional ethics demand that the engineers discharge their duties with the utmost responsibility for the welfare of society without any fear and prejudice. They express their technical vows at all for a, platforms and occupations. The political hierarchy must incorporate the engineers at the policy planning down to the executive levels. 4.2.2 Engineers will keep in mind the golden principle of Pre-action, Prevention and Preparedness with respect to natural as well as man- made disaster while planning, designing and executing any development activity at local, national, regional and global frameworks. 4.2.3 They will prepare the technical manuals and guidelines for coping with the pre-occurrence. During crisis and Post Disaster situations for awareness of the masses and the concerned authorities. The underlying objective is to rehabilitate the victims and rebuilt/repair/retrofit the infrastructure in the shortest possible time for restoration of the civic facilities. 4.2.4 They ought to make use of the traditional technologies and local materials for the purposes of reconstruction. Benefits of information technologies should be made use of effectively. 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Conclusions 5.1.1 In general suitable linkages do not exist among the stakeholders from the community level to the global scenario. 5.1.2 Both the masses and technocrats are not equipped with the required financial, organizational and technical skills. Mostly the mitigation plans are neither comprehensively formulated nor subsequently made public and rehearsed. 5.1.3 The crisis related institutions are not equipped with the required financial, organizational and technical skills. Mostly the mitigation plans are neither comprehensively formulated nor subsequently made public and rehearsed. 5.2 Recommendations 5.2.1 Engineers must be made active member of Integrated Disaster and Development Teams at all echelons of civic society. 5.2.2 Engineers must keep them abreast with the latest technologies and educate themselves by formal and informal ways. REFERENCES · HSMI and HUDCO, (1999), Shelter, HUDCO-HSMI Publication, New Delhi · Hussain, M., (1998), Environmental Degradation: Realities and Remedies, Ferozsons (Pvt) Ltd, Lahore. · Hussain, M., Editor, (March 2004), The Environ Monitor (Special Issue on World Water Day), Lahore. · UNESCO, (1991), Standing up to Natural Disasters, Belgium.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 17:01:10 +0000
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