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Item Challenges in mass fatality management: A case study of the 2010 Haiti earthquake(Journal of Emergency Management, 2012) Sadiq, Abdul-Akeem; McEntire, DavidA mass fatality incident occurs when a disaster causes many deaths and the affected country does not have sufficient resources to process the remains of victims. The January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti was one such event, and the estimated 316,000 deaths overwhelmed the response system of the government. The purpose of this article is to review the challenges relating to mass fatality management in this incident. Findings were collected through interviews of 28 individuals along with personal observation obtained during two visits to Haiti after the earthquake. The article argues that a good understanding of these challenges (eg, aftershocks, debris, movement and tampering with bodies, lack of resources, environmental factors, smell of decomposing bodies, threat of epidemics, unidentified bodies, psychological stress, and looting) is crucial for an effective response and quick recovery in communities affected by mass fatality incidents.The article concludes with recommendations for addressing these challenges.Item Determinants of Organizational Preparedness for Floods: U.S. Employees’ Perceptions(Wiley, 2017) Sadiq, Abdul-Akeem; School of Public and Environmental AffairsGlobally, and in the United States, flooding is considered one of the most destructive natural hazards in terms of lives lost, injuries, and economic losses. Despite the growing concern of climate change impacts on organizations in particular and society in general, very little is known about the factors influencing public, private, and nonprofit organizations to prepare for flood hazards. This article examines the predictors of flood preparedness in organizations using information collected via an online questionnaire from a national sample of 2008 employees of public, private, and nonprofit organizations in the United States in 2014. The findings revealed that in general, organization size and organization age are robust predictors of flood preparedness. This article concludes by discussing the implications of the results for theory, offering recommendations for practice, and outlining an agenda for future research on the predictors of flood preparedness at the organizational level.Item Haiti’s Emergency Management: A Case of Regional Support, Challenges, Opportunities, and Recommendations for the Future(FEMA, U.S. Department of Homeland Security: http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/CompEmMgmtBookProject.asp, 2012) Fordyce, Erin; Sadiq, Abdul-Akeem; Chikoto, Grace L.As one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere (with over 70 percent of the population living on less than $2 a day) (Grunewald et al. 2010), one wonders about the state of the Haitian Emergency Management System prior to the 2010 earthquake. Clearly, Haiti has been an economically-challenged nation for decades and its protracted poverty level further increases its vulnerability to disasters (PAHO 1994) and impacts its ability to respond and recover effectively when disasters occur. In addition, political instabilities have led to poor economic development opportunities and increased risks. In spite of Haiti’s economic and political challenges, it is possible to gain insight into what the country’s emergency management system looked like before the 2010 earthquake. Haiti had a fledgling national emergency management system in place - one that was heavily supported by both regional and international bodies. The earthquake of January 12, 2010, however, underscores the need for a better disaster reduction and response program, one that would address the underlying and protracted vulnerabilities of Haiti, while ushering in new winds of change that would pump fresh blood into the veins of the emergency management system. This chapter reviews the history of Haiti, including its demography and geography, and examines the hazards and factors contributing to the nation’s vulnerability to disasters. Furthermore, this chapter discusses some past disasters, Haiti’s emergency management system as well as the opportunities and the challenges confronting the system. We conclude by offering some recommendations for improving Haiti’s abilities to deal with disasters.Item Organizations and Emergency Management: Information, Trust, and Preparedness(Journal of Emergency Management, 2012) Huss, Sheila; Sadiq, Abdul-Akeem; Weible, ChristopherIn what ways do information and trust relate to the level of organizational preparedness for disasters? Interview and survey data on 227 organizations in Memphis/Shelby County, TN, were analyzed to assess the extent to which organizations use disaster-related information for decision making, and report the information as adequate and relevant. Organizations were also asked to identify their sources for disaster-related information, whom they trust for helping them prepare for disasters, and their level of preparedness for disasters. The results show that more than half of the organizations in Memphis/Shelby County relied on information for disaster management, and of these organizations, the overwhelming majority agreed that the information was both adequate and relevant. The police and fire departments, Memphis/Shelby County Emergency Management Agency, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention were identified by responding organizations as major sources of information and as organizations that they trust the most to help them prepare for disasters. Organizations that rely on the Memphis City Government for information are more likely than other organizations to report that they are prepared for disasters. Finally, organizations that rely on the media as one of their top three information sources are less likely than other organizations to report that they are prepared for disasters.Item Zimbabwe’s Emergency Management System: A Promising Development(FEMA, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/CompEmMgmtBookProject.asp, 2012) Chikoto, Grace L.; Sadiq, Abdul-AkeemZimbabwe’s encounter with droughts, in particular, combined with economic and political challenges, has denigrated the country’s former status as the “breadbasket of Southern Africa” (Hunter-Gault 2006; Maphosa 1994; Swarns 2002). Zimbabwe is particularly prone to a number of natural and man-made hazards such as droughts, floods, veld fires, storms (PreventionWeb 2012), and HIV/AIDS (United Nations Development Programme 2010) among other epidemics. Between 1980 and 2010, PreventionWeb (2012) documented 35 natural disaster events, which resulted in 6,448 deaths, averaging 208 deaths from disasters annually. Of the 35 natural disasters, 6 were drought occurrences, 7 were floods, 2 were storms, and 20 were epidemic occurrences. Chikoto (2004) 1 also counted the number of public transportation disasters that plagued Zimbabwe between 1982 and 2003, which claimed over 700 lives and injured over 400 people. To mitigate and prepare for these and other hazards facing Zimbabwe, the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) created the Department of Civil Protection and charged it with the onus of coordinating and managing disasters and reducing hazards. This chapter traces the history of Zimbabwe’s emergency management system, with a focus on the factors contributing to the nation’s vulnerability to disasters and hazards. In addition to tracing the impact of past disasters, the chapter also discusses some of the opportunities and challenges confronting the country’s emergency management system. The chapter concludes with recommendations for improving this system.