...systems (anti-cyclones) and low pressure systems (depressions). Storm events in the UK are attributed to the presence of depressions. Depressions are areas of low pressure and are formed by warm tropical air coming into contact with colder air. As the warm air is of a lower density, it rises due to this collision. Thus, an area of low pressure is created as there is less air at the Earth’s surface. These air masses meet due to the influence of the Polar Front Jet Stream which as it travels in its meandering pattern across the UK (as opposed to being north/south of the UK), the cold air masses north of the PFJS and the warm air masses south meet. As the pressure becomes lower in accordance with more warm air rising, it causes the pressure gradient to steepen, consequently causing the winds to increase in strength and speed (they come from a south-westerly direction due to Coriolis). The rising air cools and eventually condenses, forming clouds which thicken and precipitate. As the depression advances, the cold front will eventually catch up with the warm front and form an occluded front. This is known as the decay of a depression and as the vast majority of the warm air has already been forced upwards, cool air begins to fill in the depression. At this point the weather conditions become more stable as cloud cover decreases, as well as the amount of precipitation and strength/speed of winds. Temperate storms occur when incredibly deep depressions (formed due to extreme amounts...
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...To what extent can preparedness and planning mitigate the effects of tropical revolving storms? [40] Tropical revolving storms are also known as hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones. They occur in the tropics and sub-tropics and form over the oceans where sea surface temperatures are above 27 degrees C. The impact of tropical revolving storms can be devastating. Examples of major natural disasters caused by these storms are Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Tropical Cyclone Nargis in 2008. The main hazards associated with tropical revolving storms are hurricane force winds, torrential rainfall (leading to river flooding), and storm surges flooding low-lying coasts. The impacts however can vary in severity due to a range of human and physical factors. The human factors include how urbanised the area affected is, as built up cities tend to have impermeable surfaces which increases run-off and worsens the floods that occur. These impermeable surfaces replace trees and vegetation via deforestation which would intercept the rain and store it in the soil, allowing it to be released over a period of time and avoid severe flooding. Other human factors include warning systems put in place to predict incoming storms and inform the public about them. This can be linked in with the effectiveness of the government, as governments in developed and stable countries often deal with disasters more effectively than governments in less developed countries. However, regardless of the human factors...
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...College Homeland Security Management: Resilience Planning and Preparedness for Disaster Response and Recovery (2152), Spring 2015 Written By: Brittany Wiley Introduction: Major Hurricane disasters along the coastlines have affected many cities and communities which have forced them to take into action and adopt the conception of emergency management, such as resilience planning, disaster preparedness, response and recovery planning. Mitigation preparedness plays an effective part in the emergency management plan. Many cities and communities must explore strategies to reduce the major impact these disasters have and implement resilience planning that will allow communities to rebuild. According to the National Disaster Recovery Framework (2011), “a successful recovery process promotes practices that minimize the community’s risk to all hazards and strengthens it’s ability to withstand and recover from future disasters, which constitute a community’s resiliency” (p. 11). Furthermore, Hurricane disaster’s not only expose community’s vulnerabilities but it gives them the opportunity to rebuild with more resiliency. When comparing two devastating Hurricane disasters that have impacted many cities, communities and lives; it’s important to consider Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey and New York. Both disasters distinguish resilience, disaster preparedness, response and recovery planning on many levels. While it is important to compare these two disaster...
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...the event of a hurricane or an event of workplace violence. Employee assistance programs including counseling are available to any Baseman employee at any time. Hurricane Contingency Plan Baderman Island Resort’s Hurricane Contingency Plan is a three stage plan contingent upon advanced warning. Given enough lead time the resort will be secured and all staff and guests evacuated from the island to safety, in the unfortunate event of no advanced notice and evacuation is impossible the plan will shift and all personnel will shelter in place; finally recovery which entails bringing operations up and close to normalcy as possible. Advanced warning - evacuation. In the event that The National Weather Center model predicts a 60% probability of a direct hit within 48 hours, stage one will commence. General Manager will assume role of incident commander and coordinate efforts of the response team to secure assets and property, ensure all contact information is exchanged and evacuation destination established and begin the evacuations. In the event that an advanced warning of 48 hours or more is unfeasible but enough not to warrant shelter in place, the incident commander and the response team will all work to evacuate all persons in the most expedious and efficient manner possible....
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... Abstract Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent history, not only because of the severity of the storm, which couldn’t be prevented, but due to poor planning and the years it took to rebuild and allow the people of New Orleans to move on with their lives.Hurricane Katrina happened four (4) years after the September 11th terrorist attacks and three (3) years after the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and one (1) year after the DHS had created a National Response Plan. With the world watching the Federal Government failed the people of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The government failed to show initiative and the ability to provide for the basic needs for the people of New Orleans on many levels, including planning, logistics and communication during the natural disaster and the aftermath of the storm. . Introduction I’m going to discuss several failures of leadership and not just on the federal government but on the city and state as well. There are too many to fault that are identified later in this disaster ranging from pre-planning, during the disaster and post disaster. Hurricanes are natural formations which occur that can’t be prevented but only prepared for. Katrina started as a tropical storm and turned into a hurricane once she reached the Caribbean Islands and on August 24th, 2005, the first alert went out (nhc.noaa.gov). Once Katrina...
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...Tornado warning forecasts in the 1880s and 1890s were more harmful than beneficial to the public (Coleman et al. 2011). The public was not aware of the safety procedures that prevented unnecessary fatuities and injuries due to reckless behavior. The impulsive, reckless behavior caused tornado warnings to be banned in 1887, however, the Civilian US Weather Bureau (USWB) lifted the ban in 1938 (Coleman et al. 2011). The USWB was the first warning system that informed the public of severe weather development information, and safety information. In the World War II era, storm spotting was only used to protect military bases from severe weather, and then became a public service in 1948 by the Air Force’s Fawbush and Miller (Doswell et al....
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...Discuss the impacts of storm events in the British Isles and evaluate the responses to them (40 marks) The British Isles has a Cool Temperate Western Maritime Climate which is owing to its location at the edge of a continent, between two seas and subject to the influences of five major air masses; north-westerly, south-westerly, northerly, easterly and southerly. British climate is classified as temperate as it rarely features the extremes of heat or cold, rain, drought or wind that are common in other climates. Basic characteristics of this climate include temperature, precipitation, wind and air masses. The mean summer temperatures in the UK are lower than the average for its latitude which is due to the cooling influence from the Atlantic Ocean with its daily maximum being about 30 degrees. The average monthly values rarely exceed 16 degrees. In the winter, the average temperatures are above freezing (2-7 degrees) in coastal areas and relatively high winter values are owed to the warming influence of the sea. Oceans have an ameliorating effect on the temperature in the British Isles ad so it isn’t too hot or too cold. Also within the British Isles, precipitation occurs throughout the year yet varies in relief in upland areas, for example, western coast rainfall totals can exceed 2,500mm whereas a short distance further east in low land areas in the shadow of mountains, annual totals can be as little as 500mm. Most of the rainfall is brought by frontal systems moving from...
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...Tornados By Matt Daniel June 23, 2014 2014 PHSC 210-B14 LUO Tom Williams Introduction Tornadoes are a type of windstorm that are common when the weather begins to get warmer. They are one of Mother Nature’s deadliest forces and they leave little time to prepare for their destruction. They are formed from a midaltitude cyclone or associated with a super cell thunderstorm, in the United States during the months April-June. Tornadoes are measured using the Enhances Fujita scale (EF-Scale) and are measured based of the amount of destruction they cause. At this time researchers continue to learn and process new information about tornadoes and work on predicting their occurrence. General Overview Tornadoes, also known’s as twisters or cyclones, are one of natures most destructive forces. Tornadoes are sporadic in occurrence and can also produce violent winds. They are violent windstorms that take the form of a vortex, or a rotating column of air. (Thunderstorm Hazards-tornadoes, 2014) In these columns of are the air pressure can drop drastically making it sometimes as much as 10% lower than immediately outside these vortexes. (Lutgens; Tarbuck, 2014, Pg. 461) The much lower pressure in the center of the air...
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...Winter Storm – December 2013 (5th to 6th December) Summary On 5th December 2013 a depression passed over the UK due to the Polar Jet stream being unusually for south. This caused the wettest December since 1776, with a series of low pressure weather systems bringing some characteristic storm events. However it was the storm event on the 5th of December that had the heaviest impact according to the Met Office. Causes The synoptic chart (left) shows the meteorological basis of the storm. At 1200 UTC a deep area of low pressure can be seen moving south-west across the UK; it can be seen just off the north-east coast of the UK at a pressure of 967 millibars. This alongside other oncoming depressions would (as well as bringing heavy stormy weather) cause a storm surge affecting the North Wales and North Sea coastline. Unlike the formation of depressions off the west coast of the UK, this depression was formed from Polar Maritime air, from Greenland, and Tropical Maritime air, from the Azores, however as it had been moved North by the Polar Jet Stream it had picked up much more moisture than any typical depression, however it had also been modified by Artic Maritime air, and it was this that gave the large scale impact of the storm event. Comparatively, the 5th December storm event was likened to the events of January 2012 and December 2011, however the length of the storm event, meant that the storm event in December 2013 had the most notable effect. The depression was also...
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...The primary effects of hurricanes are that they are one of the most destructive natural hazards, both in terms of frequency and death toll. They pose a major threat to coastal areas, related to the storm surge threat. They are a multiple hazard, since loss of life and property can be a result of one of several factors; Heavy rain, High wind velocity, Storm surge, as a result of the above and low central pressure they also include secondary effects, Flooding, landslides, and related damage. Impacts are a function of when and where the hurricane hits. Storm Surges a storm surge is a large dome of water, 50-100miles wide, which sweeps across the coastline near where the hurricane makes landfall. It is water pushed towards the shore by the force of the winds swirling around the storm, and the drop in pressure (260mm sea level rise for a 30mb fall in pressure) The surge combines with the normal tide to create a storm tide, and wind waves are then superimposed upon this. It can be more than 15ft deep. Most of the US Atlantic and Gulf coasts lie less than 10ft above sea level; therefore at risk. The major danger is from flooding, particularly when coinciding with natural high tides. This causes great potential for loss of life. They not only damage structures, but the debris which they carry is dangerous too. External debris can become deadly missiles in the wind force. Damage to tall objects, esp. power lines, telephone cables can cause disruption. High rise buildings are at risk from...
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...(churches, social groups) -resource management (funding needs which typically exceed what is at hand, donations – government, Red Cross, fundraisers, celebrities, philanthropy) -warnings and evacuation (public typically doesn’t feel the risk is as severe as they can be; mandate evacuations) -search and rescue (people are dispersed, hurt, injured and need to be taken to medical facilities; federal resources are very important – coast guard) -working with the media (can be a very good resource for getting the word out) -triage and casualty distribution (need to be agent specific as to what type of disaster we’re dealing with) -patient care and infrastructure -patient and refugee tracking (note cards, internet, media) -management of volunteers and donations (need to give people specific assignments – cooking, cleanup, security) or you’ll have duplication of effort and frustration -Organized improvisation 2) What is meant by “organized improvisation”? “Organized improvisation” means being ready to do whatever, whenever. We have to be creative when working in a disaster. 3) How did Katrina response and preparedness differ from Sandy? Katrina response: Overall, there was mismanagement and lack of preparedness from the government (local, state, and federal). There was a delay in the response to flooding. FEMA, federal money and big organizations came and left (they only stayed 30-60 days). Volunteer organizations...
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...LASA 2: Monitoring Our Home Planet Module 5: Assignment 1 Alessandro Ramirez-Maldonado Argosy University Remote sensing was first used in the U.S. in the 1950s by Ms. Evelyn Pruitt of the U.S. Office of Naval Research, is now commonly used to describe the science—and art—of identifying, observing, and measuring an object without coming into direct contact with it. It involves the detection and measurement of radiation of different wavelengths reflected or emitted from distant objects or materials, by which they may be identified and categorized by class/type, substance, and spatial distributions. There are various types of satellites being used for earth observation. It varies from the area that is being seen to the frequency of observations. One type used in disaster management would be polar-orbiting satellites that aviate in low-set ambit, but provide high spatial resolution. Infrared sensors would pick up floods, thermal sensors would spot the fires that are active, and microwave sensors are used to measure earth’s deformations before and during earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. The major disaster in the developing world would be the drought in Africa. This kind of disaster along with many others starts slowly and may be predicted in advance. “The cause of droughts in the U.S. is the disposition winds from the west. A ridge which is caused by a jet stream making a big northern bend going over the central part of the woodlands with lesser meridional curves on...
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...Provide an example of individual, group, and organizational early warning systems you have experienced in an organization. How effective or ineffective were they? Why? The purpose of organizational early warning systems is to assist firms in managing strategic surprises or discontinuities (Ansoff, 1975). The detection of weak but important warning signs constitute environmental discontinuities and enables leaders in organizations to respond purposefully and advantageously in advance. Aguilar (1967) suggested the need for organizations to perform organizational scanning for these early signals. Such a need for scanning admits that blind spots exists that prevent leaders from obtaining a correct perspective of events and to take necessary corrective actions. Individuals, groups, or organizations may have early warning systems. Storms, harsh weather, strong winds, and sand accumulation constitute early warning for the need of emphasis on safety in all field activities of my company. Many of oil and gas activities occur in remote locations. The need for defensive driving or to lessen speed is important during times of severe weather. Company operated vessels or aircrafts travel discriminantly to forestall catastrophic events and lessen the resulting potential devastating influence on lives and property. When these events occur, a company-wide announcement goes out by the Emergency Control Centre (ECC) to all e-mails, official, and private phones of...
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...Mitigation * Preparedness * Response * Recovery Real Incident Study * Background: * Immediate Response Considerations: * Evacuation: * Special Immediate Concerns: * Recovery Process: * Facility Considerations: * Lessons Learned at This Point in Response/Recovery: * Takeaways from this incident: Conclusion References Introduction According to dictionary.com Disasters means “a calamitous event, especially one occurring suddenly and causing great loss of life, damage, or hardship, as a flood…” Disasters such as Earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, tornados, epidemic disease outbreaks and more can damage any population and have a tremendous effect on the health care organizations that respond. Many health care organizations face major challenges during natural disasters. There are many different causes for those challenges.According to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, in 2002, international disasters affected 608 million people and killed more than 24,000. The recent natural disaster in the United States for this year 2011(May 22, 2011) was the tornado Joplin in Missouri; 160 fatalities were reported in this natural disaster. Types of Disasters I. Natural disasters E.g.: Avalanches, Earthquakes, Volcanic eruptions. II. Hydrological disasters E.g.: Floods, Tsunamis. III. Meteorological disasters E.g.: Blizzards, Cyclonic storms, Droughts, Hailstorms, Heat...
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...associated with storm surges. The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society Cyclone Preparedness Program (CPP) is being a joint venture with the Government of Bangladesh, The CPP is an organic component of the nation’s institutional early warning system as clearly defined in the “Standing Order on Disasters”. The BDRCS CPP program is the most successful and an effective model program of its kind in the South-East Asian region. CPP is an effective, grass-root oriented, disciplined and tightly knits organization which is dedicated to the task of protecting the population along with community capacity build up activities. This programme based on the voluntary service of community people and their technical skills and commitment to ensure sufficient warning dissemination, shelter management, search & rescue and first aid services enabling them to cope with the approaching cyclone. This study has been Vol. 2 No. 2 December 2009 u 15 carried out to find the communities perspective about the volunteers performance in time of disaster event. Keywords: Preparedness, warning dissemination, rescue, first aid, risk reduction. Bangladesh is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. Its geographic location is the biggest contributing factor for the proneness to disasters. Due to the funnel shaped coast, Bangladesh often becomes the landing ground and breeding place of catastrophic cyclones formed in the Bay of Bengal. An average of 1-3 severe to moderate cyclonic storms hit...
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