Introduction to Health Disaster Management

Introduction to Health Disaster Management
Name
Institution
Activity 1.1:
Develop for yourself a working definition of disasters from a community perspective.
From a community perspective, disasters can be defined as events that usually happen abruptly, and which have adverse effects on people’s lives and property, and negatively affects the normal day-to-day functioning of a community, its institutions and social systems. According to the Emergency Management Australia, disasters disrupt community life by causing injury and deaths, and create pressure on the authorities’ capacity to perform their functions effectively due to the strain on available resources (Australian Emergency Management, 2011).
Consider three recent events and explain why they meet this definition of a disaster.
Three recent events that meet this definition of a disaster include, the Japanese earthquake in 2011, the bushfire in Queensland, Australia, in 2009, and the 2010-2011 flooding in Queensland. The Japanese earthquake fits the definition of a disaster because the event had a serious effect on community life by causing the death and destruction of property. The Queensland bushfire was also unanticipated, and resulted in the loss of human life. The 2010-2011 flooding in Queensland led to mass evacuations of people from several towns, which disrupted the affected communities’ normal daily activities.
Activity 1.2:
What do you understand by the term “Disasters are a social phenomenon”?
The term “Disasters are a social phenomenon” refer to the impact that disasters have on the social sphere of human life. Events, such as natural calamities, could not be called disasters if they did not affect human life in one way or another. In this regard, the understanding of disasters as a social phenomenon takes into account the direct and indirect negative consequences that natural or man-made calamities have on people, communities, and nations.
How has this understanding changed over the last 20 years and how would it be different in a resource poor society?
Over the years the understanding of disasters as a social phenomenon has changed by the broadening of the scope or context within which natural or man-made calamities are understood. Accordingly, disasters are not just regarded as disruptors of social life, but also include the economic and psychological impact on the victims. The understanding of disasters from the economic and psychological perspectives are seen in the way response to and management of disasters focus on helping affected communities recover from the effects of the destruction of property through mobilization of resources to facilitate reconstruction, and helping people adjust to post-disaster situations through counselling. Accordingly, it can be argued hat the understanding of disasters as social phenomena has changed over the years by adopting a comprehensive approach in which economic and psychological aspects are also taken into account when responding to natural or man-made calamities.
This understanding, however, will be different in a resource poor society because the authorities will be limited in their capacity to address all the needs of the affected community. For instance, response to a disaster in a poor country may only focus on mitigation, and ignore post-event care such as counselling victims.
Activity 1.3:
Consider the outbreak of Swine Flu in 2009. Do you consider this was a disaster? Explain how this may be considered a disaster and how it may not.
The Swine flu outbreak in 2009 was a disaster because it was a large-scale (world-wide) pandemic that presented a health risk and a danger to human life. It caused the death of more than 18, 000 people worldwide, and created pressure on existing health facilities as hospitals and clinics were overwhelmed with people infected with the H1N1 flu. In addition, it disrupted normal social and economic activities in places where the outbreak was severe. For instance, in Mexico where there outbreak was first detected, public facilities were closed down to contain the spread of the virus (McNeil & Donald, 2009).
At the same time, the outbreak may not be considered as a disaster because it did not develop into a situation where it posed serious and unmanageable health risks. This is because the outbreak was not sudden to the extent that it caught the authorities unaware. It was spread gradually and authorities were able to monitor its progress and implement measures to curb it, such as through quarantines and screening of people moving from one country to another.
List and explain the factors that you consider influence an event being considered a disaster.
The factors that qualify an event as a disaster include:
Rarity of occurrence
Suddenness in occurrence
Results in loss of life and destruction of property
Requires rapid and large scale mobilization of resources to contain.
Disasters are not everyday occurrences. If they were, people would be used to them and would have measures or policies in place for mitigating the negative effects of potentially disastrous events. For instance, war is a disaster to nations that are not used to frequent armed conflicts. However, it may not be considered a disaster in countries like Israel because war is an ongoing event. This means that the effects of war are minimal, and the people are psychologically prepared for attacks. Disasters also result in loss of life and cause damage to property. An example is flooding which causes people to drown, destroys buildings and sweeps away movable objects like vehicles and household things. Events that pose serious danger to property and life compel authorities and government agencies to mobilize resources to contain the dangers. This may include mobilizing personnel, food and medical supplies, and erecting of temporary shelters in cases of events that displace people, such as floods, earthquakes and wars.
Activity 1.4:
Are disasters increasing or is it just better reporting?
While it can be argued that better reporting as a result of improved communication systems has increased awareness of disastrous events, there is evidence that disasters are increasing. The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) reports that the number and frequency of disastrous events has increased significantly since the 1950s. For instance, the number of disasters in the 1990s was 100 times more than those occurring in the 1950s (QUT, 2014, p. 19). On the strength of these statistics, it is evident that disasters are increasing.
Identify the factors that may be increasing the rates of disasters and those that may be reducing them?
Factors that may be increasing the rates of disasters include:
Climate change: global warming increases the frequency of flooding due to increased thawing of mountain tops and ice caps.
Population increase: creates pressure on land resources resulting in encroachment on forested areas, which may contribute to bushfires. Overcrowding in the cities can also cause disasters like collapsing of buildings and outbreak and fast spread of communicable diseases.
Government negligence: allows constructions of substandard buildings and worsening of health conditions.
Poor technology (in underdeveloped countries) for detecting warning signals prevents authorities from responding to preventable or avoidable disasters like hurricanes.
Factors that may be reducing disasters include:
Technology: helps in detecting signals for disastrous events, such as seismic signals before earthquakes and monitoring of ocean tides to predict hurricanes. Technology also improves coordination during response, thereby minimizing the effects of disasters.
Effective planning of urban centres reduces disasters like outbreak of diseases and collapse of buildings.
Activity 1.5:
Briefly detail the normal psychological reaction to the loss and grief associated with disasters.
The initial reaction is grief as a result of loss of loved ones or personal possessions. This may be accompanied with anger if the disaster was man-made or preventable, in which case the victims feel betrayed by those responsible. This is the case with disasters like armed conflicts. Feeling hopeless is also common as victims have lost their belongings and livelihood (Labadee & Bennett, 2012). During the post-disaster period, individuals may appear stressed as they try to come to terms with their loss. Finally, realization sets in as the victims realize that recovery and survival depends on individual effort and sacrifice (QUT, 2014).
Activity 1.6:
List the core principles of disaster management and for each write a very brief description.
The core principles of disaster management are prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery. Prevention involves taking measures to prevent the occurrence of predictable disasters. Preparedness involves development of systems that enable early warning and planning for potential disasters. This may involve frequently monitoring seismic signals, ocean tides, and climate changes over time. Response is the phase of resource mobilization to minimize the effects of a disaster. This may involve evacuating people from risk areas, providing food and temporary shelter, and attending to the injured. Recovery involves helping the affected communities resume their normal lives by reconstructing damaged infrastructure and resuming service delivery to the affected areas.
Activity 1.7:
Identify the key legislative provisions that are relevant to disaster management in a jurisdiction with which you are familiar
In Queensland, the relevant legislations for disaster management are Disaster Management Act 2003, and the Public Safety Preservation Act 1986.
Where would a disaster management find the legal protection necessary to order a community evaluation in the threat of a flood?
The legal protection for this action is in the Public Safety Preservation Act 1986. The act aims to protect the public from preventable disasters by requiring relevant agencies to anticipate disasters and implement measures for avoiding them. Accordingly, a disaster management can refer to this act to initiate prevention projects such as moving people from lowlands and near river banks during the high rain season.
Activity 1.8
External assistance will always be helpful and should be welcomed. Provide a brief commentary on this proposition.
External assistance is the help that comes from outside the affected community. In the case of a national disaster, external assistance may take the form of foreign aid. Such assistance is important during disasters because the affected community may be overwhelmed by emergency services such as evacuation and caring for the injured, and other aspects such as taking care of survivors and planning for post-disaster recovery may be ignored. Providers of external assistance are better placed to coordinate most of such services because they are not affected psychologically by the event and therefore can make better decisions.
Module 2
Activity 2.1
Create a table which identifies the top five risks for your community (where you live), assesses the risk and identified the management strategies designed to mitigate the risk.
COMMUNITY DISTURBANCESRISKSMANAGEMENT and STRATEGIESProbabilityConsequences

Flooding
Low

Destruction of property
Loss of life
Destruction of infrastructure.
Disruption of service delivery and work. 
Frequent monitoring of weather conditions.
Building of high banks/dams in prone areas.
Planning for immediate evacuation of people at earliest warning.
BushfiresLikelyDestruction of forests
Loss of life
Disruption of daily routine activities -Restricting camping in forests.
Erecting warning banners in forested areas against smoking and using open fires
Patrolling during dry seasons.EarthquakesLow
- Destruction of property and infrastructure.
Loss of life
Displacement of peopleCreation of earthquake monitoring centre.
Banning settlement or building of residential houses along fault lines. Communicable diseasesHigh
High mortality rates.
Pressure on healthcare resources.
Loss of manpower due to sick leaves.
Financial expenditure Implementing effective publi...