Disaster response and recovery

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Question1

The ability of the government to pre-empt possible disasters help in coming up with strategies for minimizing the losses and mitigation of its effects. Disaster mitigation requires that proper planning and response mechanisms are put in place. The 9/11 is a classic example a disaster mitigation measures. The American government and UN security system have designed pre-emptive mechanisms in the aftermath of the 9/11. The mitigation measure is aimed at pre-emptying possibility of the terrorist using the nuclear weapons in an attack. Etzioni (2004) argued that following the 9/11, there has been “largely pre-empt a nuclear attack” by the US and the UN Security Council. The UN has strengthened the capacity of the International Atomic Energy Agency to monitor use of nuclear energy. Similarly Bach (2005) argued that the USA “initiated overseas operations and deployments” as a pre-emptive measure. The focus of such deployments are to limit the “terrorists’ ability to obtain nuclear arms and the materials from which they are made” (Etzioni, 2004).

Question 2

Describe mitigation measures to prevent terrorism.

Prevention of terrorism requires adequate planning and training. The government needs to have a strategic military plan that detail the possible terror threats, how to respond and recover from any attack. The government should invest in intelligence gathering as a tool for collection information about the terrorists and responding to any threat. All the information gathered should be analyzed and used appropriately. The government should also invest in modern technology such as biometric identification systems, forensic laboratories and modern military ware.

Mitigation to eliminate or reduce the impact of hazards in a community

To eliminate or reduce the impact of hazards in a community, certain measures need to be taken. The community members should be capacity built on the possible hazards in their surroundings and how to deal with them. Public education and capacity building is the best approach as it helps to empower the community with information, knowledge and skills to address their challenges. Partnerships can be used to eliminate or reduce the impact of hazards in a community. This entails partnership between the local authorities and the private sector to come up with mitigation strategies. The groups must work together to deal with any hazard. Lastly, there is need for a policy and specific laws to address the community issues. The laws such as those touching on public health, construction and waste management should be fully enforced at all times.

What mitigation measures would you recommend for your community?

I would recommend community training and capacity building. This mitigation measure is universally applicable and helps empower all stakeholders about the hazards and their impacts. The approach makes every community member responsible for the community safety and public health.

Topology, types of hazards

The topology of disasters is based on natural and artificial disasters. The natural disaster occurs without any cause or action by man. These hazards occur due to the natural processes that man has no control over.

A potential man-made disaster occurs due to the actions of man. For example, earthquake disasters may occur as a result of myriad dangers related to poor designs by the architectures and town planners.

I would you base my decisions on the causes of the hazards in the classifications.

Question 3

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bioterrorism preparedness and Smallpox Response Plan.

The plan outlines the procedures to be taken to contain smallpox epidemic. The vaccination, as per the plan, is give through mass vaccination or ring vaccination that targets the carriers (CDC, 2013). The plan is however controversial. The controversies have been based on the safety of the vaccines. The protagonists argue that the vaccine may not be as safe as argued by the center. Similarly, issue of the efficacy of the vaccination has been raised. Those opposed to the idea argue that the vaccine may not as effective as portrayed. They argue that the vaccine has not been scientifically tested and proven to be effective. It may therefore lead to life threatening situations.

There are right approaches to dealing with bioterrorism. The CDC already has plans to counter the possible attacks. For example, there are plans on how to deal with smallpox virus instigated attacks. The surveillance and mitigation strategies have been effectively designed by Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (CDC, 2013).

Question 4

One of the objectives of NRF is to “describe scalable, flexible, and adaptable coordinating structures, as well as key roles and responsibilities for integrating capabilities across the whole community,5 to support the efforts of local, state, tribal, territorial, insular area, and Federal governments in responding to actual and potential incidents” (Homeland Security, 2013). The NFR is mandated to come with appropriate response mechanisms during disasters. The first objective shows that the entity should design flexible response strategies. For example, the Katrina disaster escalated because of the slow response that was marred by bureaucracy and systems’ rigidity. The objective also advocates for proper coordination of scalable operations from national to local levels. The aim of this objective is to ensure that the response process is not chaotic but well planned so that no more lives are lost. For example, during the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing, the team helped to secure the city and arrest the terrorists, while evacuating the athletes. The timely and coordinated response showed the he NFR lives to its objective.

Comments from Support Team:

References

Bach, R. (2005) Transforming Border Security: Prevention First. Retrieved from.

https://www.hsaj.org/?fullarticle=1.1.2

CDC (2013). What CDC Is Doing to Protect the Public From Smallpox. Retrieved from.

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/prep/cdc-prep.asp

Etzioni, A. (2004). Pre-empting Nuclear Terrorism in a New Global Order The European Think

Tank with a Global Outlook. Retrieved from. http://fpc.org.uk/fsblob/314.pdf.

Homeland security (2013) National Response Framework. Retrieved from.

HYPERLINK “https://s3-us-gov-west-1.amazonaws.com/dam-production/uploads/20130726-1914-” https://s3-us-gov-west-1.amazonaws.com/dam-production/uploads/20130726-1914-25045-1246/fina

Richards, E. (2010). The United States smallpox bioterrorism preparedness plan: rational response.

William Mitchell Law Review. Retrieved from.

HYPERLINK “http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cphl/articles/Richards.7.20.2010.pdf” http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cphl/articles/Richards.7.20.2010.pdf.

l_national_response_framework_20130501.pdf