Section 1: The disaster, man-made or natural
Natural disasters and emergencies may take place in the city of Newport News, VA without even the warning signs. These natural disasters are of varying types, magnitudes, size, duration and intensity. It is vital to observe the fact that these disasters adversely affect the safety, health and welfare of the population. Properties are also massively destroyed by these disasters when they take place. The specific natural disasters that are likely to take place in this city of Newport News, VA include extreme heat as a result of drought, flooding and flash floods. Other notorious natural hazards in the city of Newport News, VA include hurricanes, tropical storms, big thunderstorms, tornadoes, microburst and the winter storms, which lead to things like such as ice and snow. There are also man-made disasters that can strike this city. They include the incidents of terrorism, and radiological emergency from the Surry Power Station.
These natural disasters are likely to take place in the city of Newport News, VA because it is an area with flat land and lakes that catch rain. Moreover, this city experiences very high temperatures during the dry seasons, which are likely to cause drought. Water damage from flooding can happen anytime, anywhere. Large pipes can suddenly burst from winter weather, a bad hurricane or rain storm can flood your home or office, water damage can occur from fire damage. For the case of terrorism, the current rise in the immigrants from, the Middle East who harbor very negative attitudes towards this country can be the source of acts of terror in the city of Newport News, VA. Being a city that hosts many people from all walks of life gathered together for quite varied activities, it is easy for terrorists top execute their plans without even the knowledge of the law enforcement agencies. The flat land of the city is conducive for huge floods during heavy rainfall.
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Section 2: The nursing response
The nursing response to the disasters in the city of Newport News, VA cooperation with the Office of Emergency Management Operations in providing the first aid services to the victims of hazards. Some of those who end up losing property and their loved ones through these natural as well as man-made disasters remain with very huge depression and psychological instability. The nursing response in this case involves providing therapy to ensure people are their stable psychological state. Moreover, the nursing response also includes creating awareness on the right practices to ensure the possibility of disasters occurring is significantly minimized. People are trained on important methods of avoiding floods through planting many trees and creating the water canals.
However, needs to have an effective response plan. The plan needs to have an effective first aid services framework for the victims of the disasters, when they happen. The community must come up with enough human resource that can be accorded the duties of providing emergency services to the victims. The city of Newport News, VA is supposed to have fire extinguishers and fighters so that the function of putting off infernos when they arise becomes easy. The city’s Division of Emergency Management must recruit volunteers who then have to be trained in some of the effective and basic emergency response skills over periods of 3 months. Apart from the volunteers, the city’s administration needs to have employed and remunerated workers who can be given advanced emergency management skills for future deployment during incidences of disaster occurrence (Perry, Lindell & Tierney, 2001).
Preparation of resources to be used in the management of these disasters is important. There must good and effective communication channels, which enable fast and clear passage of alert message in the event of a disaster occurrence (Hossain & Kuti, 2010). Moreover, technological investment in advanced disaster management tools is important in this city. Pet shelter facilities must also be acquired so that when a disaster takes place, it is easy to provide temporary accommodation for the victims. Implementation of these recommendations would make an effective disaster management plan for the city of Newport News, VA.
Section 3: Is my community prepared for a disaster?
Disasters strike at any time and affect everyone either directly or indirectly. Having an effective disaster preparedness plan is essential for any community, town, city, or a nation. In the case of disasters, quick response is requisite in saving lives, safeguarding properties from theft, helping the victims towards recovery, and investigation of the causes and solutions to the problem. It is imperative to evaluate the community preparedness for disasters and the plans in existence to educate the public of necessary interventions.
Evaluation of my community shows that it is averagely prepared for the management of a disaster. There are some acknowledgeable measures put in place to tackle the man-made disasters like terrorism. For instance, security screening of people in every place they enter within this city is now a common practice. It is meant to ensure that people who have intentions of executing terrorist attacks are identified and blocked from such missions. Moreover, the city has an elaborate plan of manages incidents of terrorism including ambulances for rushing victims to hospitals and many police officers on continuous patrol so that the response in terms of pursuing the perpetrators is made swift. However, the preparedness for the natural disasters is very poor. Many people and policy makers do not live expecting a natural disaster to take place.
References
Hossain, L., & Kuti, M. (2010). Disaster response preparedness coordination through social networks. Disasters , 34 (3), 755-786.
Perry, R. W., Lindell, M. K., & Tierney, K. J. (Eds.). (2001). Facing the unexpected: Disaster preparedness and response in the United States . Washington, D.C: Joseph Henry Press.