Essay: Disaster Management Plan For Rio De Janeiro Earthquake." (70 Characters)

You are required to prepare a Response Plan to the scenario below. The response plan should include: relevant stakeholders in the response, logistics, special considerations as a result of the scenario context (season, location etc), challenges, likely outcomes, conclusions and recommendations for the future.

It is 16^th August, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The city is hosting the Olympic Games and there are thousands of additional tourists and athletes in the city. Over the past few days there have been slight earth tremors, but because of the Olympics, the authorities have made light of them and attempted not to worry the tourists.

On the evening of the 17^th August there is an earthquake situated at about 10km underground 50km outside the main city of Rio de Janeiro. Buildings collapse and many are injured and even more killed.  A lot of the injured are tourists.

You are the head of the Emergency Response Team in Rio. What would your response plan be given the situation and the location of this disaster event?

Scenario and Context

The aim of this report is designing an appropriate disaster management plan for Rio De Janeiro. The city has a very huge population of over 6 million people. There are also many visitors and athletes in the city since its hosting the summer Olympics. The report describes in detail the events of the disaster and also identifies key stakeholders in the disaster management plan. Factors such as wildlife welfare and special groups welfare are discussed since they may affect the disaster management plan. In addition to this, a plan for managing the psychological stressors of the disaster event. A strategy for evaluating the effectiveness of the disaster management that is used to manage the disaster event. Some of the strategies that will be used include calculating the number of people evacuated on time, evaluating the number of people injured and how the response has been able to help people deal with the emergency psychologically.

The city of Rio de Janeiro has a population of more than 6.5 million. During the Olympic season, the city is expected to receive more than 700 athletes across many countries around the globe (Filion,2016). There are more than a million visitors who arrived in the city due to the ongoing Olympic games. This means that a lot of caution has to be taken when designing the emergency response plan. More than 6 million people and also wildlife is at risk of being affected by the disaster. The emergency strategy has to make sure that minimum injuries and casualties are resulting from the disaster. The emergency response team also has to consider the sensitivity and urgency of the situation ahead. To avoid chaos and commotion that may lead to more deaths and injuries, the team will ensure that information is disbursed in an orderly manner and that citizens are assisted in evacuating the areas that are more likely to be affected by the earthquake. Information should be disbursed in such a manner that it is useful in helping the residents to evacuate and stay in safe areas.(Beach, 2010). An earthquake that is 10km deep and 50km away is very strong. The earthquake is likely to reach Rio De Janeiro city within less than 24 hours. Therefore, residents have to be evacuated to low-risk areas using all means available to manage loss resulting from the disaster.

It is critical to identify all stakeholders that will be involved in the disaster management plan. Each of the stakeholders will be able to understand their roles in the rescue and the disaster management plan and hence ensure that the process is carried out smoothly.

The national government will play a crucial role in the management of the earthquake disaster which has hit Rio De Janeiro. The major role of the national government will be providing of finances which will be very crucial in implementing this plan. The government will also provide a means of evacuating residents to areas that are less likely to be affected by the earthquake. Technological resources and human resources will also come from the government. The government will also be in charge of construction and repair of public amenities which will be affected by the earthquake(Santiago-Fandin?o, Sato?,  Maki & Iuchi, 2018). The government will provide choppers and high capacity vehicles to help in evacuating people.

Logistic Strategies

The military and police will be crucial in managing the disaster. This is because the population at risk of being affected by this disaster is so large, hence increasing the need for people to coordinate the evacuation process. The Emergency response team does not have enough employees to coordinate the entire process and hence the military and police will play a big role in providing technical assistance which is crucial in this exercise.

The IOC is tasked with the responsibility of managing the Olympic games. It works in close coordination with the National Olympic committees of various countries that participate in the Olympic games. The IOC role will be to communicate to all athletes participating in the games and come up with an evacuation plan to ensure that they are safe (Casavant& Philpott,2016). The committee will also ensure safety for the fans in the stadium and make proper plans to ensure that none of the athletes or the fans are affected by the disaster.

The emergency response team has the role of ensuring that they carry out rescue operations for people who may get injured when the earthquake occurs. During an earthquake, there is likely to be the destruction of buildings and people may find themselves in the rumbles. The team will need the assistance of various humanitarian associations such as the Red Cross. The organizations will play a huge role in helping to manage the humanitarian crisis that may come as a result of the disaster. It will help in distribution of aid to victims of the earthquake.(Ainuddin & Routray, 2012). These organizations will be offering humanitarian assistance such as food and shelter.

The people who get injured after the earthquake will need urgent medical attention. Therefore, the hospitals will provide ambulances to help offer the victims urgent medical attention that they need (Shaw & Neef, 2013). Hospitals need to be ready to receive many victims and to work for extra hours to offer emergency medical services for victims.

To respond appropriately to the disaster that Rio city is facing. It is important that there is proper flow of information as well as proper coordination of movement of people. People are encouraged to use public means of transport and avoid using private means. This will greatly help in reducing congestion in the city while carrying out the rescue operations (Sylves,2015). People are encouraged to seek refuge in safe areas which are far from buildings and stay away from the seaside. Food and other resources will also be required to cater to people who shelter in camps.

The earthquake is set to occur at a period when there is a huge population of visitors in the city. During this season, many tourists are staying in hotels and apartments and are not conversant with the city. These people needed to be advised accordingly and helped to avoid being caught in the middle of the crisis. The city is also hugely populated and traffic at this time is very congested, and hence measures need to be put in place to manage traffic flow (Wrobel, 2009)

Stakeholders

The emergency response plan is faced with many challenges. One of these challenges is communication. The team may face a challenge of communicating to all many residents within a short time. Given the gravity of the matter, it is important that the emergency team communicates to both the athletes and the residents within a short time so that they can evacuate to safety.

The other challenge that the team will face is that of ensuring the smooth flow of traffic. There is a very high likelihood of tension and panic among residents. Most of them will be trying to run to safety, and this will likely result in gridlock in traffic as everyone tries to get out of the city to safe areas (Syngellakis, 2017).

There will also be a challenge in providing medical and emergency services to the residents. People will require urgent medical attention, and this may strain the medical facilities that are available as well as medical staff available (Hanfling, & Institute of Medicine (U.S.) 2012).

It will also be difficult to ensure the safety of fans and athletes during the Olympic games. Getting the fans out of the stadium will be difficult be difficult. The games will also have to be interrupted to ensure the safety of everyone who is involved.

The earthquake disaster is likely to have a huge psychological impact on both the residents and the athletes participating in the games. The stress may come out of the distress due to people losing their loved ones and loss of property (Wrobel,2009). The emergency team is planning to create support centers in all refugee centers across the city. These centers will offer canceling services to all the people affected by the tragedy. Canceling camps will also be set in all health centers and hospitals to help the people in dealing with the psychological effects of the earthquake (Payant, 2010)

The emergency management plan for the earthquake in Rio will help to reduce the number of injuries and deaths as a result of the earthquake disaster (Johnson & Olshansky, 2017). The plan will help to move people in safe areas where the effect of the earthquake is minimal. The plan will also help to manage to provide humanitarian help to people suffering as a result of the earthquake. Food and shelter shall be provided to all the people affected by the earthquake. The plan will also help to reduce the psychological effect of the disaster.

One of the strategies that will be used to evaluate effectiveness of the plan is counting the number of people who have been rescued from the disaster.  This will help to establish how the strategy has helped to save human life.

A study will be conducted after the disaster to determine how people have been able to deal with the psychological effects of the disaster. The ability of the people to access food and shelter during the period of the disaster will also help to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan  (Shaw& Neef, 2013).

Conclusion

The report analyses the event of an earthquake occurring fifty Kilometers away from Rio which is hosting the summer Olympics of 2016. There are more than half a million followers in the city most of whom are tourists coming to attend the Olympic games. Given that the city has a huge population, it is important to put in place a strategy that will help in rescuing the residents of the city. The report discusses the various shareholders involved in the plan and the roles that they play in implementing this plan. The report also discusses the special considerations involved in the plan and the challenges the team may face while implementing the plan.

References

Ainuddin, S., & Routray, J. (2012). Institutional framework, key stakeholders and community preparedness for earthquake induced disaster management in Balochistan. Disaster Prevention And Management: An International Journal, 21(1), 22-36. doi: 10.1108/09653561211202683

Beach, M. (2010). Disaster preparedness and management. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis Co.Page 15-17

Casavant, D. A., & Philpott, D. (2016). Emergency preparedness: A safety planning guide for people, property, and business continuity.Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis Co..Page 115

Filion, P. (2016). Cities at risk: Planning for and recovering from natural disasters. Routledge.Penguin Books, Camberwell. Page 37,40

Handling, D., & Institute of Medicine (U.S.). (2012). Crisis standards of care: A systems framework for catastrophic disaster response. Washington, D.C: The National Academies Press.page 167

Johnson, L. A., & Olshansky, R. B. (2017). After great disasters: An in-depth analysis of how six countries managed community recovery.Emerald Publishers, London. Page 107-111

Payant, R. (2010)Emergency management for facility and property managers.Penguin Books,Camberwell. Page 166

Santiago-Fandin?o, V., Sato?, S., Maki, N., & Iuchi, K. (2018). The 2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: Reconstruction and Restoration: Insights and Assessment after 5 Years. Cham: Springer.

Shaw, R., & Neef, A. (2013). Risks and conflicts: Local responses to natural disasters. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Page 28-47

Syngellakis, S. (2017). Management of natural disasters.Simon and Schuster publishers. New York. Page 234

Sylves, R. T. (2015). Disaster Policy and Politics: Emergency Management and Homeland Security.Hachette publishers, Paris. Page 114

Wrobel, (2009). Disaster Recovery Planning for Communications and Critical Infrastructure. Boston, MA: Artech House.Page 91-96