Windshield Survey: Community Disaster Preparedness

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Windshield Survey: Community Disaster Preparedness
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.
Disaster Prevalence in Minneapolis
The Minneapolis City is in Minnesota State in the U.S., occupying an area of flat land with several rivers and lakes. The area is potentially lying on a dangerous path of different kinds of natural disasters, with a few manmade disasters showing signs of occurrence. The area lies at the northern end of the notorious Tornado Alley, and in the recent years experienced devastating tornadoes that claimed many lives and led to loss of lots of properties. In 2011, a deadly tornado struck the Northern part of the city and destroyed many properties; a similar situation occurred in 2009 where the Southern part of the city faced the brunt of nature’s brutality (James, 2016). Other tornadoes such as the Har Mar tornado of 1981 and the Twin Cities Tornado Outbreak of 1965 left great damages in their wake. This requires a lot of attention from the local authorities.
The area has a great potential to suffer from flooding. The rivers such as Mississippi and the many small lakes can easily rise above required levels during tornadoes or heavy rainstorms and result in flooding. Additionally, the city experiences occasional blizzards during winter, which may cause severe driving conditions and poor visibility. In 1997, a severe blizzard caused flooding in many parts of Minnesota, affecting hospitals, schools and roads (Starbird, 2010). This led to massive destruction of properties, including the sewer line, whose contents mixed with the floodwaters. This could bring diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and diarrhea, putting many lives at risk. Technological hazards such as collapse of infrastructure, pollution, or accidents could lead to loss of lives, properties, damage environment, and lead to loss of livelihood. Metro Transit accidents and industrial fires and explosions could cause disasters in the city and lead to loss of lives and properties.
The summers of Minneapolis always come with heavy thunderstorms, high winds, hailstones and lightning. In recent years, these have felled trees, destroyed houses, caused communication and power outages, and led to fatalities. The area usually receives several lightning strikes especially in the summer (James, 2016). The hailstorms can affect roofs, cars, and even animals. Additionally, the summers may come with high temperatures, sometimes reaching 90oF, which may lead to emergencies required by young and old people. The area also has a known risk forest fires and landslides, though they rarely occur. However, forest fires have destroyed buildings in the suburban parts of the city, and in 2013, a landslide in Lilydale Park in the neighboring St. Paul city claimed the lives of two people (James, 2016). These potential disasters can occur in the city.
The Nursing Response and Website Review
The city has prepared adequately against occurrence of natural and manmade disasters. The Minnesota Department of Health, the Minnesota Conference United Church of Christ, the Minneapolis office of Emergency Management, and the Minnesota Department of Human Services have all prepared emergency plans and systems to use in case of emergency. The Minnesota Department of Health plan includes setting up of regional response team, where staff from the eight regional hospitals responds to emergencies around the state. The base plan includes deployment of emergency tools such as first aid kits, ambulances and paramedics to the site of disaster and taking the victims to the nearest regional health facility (Base plan, 2016). The departme...