From the Christian Science Monitor, January 19, 2014. Once again a reminder that recovery from a major disaster is a slow process.
See: Christchurch Cathedral a Flash Point for Quake Hit NZ “In some ways Christ Church Cathedral is a proxy in the debate over how best to rebuild from the 2011 earthquake that left 185 dead and $30 billion in damages.”
Big news of the day: January 17:
The “responsible party” has filed for bankruptcy. See this article from Huffington Post, late on Friday: Freedom Industries, Company Behind West Virginia Chemical Spill, Files For Bankruptcy, Here some more details from an article in the Huff Post, on Jan. 18.
Background info: Under the National Contingency Plan, which is used for hazmat incidents, rather than the National Response Plan, which is used for natural disasters, the responsible party is identified and is financially and legally responsible.Often that party cannot withstand the law suits and response expenses and seek bankruptcy. The big exception was the BP Oil spill; that co. could afford the billions of dollars the cleanup and restitution payments needed.
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Some additional items that I found interesting. From watching Nightly News on PBS, it appears that the lax regulatory environment in the state of WV regarding the coal and chemical industries there is a large part of the problem. As a storage facility rather than a production facility, the chemical plant was not inspected by the state.
January 13: West Virginia Is Just The Beginning For Chemical Spill Disasters
Thanks to the mass privatization of public water systems and the fake rhetoric of “clean coal,” we’re all at higher risk for disasters like the Elk River chemical spill.
CNN’s account of the “loose regulation” in WV.
January 15: From an editorial in the Washington Post:
A combination of state regulators using a bot of sense – like asking about an old tank farm next to a drinking water facility- and better federal law – like requiring more information on chemical safety – might have prevented or limited the damage and dislocation the people of Charleston have seen. “
January 17: In the current issue of Business Week, they note that presently 20 law suits are pending.
From the International Business Times: Report: The Ten Most Expensive Natural Disasters In 2013. It is interesting to note that none of the big 10 occurred in the U.S.
An excerpt from the article:
Last year, about 84 percent of economic losses happened outside of the United States, well above the 2003-2012 average of 65 percent. The most expensive event in the U.S. was an EF-5 tornado that hit the city of Moore, Okla., in May — it cost about $3.8 billion in economic losses.
This is one of many articles appearing lately about the National Flood Ins. Program.
Flood pressure: Climate disasters drown FEMA’s insurance plans
I have no first-hand knowledge of the chemical spill into the Elk River in WV this past week, so I can only report on what I have read from mainstream media. Here are my impressions:
Jan. 10: From CNN TV, I am chagrined at the level of ignorance about the management of hazmat incidents. Early on none of the media accounts mentioned either the VA Dept. of Environmental Protection or the U.S. EPA. As of Friday night (the 10th), FEMA has given WV an emergency declaration. And it appears that the so called “responsible party? is not being responsive or owning up to full responsibility.
Jan. 11: The CSM had an article dealing with the nature of the chemical spilled and how little scientific information about it exists. W.Va. chemical spill: Is more regulation needed for toxic substances? Subtitle: Little information is known about Crude MCHM, the chemical that leaked into West Virginia’s Elk River and potentially contaminated the tap water of 300,000 residents.
Jan 12: From MSNBC:What did West Virginia officials know?
Officials seemed surprised to learn that MCHM was being stored in Freedom Industries’ facilities, and they did not appear to have an emergency plan in place to respond to the spill. “This was not a chemical we were familiar with,” West Virginia American Water Company spokesperson Laura Jordan told the Wall Street Journal Saturday.
From the NY Times: Critics Say Chemical Spill Highlights Lax West Virginia Regulations. Some excerpts:
Last week’s major chemical spill into West Virginia’s Elk River, which cut off water to more than 300,000 people, came in a state with a long and troubled history of regulating the coal and chemical companies that form the heart of its economy.
“We can’t just point a single finger at this company,” said Angela Rosser, the executive director of West Virginia Rivers Coalition. “We need to look at our entire system and give some serious thought to making some serious reform and valuing our natural resources over industry interests.”
***lawmakers have yet to explain why the storage facility was allowed to sit on the river and so close to a water treatment plant that is the largest in the state. *** the site of the spill has not been subject to a state or federal inspection since 1991. West Virginia law does not require inspections for chemical storage facilities — only for production facilities.
From the Environmental Defense Fund’s blog: “ the spill reveals the “epic failure” of the law passed in the mid-1970s.”
“What is particularly maddening and outrageous is that no one – not local or state officials, not the company that owns the storage tank, not the federal government – can say anything even close to definitive about what risk the chemical poses to people, even in the short-term, let alone over time,***.
For those of you truly interested in disaster operations, this 758 page handbook, issued by DHS, is now available via the fas.org website URL is here – go to item about 8 documents up from the bottom of list.
Thanks to Bill Cumming for this citation.
As readers know, I have been fixated recently on how a community should deal with a disaster that is relatively small and how to determine whether or not to start the process of disaster declarations, starting at the local level. I still would like to hear from some U.S. local emergency managers.
I posed this question to a friend who is a American Red Cross official and here is his reply regarding the cash distribution system used in Toronto recently:
· Max Baxerman’s “Predictable Surprises: The Disasters You Should. Have Seen Coming” comes to mind when looking at the gift card debacle. In the United States, we have learned the good, bad, and ugly as it relates to distribution of gift/cash cards. Plenty of research exists on Cash Transfer Programming that could easily mitigate the majority of the issues from the Toronto debacle. Reference the IFRC and Oxfam guidance on cash programming
· Impactful humanitarian relief should assessment driven, not politically driven. Too many hidden agenda when impromptu cash/gift card programming is used, absent a needs based assessment.
When looking at cash based programming, it is important to first take time to ask several key questions. The basic tenants of critical thinking have an established process map for analyzing situations which critics of the recovery process should be mindful in asking:
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What… is being done |
Why…is it being done |
What Else…is being done |
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Who…is doing it |
Why…are they doing it |
Who Else…could do it |
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When…are they doing it |
Why…then |
When Else…could it be done |
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Where…is it being done |
Why…there |
Where Else…could it be done |
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How…is it being done |
Why…that way |
How Else…could it be done |
Keeping in mind that this is not the first time Toronto has seen an ice storm, it is hopeful that stakeholder learn from the experience and better plan for what future cash/gift card disbursement could look like. Based on international best practices in developed economics such as Canada, I would argue that direct deposit/EFT based transfers would be a much more efficient/effective way in administering NEEDS BASED interventions such as cash or gift cards. Emphasis on needs based.
Thanks to Jono Anzalone of the Red Cross.
MunichRe has issued it annual report on the number and cost of disasters around the world. From the AP, see Global Disasters Killed More, Cost Less In 2013.
The German insurance company Munich Re says some 20,000 people died in natural disasters last year, about twice as many as in 2012.
Most of the deaths resulted from Typhoon Haiyan that hit the Philippines, Vietnam and China in November with a loss of almost 6,100 lives. This was followed by floods in India that killed about 5,500 people in June. Munich Re’s annual disasters report released Tuesday found that the economic cost of natural catastrophes was lower last year. Some 880 events cost about $125 billion, with insured losses of $31 billion. This compares with costs of $173 billion and insured losses of $65 billion in 2012. The costliest natural disasters were summer hailstorms in Germany, floods in Central Europe, and storms and tornadoes in the United States.
Here is the site for the full text of the Munich Re report: URL
From the HuffPost/Canada: What Toronto Should Learn From the Ice Storm Crisis. The importance of after-action reviews ( hotwashes as they are called in the U.S.) and learning from experience are emphasized here.
I did some earlier postings about issues in Toronto at the end of 2013 if you want to review the issues identified during the disaster. The main issue was the lack of a local emergency declaration.
Update on Jan. 9th: a new report calls for requesting a declaration, even at this late date, to aid the recovery process.
(#1) Disaster health information courses and supporting materials are now available from the Disaster Information Management Research Center at the National Library of Medicine. The courses are open to anyone at no cost and are approved for Medical Library Association (MLA) continuing education credit. See below for links to course materials.
Course materials may be used and adapted by anyone giving presentations or classes on this content. When using or adapting materials, please give credit to the original course authors and NLM. We’d like to hear about your use of these course materials and what DIMRC can offer (improve) that would make it easier for you to teach this material. Are you interested in being an online or classroom instructor for one or more of these courses? We are compiling a list of current and potential instructors for future mailings: please send your name, title, organization, city, state/country to Katie Chan, katie.chan@nih.gov.
(#2) Results of National Health Security Preparedness Index Released. The Association for State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and 20 development partners released the first annual National Health Security Preparedness Index (NHSPI) to measure and advance the nation’s readiness to protect people during a disaster. The 2013 NHSPI is primarily made up of public health and health care system measures. This is the first year the index has been compiled, but it will be updated annually, and the coverage of topics will expand over time.
Recovery Diva 