Disaster Preparedness

Disaster Preparedness

Disaster  preparedness can best be described as measures put in place before a disaster event which are aimed at minimizing loss of lives, disruption of critical services and damage of property and infrastructure when disaster occur. Preparedness seeks to achieve a satisfactory level of readiness to respond to any emergency situation through programmes that strengthen technical and management capacity to governments, communities and individuals to build their capacities in order to reduce the impact of a disaster. According  to Global Crisis (2000) ‘’It is logistical readiness to deal with disasters and can be enhanced by having response mechanisms, procedures ,rehearsals, developing long term and short term strategies, public education and building early warning systems “It is therefore clear that the sole purpose of disaster preparedness is mostly to build people’s resiliency to different hazards which may cause a disaster. In the disaster management discourse, disaster preparedness is a pre­­­-disaster phase activity put in place before a disaster and goes hand in hand with mitigation although mitigation is surpassed by preparedness in most cases. To show the value of disaster preparedness, Virtual University (1998) argues that ‘’In local circumstances and because of proneness to disasters disaster mitigation is important but preparedness is doubly important “Thus disaster prepared if correctly implemented can built capacity, improve resiliency and reduce vulnerability to the vicissitudes of disaster.

 Disaster preparedness measures are put in place to achieve certain objectives prior before the disaster which threatens a particular community. Disaster preparedness includes implementation of mitigation measures to ensure that existing infrastructure can withstand the forces of disaster or that people can respond in their communities and at the same time protect themselves. The absence or shortage of infrastructure and resource to mitigate disasters therefore means that the vulnerability is very high and capacity is low to respond to a disaster. Thus preparedness measures vary from one place to another depending on how policies are reinforced to influence response mechanisms as long term and short term strategies. For example the preparedness level of two countries such as Zimbabwe and United State of America are different due to the fact that their capabilities of resource inventories are different. This can be seen by the impact of disasters which struck these two countries in recent years. According to Anderson (2002) ‘’The impact of hurricane Cathrina in 2005 in America was less severe on the community and individuals due to the fact that America has a vibrant economy and strong preparedness mechanisms which can reduce the impact of a disaster although the long term effects were considered severe.’’ The difference can be seen by the same disaster which struck Mozambique in 2003 in tsunami which destroyed infrastructure and many people and more so, the disaster had severe implications on the Mozambican economy due to the fact that it attracted international assistance to help people cope up during the post disaster period.

Disaster preparedness seeks to achieve different objectives in the disaster management discourses. The aims of disaster preparedness is to achieve the universal goal of reducing the impact of a disaster so as to meet the interest of people to the lowest possible individual’s rights in a society. It is meant to reduce deaths to the lowest level in case of a disaster, to reduce the destruction of infrastructure which can threaten the livelihoods of people as well as resources which may also threaten sustainable development. It is therefore very vital for development practitioners to make sure they encompass those objectives in the disaster risk reduction strategies especially in the pre-disaster phase. The above mentioned points therefore validate the assertion that’’ there is nothing called natural disasters but disasters are man- made events.’’ To validate this view which can see that vulnerability is not homogenous and vary from one place to another and from one community to another depending on how strong and practical the disaster preparedness is. This can be seen in a natural floods hazard which threatens Sudanese people in 2013 leading to the displacement of 400 000 people, as postulated by France 24. Thus in actual fact there is questionability of  the Sudanese disaster preparedness due to the severity of the disaster impact.

The disaster preparedness puts into effect the disaster preparedness plan into operational activities in order to provide a framework in which to encompass the guiding principles to operate under in case of a hazard event which is likely to threaten peoples livelihoods. The most crucial element in disaster preparedness is the emergency operations plan which at national level or community level to set out the scope of activities required for community preparedness and response. Thus to come up with a disaster preparedness plan which suits a particular community is to include hazard identification and vulnerability analysis in your planning. This is done to unearth underlying causes, dynamic pressures and vulnerability mapping which exposes people to hazards and disasters. With the 21^st century disasters are very dynamic with hazards such as oil spillage and technological disasters being at the forefront. For example according to www.presstv.ir.com ‘’an oil spillage in Thailand of about 5000 litres in a dam was a disaster that was unplanned for thus exposing people to the risk of disaster of that kind.’’ Moreover, another dimension brought by Anderson (2005) “There is need for gender mainstreaming in disaster preparedness because involvement of women,children,community based organisations of marginalized groups and elderly broadens the range of ideas proposed for and incorporated into disaster planning and results that are more disaster resilient.”

Moreover, disaster preparedness also takes into account emergency exercise training that is meant to equip communities and individuals to acquire skills and technical knowhow on how to respond collectively in a disaster situation. Some people may be attitudinal vulnerable due to lack of training and expertise to educate them on how to survive in a disaster event.Mcaleb argues  that “People continue to be vulnerable to disasters not because we are not doing anything but we are doing too much that is counterproductive” For example a fire hazard that may cause a disaster may be harmful if people lack emergency exercise training on how to use fire fighters and the erection of fire-fighters in public transportation systems can be taken as  preparedness measure to reduce people’s susceptibility to disasters caused by fire hazard.

Furthermore, it is undeniable a fact that the presence of a more vibrant early warning systems to mitigate and reduce the impact of a disaster is a panacea. This refers to proper early warning system that is put into place to forewarn people about an imminent hazard and enable them to use mitigation measures to lessen the impact of a disaster. This can be seen in flood prawn areas such as Muzarabani where floods affects many people due to the absence of a viable early warning system that is meant to update people of different hazard events. Formation of early warning network can therefore strengthen the community’s capability to respond to hazard events and curtail them since it allows for collective action and responsibilities in effecting measures that goes a long way in disaster preparedness. The use of indigenous knowledge systems is another crucial element in fostering disaster preparedness activities. Communities have a vast knowledge on predicting and early warning, food production and storage techniques in averting disasters. For example according to UNEP (2000) “In Swaziland where drought and occasional floods are common disasters communities used the height of the Emahlokohloko bird (Ploceus) on trees to predict flooding” Thus indigenous knowledge system can be used as a sustainable tool in disaster preparedness.

Another important aspect in disaster management is the need for resource inventories in order for proper disaster preparedness. There is need for the mobilisation of resources such as people to carry out preparedness activities, equipment that is to be used in preparedness plans as well as systems that need to be put in place to curtail ever changing paradigm shifts in disasters such as technological disasters. Thus in drafting the evacuation plans that are to be used in emergency situations the entire community has to be educated and taught how to understand and interpret evacuation plans and more so those plans should be made easy to understand since not all people are educated. For in public transport systems such as buses and trains, there are some illustrations which are put in place to enable people to respond for their safety during times of disasters such as accident or fire outbreak.

The other important aspect in disaster preparedness is mutual aid agreements that are put in place to ensure minimal losses in times of disasters. This involves constructive efforts by all stakeholders to develop key ties in disaster risk reduction efforts. This involves co-operation at community, national and regional levels in a bid to collectively respond to any hazard event which may cause a disaster. Thus collective efforts ensures that every individual’s efforts are realised n order to come up with a preparedness plan which is a one size fits all. For example the signing of memorandum of understandings with other countries and engaging in bilateral agreements can spur help in times of hazard events. This can be seen in the flooding which affected Indonesia in 2013 resulting in the death of many people has attracted support from humanitarian organisations such as World Food Organisation as well as World Health Organisation who were key players in relief and recovery after a disaster event.