Disaster management main objective is to minimize or help in avoiding damages caused by hazards, provide assurance for quick and suitable assistance to disaster fatalities, and attain a fast and effective recovery process. The processes concerning disaster management have evolved through time to incorporate disaster policy that involves a disaster cycle that provides a set of functions for emergency management and response. Conducting appropriate steps at all stages of the disaster cycle results in better preparedness and warnings and reduces vulnerabilities to disaster effects. The disaster management cycle contains four essential phases; mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. The phases of earthquake disaster management are based on the efforts required by the federal, state, local government, and non-governmental organisations' responses. The paper also discusses future effects and the influence of earthquake disasters on the implementation of emergency management.
Earthquake Disaster Mitigation Phase
The mitigation activity in the earthquake disaster management cycle involves elimination or reduction of probabilities of the earthquake occurrence or reducing the effects of the earthquake. Several mitigation mechanisms that are in place for earthquakes include a structural policy that stipulates designs of buildings and infrastructure development to resist a certain extent of the earthquake (Kuntz & Tanner, 2019). Earthquake resistance buildings are based on ensuring that the structure has enough strength, stiffness, and inelastic bend capacity to resist the force produced by the earthquake to a given level. The building policy also incorporates different experimental techniques that are applied for testing the structure’s ability to resist earthquake forces. Earthquake shaking table is one of the experimental technique which is a device that has the capabilities of shaking structural components with a wide range of simulated ground motions.
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The construction of buildings is verified and approved by specified authorities that have the mandate to enforce the formulated and appropriately detailed building codes. The guidelines for the construction of earthquake-resistance buildings are specifically formulated in terms of site selection, foundation, necessary materials, construction, and workmanship including qualified and well-trained engineers, specialist architects, and masons mandatory.
Another earthquake disaster mitigation the application of seismic retrofitting, which is a process whereby existing structures are modified to make them more resistant to ground motion, soil failure, or seismic activities as a result of earthquakes. The construction of new structures should incorporate seismic isolation technology as an earthquake mitigation strategy (Kuntz & Tanner, 2019). The seismic isolation system involves strategically placing load bearing pads known as isolators between the building foundation and building structure. The isolators are characterized by spring and energy-absorbing capabilities, which help in lowering the seismic shock frequency and magnitude that would enter the structure during an earthquake.
Therefore, earthquake disaster management, mitigation should be based on both long-term preventive measures and short-term preventive measures. Long-term measures that should be implemented include re-framing buildings guidelines, codes, and bylaws and ensuring they are strictly implemented especially in highly seismic areas. The buildings in high-risk areas should be integrated with earthquake resistance features. To decrease the impact of the earthquake on public utilities such as water supply systems, electricity lines, and communication networks, the alternative of developing the utilities based on earthquake-proof features should be adopted. Another long term mitigation strategy is by evolving education curricula in engineering and architecture institutions and technical training schools to incorporate earthquake disaster management, and other relate disaster management topics (Kuntz & Tanner, 2019). The short-term mitigation strategies for the earthquake that can be implemented include retrofitting structures that are in highly seismic areas. Another short-term approach is by conducting community-based education and awareness concerning the process of earthquake disaster mitigation. The construction requirements for disaster mitigation can be prepared in related literature more understood locally to ensure each member of the community understand them.
Earthquake Disaster Preparedness Phase
The goal of preparedness in the earthquake disaster management cycle is to attain a level of promptness that satisfies a good response to the earthquake emergency. The preparedness phase involves programs that strengthen the emergency technical and managerial capacity of the involved governments, organizations, and communities. Plans to save lives, minimize the earthquake disaster damage, and enhance the response to the disaster are made during this phase. The phase provided for the earthquake disaster in this paper incorporates the preparedness efforts conducted by the federal, local, and state governments; and non-governmental organizations. However, the efficiency of the preparedness approaches provided by governments and non-governmental organizations depends on the information available about the earthquake disaster and how the information can be used.
The preparedness efforts for the earthquake disaster by the federal government are conducted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Several actions that FEMA should conduct in the preparedness phase include developing objective criteria for declaring of the earthquake disaster. FEMA should take into account the state capabilities of meeting the costs of response, the need for immediate federal government services when the earthquake occurs, and options for financing recovery (“Federal Emergency Management Agency”, n.d). Also the federal government should enforce the earthquake insurance requirements for population in high-risk residents. The federal government should provide more grants for funding the earthquake preparedness phase.
The state preparedness efforts play a major part in earthquake disaster management. The first role of the state is ensuring it reduces exposure of people to earthquake disasters by conducting a risk assessment and communicating to the residence in high-risk areas. The state is also responsible for managing structural development in earthquake risk lands under the power reserved to the State government by the United States Constitution. The State government enacts contemporary building codes and ensures that they are enforced to regulate the designs of public facilities and buildings in earthquake risk areas. In the preparedness phase, the state government should conduct inspections of the structures to ensure they are in the best way possible to handle the impact of the earthquake disaster to a certain level.
The local government is more close to the people, and it holds the major responsibility when it comes to the preparedness phase of the earthquake disaster management cycle. Some of the roles played by the local government include partnering with local emergency response organizations and leaders in providing community-based education and training programs. The local government should also use all available communication channels in the citizen recruitment process for participants in the emergency preparedness plan. The community-based earthquake preparedness that encourages citizen participation is likely to boost friends, neighbors, and families to spread the message of the stipulated preparedness mechanisms in place (Strait, 2019). The local government should provide citizens with educational materials that promote best practices in case of an earthquake emergency, including how to handle home utilities such as water and electricity. The emergency notification system should also be in place to warn people when the earthquake has happened or is impending. The local government should also establish evacuation procedures and conduct awareness of the procedure throughout the community. When it comes to the non-governmental organization, the preparedness efforts that they can conduct include establishing an earthquake safety society for providing community-based education concerning response procedures during the disaster (Shaw, 2003). The non-governmental organization should also develop a strong linkage between the governments and community to encourage effective mitigation and preparedness, catalyzing all efforts of preparedness, and disseminating preparedness information wider areas within the risk areas.
Earthquake Disaster Response Phase
The earthquake disaster response phase aims at providing immediate assistance to individuals affected by the tragedy to improve and maintain health, and support their morale. The response phase focuses on meeting the people’s basic requirements until lasting and sustainable resolutions are put in place. Some of the response efforts provided by the federal government during an earthquake disaster include providing critical transportation support by providing accessible transportation services and infrastructure access for the evacuation of people (National Academies of Sciences et al., 2017). The federal government also could provide designated personnel to coordinate the response work by assessing the conditions of building structures in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, assess the life safety and environmental conditions, and secure infrastructures for unauthorized entry. The federal government response involves the provision of essential suppliers, mass care services, and mass search and rescue operations, on-scene security, protection, and law enforcement in conjunction with other available responders.
When it comes to the state, the response efforts during the earthquake disaster include deploying state personnel and resources to directly manage or offer assistance to the affected population by managing evacuation process, providing security, and conducting search and rescue activities. To increase the safety of the population and those of other personnel responders in the affected zone, the state can deploy personnel and equipment that conduct monitoring and inspection activities such as inspecting structures including bridges and determine whether they are safe for usage (A Citizen’s Guide to Disaster Assistance, n.d). Through the department of public safety, law enforcement should be provided by the state by controlling the traffic of evacuation or incoming assistance, and offering security to homes and businesses evacuated to prevent looting scenarios. Through the public health agencies, the state can provide response assistance by availing doctors, nurses, medical experts together with required equipment and facilities.
The local government efforts in the response phase of the earthquake disaster management include checking and reinforcing vulnerable structures, conducting volunteers around the neighborhood to help in keeping people away from their homes and setting up temporary tent sites to accommodate the evacuated citizens. The local government, through the implementation of the emergency plan, also availed medical and supplies assistance to citizens that their homes were affected, mobilizing first responders including police and fire personnel (Col, 2007). During the disaster, non-governmental organizations response efforts include pulling out victims from the debris of structures and offering medical assistance when necessary. Other assistance provided by the non-governmental organization includes transporting citizens to secure locations, developing and managing temporary shelters, and providing food and other essential supplies for the affected population.
Earthquake Disaster Recovery Phase
The recovery phase takes place as the disaster is brought under control, whereby the affected people undertakes a different types of activities intended to restore their normal lives and structure that supports them. The recovery phase also provides the opportunity to reduce vulnerability by enhancing prevention and increasing preparedness. The efforts conducted by the federal government in the recovery phase of the earthquake disaster management include repairing power and water supply systems that were damaged, ensuring the communication lines are well functioning, providing funding for the state and local government to support their provision of goods and services supply to affected population, and supporting psychological needs of the affected population as it recuperates from the disaster through providing counseling, screening, and treatment services.
The state government efforts following the earthquake disaster occurrence are mainly based on working with local governments and non-governmental organizations to map out regional recovery strategies. The state can identify procedures and sites for disposal of debris and funding the procedures through the federal government. An intense earthquake disaster normally lives a huge adverse on local government revenues; therefore, the state government recovery effort should involve providing financial assistance in all aspects affected. For instance, providing financial assistance to students in school districts who were affected by the disaster, and bulging the sales tax revenues for a while to the business communities that were affected (“State Governments and Community Disaster Recovery: A Critical Role”, n.d). The state government can also provide technical assistance and support staff to the local governments in enhance meeting the urgent demands and increased workload such as restoring utilities, rebuilding infrastructure, and providing public safety. The state can also speed up the economic recovery processes facilitating accelerated repair or replacement of important infrastructures and availing financial incentives and funds through block grants and other federal programs such as quasi-governmental organizations to support the speedy reconstruction. The state government should also expedite permitting and licensing businesses needed shortly after the disaster event. Some of the essential businesses required during an immediate recovery process such as restaurants, grocery stores, hotels, pharmacies, gasoline stations, and daycare mostly would require state inspection before reopening. However, during the early recovery stage, the inspection can be skipped considering they may time some time, allowing the business to support the workers in the recovery process.
The local governments face the most difficult challenge when it comes to the recovery phase of earthquake disaster management. The recovery plan of local government should be effective in supporting various recovery efforts, including ensuring that the affected individuals receive their property and casualty insurance coverage in time to enhance their ability to conduct the recovery processes. The local government recovery efforts also involve repairing and rebuilding damaged local infrastructure quickly to support other recovery processes. Most communities find it hard to conduct the recovery process due financial instability; therefore, the local government role should be to support the communities by facilitating funding from local, state, and federal governments to support construction of infrastructures such as homes, hospitals, and schools that were destroyed during the disaster (A Citizen’s Guide to Disaster Assistance, n.d). The local government should also expedite inspection on business needed during the early recovery period such as pharmacies, motels, gasoline stations, and grocery stores. Licensing contractors and specialty trades by the local government will speed up repairing and reconstruction, and cleaning activities required in the recovery phase. The recovery efforts of the local government should also incorporate valuation of the level and severity of damages caused to households and properties, restoring essential services required by the community, such as water, medical, and food, and providing professional counseling for mental anguish and the coping inability due to the changes caused by the disaster.
Non-governmental efforts in the recovery phase include mobilizing temporary settlements which involve the provision of counseling activities, rehabilitation activities, and fundraising to support the reconstruction of homes and essential properties to the affected population. The rehabilitation activities also focused on sustainable livelihood options for the affected population and improving life quality, such as offering education, healthcare services, clothing, household items, and environmental improvement.
However, the phases of earthquake disaster management highly depend on communication and information management. The key aspects of communication in the disaster include the availability of equipment essential for information flow such as telephones and radios and the systems to support their functioning such as transmission lines, repeaters, and satellites. Another aspect of communication is information management, which involves the protocol of communication he emergency information. The community leaders should offer warnings with accuracy, clarity, timeliness, and with focus on immediate needs required, such as vacation of residents from their homes. With the earthquake predicted to increase in the future in the United States, the residents in low socioeconomic status will be highly vulnerable to the effects of the disaster. Therefore, the socioeconomic characteristics in high-risk areas would play a significant role in the level of earthquake disaster management implementation.
References
A Citizen’s Guide to Disaster Assistance. (n.d). How communities and states deal with emergencies and disasters . Retrieved from https://training.fema.gov/emiweb/downloads/is7unit_2.pdf
Col, J. (2007). Managing Disasters: The Role of local government . Retrieved from http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/undp/unpan032134.pdf
Federal Emergency Management Agency. (n.d). FEMA03: Create results-oriented incentives to reduce the costs of a disaster . Retrieved from https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/library/reports/FEMA3.html
Kuntz, R., & Tanner, D. (2019). Earthquake mitigation technology: life, safety, structures, contents, and function. Disaster Recovery Journal . Vol. 32, Iss 3. Retrieved from https://www.drj.com/drj-world-archives/earthquakes/earthquake-mitigation-technology-life-safety-structures-contents-and-function.html
National Academies of Sciences et al. (2017). Strengthening the disaster resilience of the academic biomedical research community: Protecting the nation's investment . Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK464149/
“ State Governments and Community Disaster Recovery: A Critical Role”. (n.d). Retrieved from https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/sites/default/files/publication/ccc/A%20Critical%20Role%20-%20Ten%20Policies%20Needed%20for%20Community%20Disaster%20Recovery.pdf
Strait, R. (2019). 8 Tips for local government community emergency preparedness. Civic Plus . Retrieved from https://www.civicplus.com/blog/ps/local-government-community-emergency-preparedness
Shaw, R. (2003). Role of non-government organizations in earthquake disaster management: An Asian perspective. Regional development dialogue . 24(1), pp. 117-129. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237380391_Role_of_Non-Government_Organizations_in_Earthquake_Disaster_Management_An_Asian_Perspective
