Category — Critical Infrastructure

On April 13^th, the U.S. Department of State canceled it’s travel advisory to Japan which had been active in one form or another for over a year since the Japan 3.11 earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear power plant disaster.  There is no doubt that Japan has made remarkable progress in its recovery, but how did the country fare in the immediate days and weeks during their nuclear evacuation?  That evacuation may have saved lives, but to one demographic it was rather brutal – the elderly.  Dozens of senior citizens died as a result of the evacuation itself.

So what has been done to resolve such evacuation difficulties in the future?  According to one recent article, not much.  “We have set a terrible precedent for the rest of the nation and for any town in the world where nuclear plants are located,” said Katsutaka Idokawa, the mayor of Futaba, a town near the devastated Fukushima facility. “I see this disaster as a meltdown of Japan itself.”  Local community leaders in Japan fear that were the event to repeat today near their own communities, they would fair no better than the two towns surrounding Fukushima Diiachi did over a year ago.

Is the United States better prepared to meet the needs of its elderly and disabled population in the event of a nuclear disaster?  Are we even adequately prepared to meet the emergency needs of our general population during such an event?  Japan is extending its evacuation plans from a 10-mile radius immediately surrounding a nuclear power plant to 18 miles – in particular to mitigate the exact problems they found as they tried to evacuate their handicapped and elderly from the area of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster.  So how about the United States of America?

The Indian Point Energy Center located in Buchanan, New York is just 38 miles north of New York City, well within the 50 mile radius which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission indicates may have contaminated food and water in the aftermath of a nuclear power plant disaster. In March 2012, Bronx Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera wrote, “Recently the Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied a request for the operators of Indian Point Energy Center to provide an emergency preparedness and evacuation plan for the surrounding communities which are home to 20 million Americans in a tri-state area. In addition, there are serious questions as to the ability of local, state and federal government agencies to communicate and react to a nuclear emergency.”

In our last post we identified an ongoing initiative to promote community dialogue through this blog series.  In consideration of living in proximity to a nuclear power plant, we would suggest you ask the following questions of yourself, nuclear power plant representatives and of your own elected local officials:

1. Do you know if you live in a 50-mile radius of a nuclear power plant?   With 104 nuclear reactors spread across the U.S., you might be surprised.  Find out here.
2. Are you upwind or downwind of the nuclear power plant and what are the prevailing winds in your area? What is the evacuation plan for your community (read neighboorhood) in the event of a nuclear discharge or release?
3. What plans have been established for elderly residents, nursing homes and the  handicapped during an evacuation?
4. What plans have been established for infant day care facilites and schools?
5. Considering the U.S. government warned Americans within 50 miles of Fukushima Daiichi to evacuate last March, why are our own local officials still stuck on the 10-mile radius evacuation plan? What do your local elected officials think of this fact?
6. If such a nuclear disaster occurred, what local hospital is prepared to provide you emergency radiation exposure care?  Considering the very troubling results of a study performed at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2009, a better question might be – how can you even know that hospital personnel will even be present to provide that emergency care?  (give you a hint – 39% of those responding in the aforementioned survey were not even willing to show up to work in case of a nuclear event)

If you live within 50 miles of a nuclear reactor, go ask your elected officials, city council, board of supervisors, Town Hall or other local leaders these very important questions!  Remember – don’t take no for an answer and don’t let this very important issue be marginalized.

Community leaders answer to YOU as members of the community!  You are important and you have a voice! Use that voice to be an instrument for change and progress.

After you get (or perhaps don’t get) those answers, come back to this blog and share “the answers” with emergency-minded citizens just like yourself and engage Your Community in Dialogue! Now it’s your turn!

Facta non Verba

This past year was unusual both in terms of frequency of disasters and each event’s high cost. In recent years, typically one or two large to catastrophic events have dominated the news — like 9/11, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. Whether 2011 with its multiple billion-dollar disasters is a trend is hard to tell, but professional emergency planners and managers should be prepared for that possibility.

The National Climatic Data Center at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration compiled data, including total loss data, on the 12 billion-dollar disasters of 2011. The following information illustrates the historic nature of those disasters:

The Groundhog Day blizzard of Jan. 29 to Feb. 3 dumped one to two feet of snow across the Northeastern, mid-Atlantic, eastern and central states, resulting in 36 deaths. Total losses were more than $1.8 billion.

During the Midwestern/Southeastern tornadoes of April 4-5, 46 tornadoes affecting 10 states caused nine deaths, more than $2 billion in insured losses and exceeded $2.8 billion in total losses.

The Southeastern/Midwestern tornadoes of April 8-11 included an estimated 59 tornadoes across nine states that were responsible for numerous injuries but no deaths, and more than $2.2 billion in total losses.

On April 14-16, about 177 tornadoes across 10 states in the Midwest/Southeast resulted in 38 deaths. While few of those tornadoes were considered intense, they caused total losses greater than $2 billion.

The Southeast/Ohio Valley/Midwest tornadoes of April 25-30 were responsible for more loss of life than any of the preceding tornadoes of 2011. An estimated 343 tornadoes across 13 states caused 321 deaths. Several major metropolitan areas, including Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and Huntsville, Ala., were directly affected by several strong tornadoes, which were responsible for $7.3 billion in insured losses and more than $10 billion in total losses.

The Midwestern/Southeastern tornadoes of May 22-27 resulted in total losses greater than $9.1 billion, more than $6.5 billion of which were in insured losses. More than 180 tornadoes caused at least 177 deaths; 160 of those deaths were in Joplin, Mo., in what was the single deadliest tornado to strike in the U.S. since modern tornado record keeping began in 1950.

An estimated 81 tornadoes and severe weather struck the Midwest and Southeast on June 18-22; losses exceeded $1.3 billion.

Spring through fall, drought, heat wave conditions and wildfires in the Southern Plains and Southwest affected Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arizona, southern Kansas, and western Louisiana and Arkansas. Direct losses to agriculture, cattle and structures totaled more than $9 billion.

Mississippi River flooding during the spring and summer resulted from persistent rainfall (nearly 300 percent of normal precipitation) combined with melting snowpack. Economic losses were estimated at $3 billion to $4 billion.

Upper Midwest flooding in the summer resulted in five deaths and estimated losses in excess of $2 billion. These floods were caused by the melting of an above-average snowpack across the northern Rocky Mountains combined with above-average precipitation.

Hurricane Irene made landfall on Aug. 20 as a Category 1 hurricane over North Carolina. Over the next nine days, it moved north along the coast, bringing torrential rainfall and strong winds while causing flooding across the Northeast. Losses were more than $7 billion; at least 45 deaths resulted from the storm.

Wildfires impacted Texas, New Mexico and Arizona during spring through fall, losses from which exceeded $1 billion.

The estimated economic damages from these events exceed $45 billion as of press time, making it likely that 2011 will be the costliest year for insured losses since records have been kept. Given that 2011 was the first year of the 21st century’s second decade, it’s clear that those responsible for emergency management and disaster planning must anticipate the future in a bolder, more proactive way than they have in the past. The historic events of last year demonstrated some unusually destructive characteristics, attracted significant media attention, and laid bare numerous deficiencies in the plans, systems and processes used in all phases of emergency management.

When talking about disasters, 2011 has been a significant year on its own — and the events of the year appear to be keeping with the noticeable upswing in the number of declared disasters in recent decades. Although it is too early to establish a firm trend line or pattern, as a nation we need to consider the following:

• Are large-scale disasters and catastrophes, events whose costs are measured in the billions of dollars, the new normal in the foreseeable future?

• If so, how should the emergency management community plan and prepare for such mega-disasters?

• Do we need to make changes, major or minor, to our policies, programs and response/recovery systems?

• Should the threshold for a presidential disaster declaration be changed? (A staffer from the U.S. DHS Office of Inspector General recently noted that the formula hasn’t changed since 1999.)

• Should the preparation of a national risk assessment be given a higher priority?

• Should the DHS’ education and training programs give more attention to risk management for catastrophic natural disaster events?

• Will the Whole Community concept being promoted by the current administration at FEMA be essential? Is it adequate as now articulated?

The emergency management community seems to be entering new territory with respect to the scale, number, frequency and cost of disasters in the United States. It is essential that we’re prepared for the worst as we head into a new year.

Facta non Verba

Article republished with permission from Emergency Management.