Damage assessment is the evaluation of destruction caused by a natural disaster, accidents, or military invasion in a specific target area. Effective damage assessment takes place immediately on the site to determine the extent and magnitude of the type and physical extent of the destruction. Determining the overview of the situation is the first and most critical essentials of a good preliminary damage evaluation as it gives a broad indication of injuries, property destruction, deaths, and population displacements before conducting a more thorough exercise (Wold, 1997). This essay will focus on reviewing physical destruction, economic losses, deaths, social disruption, and recovery needs as part of conducting damage assessments.
There are various methods and strategies for conducting a damage assessment. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), these depend on the type of disaster, natural or otherwise, the impact and coverage in the region or geographical location, program requirements; in terms of how much coverage is concerned and the necessary resources required and the assessment and timeline requirements (2018). Collecting information by the first responders after a disaster occurs is crucial to the success of a mission that entails determining the extent of damages and the necessary efforts vital in salvaging property, lives, and the social welfare of a community or region. Therefore, acquiring fast information after a disaster strikes determines the success of a thorough and good damage assessment.
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Recording the extent and severity of the damages caused is critical in any evaluation of a disaster or destruction. The essence of this undertaking presupposes to determine whether there are any casualties, what is replaceable, or salvageable, the amount and extent of disruption caused in the society and how much time is necessary for restoring the economic welfare of the geographical location. For example, when conducting a survey of the amount of physical destruction in a damage assessment, it is crucial to investigate the damages on buildings, water and sanitation systems, roads, and industrial facilities like power plants, bridges, and hospitals or any social amenities, communication systems among others. This exercise is vital in determining whether buildings are safe for occupation or not and the extent of the loss while at the same time evaluating how long it would take to repair, restore and or evacuate residents to avoid more losses.
During a disaster management, it is critical that the necessary authorities conduct assessments in liaison with the relevant local community. The preliminary results from a thorough damage assessment exercise determine and view the extent to which there is a disruption of a particular area (National Research Council, 2006). With the aid of the local community, the impact in the social life of residents determines how the government, local and or state authorities will respond in restoring lives back to normal. For example, the extent to which social amenities and normal life is interrupted requires involvement from all stakeholders in offering relief and additional support to the affected region or area so as to restore life and normal activities like schools and hospitals.
Additionally, conducting a quick appraisal to calculate how the leadership responds is critical in reducing and or avoiding conflict in the affected areas. Issues may arise as to the authenticity of claims reported by specific residents or their reaction to the authorities in relation to their disaster preparedness or lack of it. Therefore, it is critical that all the relevant authorities and emergency responses participate in conducting and replacing the essential amenities and resources that aid in day-to-day life in order to bring life back to normal.
The loss of a society’s economic freedom and capacity is detrimental to their wellbeing. When conducting damage assessments, it is prudent for the investigators to conduct this exercise with precision in order to determine the amount of financial and economic loss to the affected region. Economic loss is essentially the loss of earning power due to a particular disaster. Therefore, in restoring people’s lives and wellbeing, it is necessary for damage assessments to indicate the amount of loss incurred by particular businesses to speed up the recovery process from the insurance companies and or government.
Damage assessments are crucial in the collection of impact data and predetermining the available resources needed in effective disaster management (Wold, 1997). For example, injuries, deaths, and displacement of people are ever-present and unavoidable during disasters, accidents, or war-related destructions. Therefore, while working with such scenarios in consideration, emergency responders should recognize the severity of the situations and determine the number of resources, human or otherwise in collecting the required (FEMA, 2018). Additionally, having precedent situations equip the authorities and responders with the basic tools and necessities to allow for quick damage assessments all while working to help the survivors, injured and displaced people.
In conclusion, therefore, it is critical for all the stakeholders to combine forces and allow for effective damage assessments in cases of natural disasters, accidents and or war-related activities. It is essential to note that without proper hazard mitigation procedures and practices, emergency preparedness, and pre-disaster planning, it is very difficult to conduct effective and efficient post-disaster recovery. A successful damage assessment requires the effective collection of information with accuracy, speed and quality, and specific methodologies and strategies. These procedures allow in determining the physical damages to infrastructures, social disruptions, the vulnerability of the affected area, economic losses, deaths, and displacement of people and recovery processes from the governments and or insurance corporations.
References
FEMA. (2018). Damage Assessment Methods. Damage Assessment Operations Manual. Retrieved from, https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1459972926996-a31eb90a2741e86699ef34ce2069663a/PDAManualFinal6.pdf
National Research Council. (2006). Research on Disaster Response and Recovery. Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Retrieved from https://www.nap.edu/read/11671/chapter/6
Wold, G.H. (1997). "Disaster Recovery Planning Process." Disaster Recovery Journal . Retrieve from https://www.drj.com/drj-world-archives/general-dr-planning/disaster-recovery-planning-process-part-1-of-3.html
