week 8 assignment
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Dec 6, 2023
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EDMG502
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Natural Hazards and Unnatural Disasters
American Military University
EDMG502 – Emergency and Disaster Theory
2022
EDMG 502
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Abstract
This last assignment was to review the assigned course materials to include the book,
Natural Hazards, Unnatural Disasters by The World Bank and the United Nations. We were
asked to define and explain clustering and the impact on the economy and communities. This
assignment also discusses the role of insurance and how the government can help those affected
by disasters. The book outlines four key areas; disaster exposes the cumulative implications of
many earlier decisions, some taken individually, others collectively, and some by default;
prevention is often possible and cost effective; many measures – private and public – must work
well together for effective prevention; exposure to hazards will rise cities, but greater exposure
need not increase vulnerability. It will also look at how cities are inherently more hazardous than
other environments.
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The Relationship of Stress and Disasters
Introduction
Disasters and hazards are different, in a previous assignment, the definition of a disaster
was discussed. Hazards are defined as natural processes or phenomena (floods, storms, droughts,
earthquakes, etc.) with adverse effects on life, limb, or property (The United Nations, 2010).
Communities all have their own hazards depending on their geographic location and what
manufactured facilities are in the area. It is important for communities to know the hazards that
threaten them and know the resources that are available to assist in times of need.
Clustering of Hazards
The book, ‘Natural Hazards, Unnatural Disasters’ defines clustering as “a group of
similar things or people positioned or occurring closely together” (The United Nations, 2010).
Clustering of hazards is when simultaneous events can happen at the same time to threaten an
area or community. For example, multiple earthquakes, fires due to droughts, landslides due to
flooding, flooding, and structural damage due to storms. These all happen due to one main event
that in sense, starts a chain reaction. Hazard clusters are usually unexpected and unpredictable to
communities that are threatened by them. Emergency planners look at the outcome and threat of
single hazards or threats but rarely look at the possibility of multiple threats and hazards hitting
at the same time.
In the western state of Colorado, during summer months, often there will be droughts that
cause elevated risk for wildfires in the grasslands and in the mountain forests. Wildfires plague
the area for most of the hot and dry summer months. During the late fall, the area receives its
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heaviest rainfalls for the year. The result of the wildfire is that there is no vegetation left behind
to hold the ground together to prevent erosion. In this case, many times there are landslides
caused by heavy rainfall coming over the mountains from the Pacific Ocean. The hazards are
natural each on their own, the clustering of them together is what is unnatural to disaster
planning. Many Emergency Managers have started to group these hazards together creating plans
that are specific to the clustering events that are becoming more prevalent in disaster
management.
On the east coast, many of the states are threatened by hurricanes and tropical storms
throughout the fall timeframe which is known as hurricane season. These storms bring high
winds and storm surge, which is the storm pushing an elevated level of water when it makes
landfall. The storms can but not always bring excessive amounts of rainfall that cause flooding.
Along with the flooding comes the damaging and interruption of critical infrastructure that
communities rely on. These are considered clusters of hazards, each their own individual threat
to the community but all sparked by a single event.
Often the clustering of hazards is seen in less economic diverse communities and
countries where a poorer population resides. Many communities have little to no warning of
hazards before they strike. The impact of earthquakes to countries where buildings are built to
withstand such disasters are higher than countries and communities that have strict regulations
for building codes that is part of the preparedness planning and mitigation process.
Economic Impacts of Hazard Clustering
Hazards each have their own affect on communities in an economic sense. A high
windstorm that knocks out power and damages power lines will cost the community in time and
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money to repair the damage. Clustering of hazards creates unique threats to a communities’
economic preparedness due to the amount of damage that multiple hazards can have on the area.
Oftentimes after a disaster, the economic growth is typically lower, but it can be dependent on
the type of hazard in question. For example, in the event of an earthquake, the industrial growth
will rise after the disaster, due to reconstruction; while in a flood, overall growth typically
increases due to the nutrient-rich silt deposited and increase in hydroelectric power (The United
Nations, 2010).
During the hurricane season, many companies that specialize in repair of essential
infrastructure such as electrical and power grids, telecommunications, tree removal, and road
maintenance come from surrounding states in hopes of increasing revenue in the wake of a
disaster. For days after a storm, the surrounding highway systems will be filled with line-trucks
and tree removal companies all on their way to “help” but at the same time take advantage of a
disaster for economic growth. For example, most of the damages that occur because of cyclones
in the United States, according to the reports analysis occur in the Gulf States and Florida.
Within the report, a section was constructed to estimate damages from climate change-induced
extreme events. The report found that climate change is anticipated to add $11 and $16 billion a
year is damages because of climate induced events by the year 2100. (The United Nations,
2010).
Community Preparedness
Communities that are prepared for disasters and hazards that threaten their area are more
capable of recovering in both a sociological and economic sense. here are important aspects to be
prepared for hazards, while the book ‘Natural Hazards, Unnatural Disasters’ touches on some of
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these, there is more to individual preparedness. Individual families and households that are
prepared for disaster are less of an economic liability for communities. Many communities feel
the need and responsibility to assist those that were not prepared. In communities that have
individuals that are prepared for disasters will recover quicker and be subject to less of an
economic impact.
Many communities have grouped homes and businesses together into smaller more
manageable groups that work together to create preparedness plans and mitigation efforts. In
some cases, volunteer organizations are brought in to help mitigate hazards before they can affect
an area. Operation Rage Against the Ravine was conducted by Team Rubicon in Granby,
Colorado. Team Rubicon is a veteran-based organization that specializes in disaster response
both domestically and internationally. This operation’s goal was to reduce the threat of homes
being lost during the upcoming wildfire season in Colorado. The Granby County Emergency
Management office utilized Team Rubicon which was funded by federal grants to mitigate the
threat of fire damage to homes. With the threat reduced by individually going to each home to
remove standing dead trees and fuel from around the home, the community itself was more
prepared. The threat of wildfires was still a hazard for the area, but the reduction in threat to
homes in the area resulted in the community having a lesser economic affect from the wildfire
season.
Impacts of Insurance Policies
Home and business owners are sometimes required by state or federal laws to obtain
insurance policies. For example, flood insurance is mandatory in many states if the residence or
business is located within a flood plain. In the 1972 the government established the Flood
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Insurance Act which required all government sponsored home loans to carry, at a reduce cost for
insurance, and allowed communities to also purchase as the first true mitigation technique by the
U.S. government (FEMA, 2021). Individual insurance policies are meant to be relief for the
home or business owner but also the local community resources and federal resources depending
on the disaster. Many times, in clustering events where multiple hazards have hit and area, a
Disaster Declaration is made at the state and/or federal level. These declarations are meant to
push ownership and responsibility for recovery to the state or federal level of governments. The
role of insurance as it pertains to commercial insurance is different from that of private property
insurance because the costs associated with commercial insurance must include costs associated
with administrative, marketing and monitoring costs. These costs are needed, because they are
variables needed for commercial insurance companies to calculate their premiums. The data is
used, along with frequencies and intensity, to determine costs (The United Nations, 2010).
Conclusion
Natural hazards will never be able to be completely removed from communities. The
threat of clustering hazards will also be ever growing. The impact on communities and
businesses can be reduced by increasing preparedness in some of the many ways that were
mentioned such as insurance, individual and community preparedness. Mitigation efforts that
take place before a disaster strikes will significantly reduce the impact of disasters and clustering
hazards on communities. Threats to areas are ever changing and communities must stay alert and
do everything in their power to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
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References
Bullock, J., Haddow, G., & Coppola, D. P. (2020).
Introduction to Homeland Security:
Principles of All-Hazards Risk Management
(6th ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann.
Case, J. H. (2022, March 30).
Nation’s Top Disaster Response Organizations Team Up on
Wildfire Mitigation
. Team Rubicon. https://teamrubiconusa.org/blog/nations-top-disaster-
response-organizations-team-up-on-wildfire-mitigation/
Gazette, T. (n.d.).
Storms Trigger Mudslides Where Colo. Wildfire Burned
. Retrieved October 28,
2022, from https://www.firehouse.com/home/news/10753981/storms-triggermudslides-
at-waldo-canyon-fire-burn-area
Hazard Mitigation Assistance Grants
. (n.d.). FEMA.gov. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from
https://www.fema.gov/grants/mitigation
Perry, R. W., & Quarantelli, E. L. (2005).
What Is A Disaster?: New Answers to Old Questions
(Illustrated). Xlibris, Corp.
United Nations. (2011).
Natural Hazards, Unnatural Disasters: The Economics of Effective
Prevention
. Not Avail.
Waldo Canyon Fire | Articles | Colorado Encyclopedia
. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2022, from
https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/waldo-canyon-fire
Waldo Canyon fire singes Colorado Springs economy
. (2012, July 7). The Denver Post.
https://www.denverpost.com/2012/07/07/waldo-canyon-fire-singes-colorado-springs-
economy-2/