Category: Berita

WELLINGTON, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) — New Zealanders have never been better prepared for disasters, according to an annual disaster preparedness survey released on Tuesday.

Levels of household preparedness for disasters have risen sharply since the Kaikoura earthquake last November, followed by a string of other emergencies such as the Port Hills fires in Christchurch and the Edgecumbe flooding in the Bay of Plenty, Minister of Civil Defence Nathan Guy said in a release.

Current levels of preparedness are on par with the previous highest on record, which was following the Canterbury earthquakes in 2010 and 2011, Guy said.

The results are the findings of the disaster preparedness survey for 2017, conducted by Colmar Brunton, a social research company, which has been released by the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management.

The survey shows that 83 percent of respondents know that they needed to evacuate when a long or strong earthquake happens near the coast.

Source: CNA/aa

(TNS) – Today, President Donald Trump approved a major disaster declaration for Midland, Bay, Gladwin and Isabella counties along with the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe within Isabella County after the area experienced severe flood damage from storms on June 22-23.

“The losses sustained by these communities have been severe due to the magnitude of the flash flooding,” Gov. Rick Snyder said. “This presidential declaration is an important step in our continuing efforts to provide assistance and help Michigan families and businesses recover from the effects of this disaster.”

The decision releases federal funds for state and local governments to use in disaster recovery efforts and to help reduce the risk of such an event in the future. In addition, the disaster declaration makes individual assistance available to the families still recovering from recent flooding.

U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar welcomed the president’s decision.

“State and local governments in mid-Michigan have done an outstanding job in the aftermath of June’s flooding, but the cost of cleanup and recovery was more than they could bear alone,” Moolenaar said. “Today’s decision to grant federal assistance from FEMA will go a long way toward helping communities and families rebuild.”

Individuals seeking assistance in the formal disaster area can register with FEMA by visiting www.DisasterAssistance.gov or calling 1-800-621-3362. Those who have a speech disability or hearing loss and use TTY, should call 1-800-462-7585 directly; for those who use 711 or Video Relay Service, call 1-800-621-3362.

With this declaration, communities statewide are now eligible to participate in the hazard mitigation assistance program that can help reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and property from natural hazards. Mitigation measures reduce personal loss, save lives and lessen the cost of responding to and recovering from future disasters.

“I strongly encourage communities to seize the opportunity for hazard mitigation assistance to enhance the safety of Michigan’s residents,” said Capt. Chris A. Kelenske, commander of the Michigan State Police, Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division. “With federal aid, our communities can initiate projects to save lives and protect public property and health.”

In addition to the presidential declaration for public assistance and hazard mitigation assistance, the U.S. Small Business Administration has made low-interest disaster loans available to residents and businesses in Bay, Gladwin, Isabella and Midland counties. Additional information about the SBA disaster assistance program is available at www.sba.gov.

The presidential declaration does not include assistance for costs incurred by state and local governments due to damage to public facilities and infrastructures because those costs did not meet the federal threshold for assistance. However, Snyder has opened the state’s Disaster and Emergency Contingency Fund, which allows eligible local governments affected by the flooding to apply for assistance grants for up to $100,000 or 10 percent of the previous year’s operating budget, whichever is less.

CEBU, Philippines – The disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) has been institutionalized through its integration into the school curriculum.

The Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education in Central Visayas have incorporated disaster risk reduction and management in their curricula.

Section 14 of the Republic Act 10121 (or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010) requires DepEd, CHED,  and Tesda to integrate disaster risk education in school curricula.

The law said DepEd and CHED have an important part to play in the country’s approach to DRRM.

DepEd and CHED officials agreed, saying students and teachers must be equipped with knowledge on mitigating and managing hazards and risks brought by natural disasters like earthquakes.

Victor Yntig, DepEd-7 Administrative Division chief, said the topics about disasters from basic information to disaster management have already been incorporated into the curricula of elementary and senior high school students.

For elementary and junior high school, DRRM education is not a school subject itself but only a component of subjects like science and technology, and social science.

But DepEd made DRRM education as an independent subject for senior high school students.

Yntig said disaster preparedness and management education has been reinforced through programs and projects spearheaded by non-government agencies and the local government units.

He said experts from these agencies provide orientation and training on disaster mitigation and preparedness, as well as distribute DRRM manuals to students and school faculty members.

He said these initiatives started after the provinces of Bohol and Cebu were hit by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake and super typhoon Yolanda in 2013.

Aside from trainings and seminars, Yntig said, schools are directed to conduct hazard drills quarterly.

He said students should have knowledge on what to do during certain disasters like earthquakes.

On the other hand, college and university students are further capacitated through civic education and defense preparedness program.

Dr. Freddie Bernal, CHED-7 regional director, said disaster mitigation, preparedness and management is among the topics being taught to students through the National Service Training Program (NSTP).

He said all institutions are required to organize their respective disaster responders.

RA 10121 mandates local DRRM bodies to “encourage community, specifically the youth, participation in disaster risk reduction and management activities, such as organizing quick response groups, particularly in identified disaster-prone areas, as well as the inclusion of disaster risk reduction and management programs as part of youth programs and projects.”

Recently, CHED-7 partnered with the University of San Carlos in facilitating the training and workshop on the disaster response participated by NSTP directors and coordinators held in Barangay Talamban, Cebu City.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) earlier reported that Cebu would not be spared from experiencing strong earthquakes with the presence of “potentially active faults” in the province.

PHIVOLCS executive has asserted that every locality in the country will experience its own “big one,” referring to quakes with intensity eight, thus the need to intensify preparedness to mitigate risks. (FREEMAN)

Local hospitals have been preparing for the worst by creating a network of health care professionals coming together for one goal, to save lives.

“We have a number of emergency generators at Harborview. We also have fuel to last a really good reasonable length of time,” said Anne Newcombe, Harborview’s clinical director of emergency services.

Newcombe says power is key during an emergency. Keeping the lights on and machines running at Harborview Medical Center is the difference between life and death. The level one trauma center will be the hub of all medical aid in the event of a mass casualty. Despite the loss of internet during a catastrophic earthquake, Harborview says they have other mechanisms for finding out that information.

“We are prepared to look after patients for a number of days, weeks with also assistance from our local partners, other hospitals, public health, and Northwest Healthcare Response Network,” said Newcombe.

That network was put to the test during the crash on the Aurora Bridge. Careful planning sent patients to area trauma centers and hospitals to get the necessary level of care

That mass casualty event like any other disaster is coordinated in the radio room of Harborview. It’s a room used every day where emergency medicine physicians work with the Seattle Fire Department to provide medical guidance. It’s in partnership with the city and the fire department to provide care out in the field to patients. In addition they also provide guidance and care to airlift Northwest.

“In a major event whether it’s a large earthquake or a mass casualty this room becomes very active,” said Newcombe.

During an emergency, the radio room becomes the Disaster Medical Control Center (DMCC), where they will coordinate and work with medical professionals in the field, medics, and fire departments. Newcombe says typically paramedics will work with the physicians but during a major event they will take that burden off field personnel and coordinate patient distribution based upon level of injury.

But once those patients get to the hospital, the question is will there be enough medical personnel to treat them? Newcombe says in the event of a disaster the doctors, nurses, and support staff who are already at work are expected to stay as long as necessary.

“So one of the key pieces of this is really home preparedness,” explains Newcombe. “We expect our staff to stay to look after each other and look after patients and you can only do that if you know that your family, your dog at home are being well looked after. Otherwise she won’t be focused on caring and looking after patients here. So, home preparedness is essential…So, when you’re at work and an event occurs people will be staying so we provide and have planned for accommodation, so we have accommodation plans, we have plans for food, we have plans for charging their cell phones providing them with perhaps their communication lines. We do that so that our staff can actually stay here and care for the community, because that’s what we’re here for.”

However, she says the hospital staff will not have to face the surge of injuries alone. There are volunteer physicians and nurses prepared to jump into action in the event of a major incident to work in partnership with hospital staff who may be working for several days straight.

One of the most important elements in maintaining critical care is that none of the emergency rooms get overwhelmed. The goal is share the load.

The Northwest Health Care Response Network has redundant systems in place so that no one falls through the cracks. All hospital in the area will open their doors, including specialty care facilities like Seattle Children’s.

“Seattle Children’s becomes a hospital like any other hospital so we would be having people come to us by ambulance, which would most likely be children, but we would also have people just walking off the street or being delivered by their family members, and we would just take whoever came in the door,” said Margot Kravette, Manager of Emergency Preparedness at Seattle Children’s. “It’s our obligation to do that, and we provide excellent care to children and adults. We have to think about that though. We have to know that we have the right supplies to be able to take care of adults. And just as community hospitals don’t have pediatric, they have to be prepared to take children as well.”

While it’s reassuring to know that hospitals are prepared, the most important component to survival is being prepared at home. In the event of a major earthquake, emergency medical services will be slow, and it could be up to you to save a life.

“We want to make sure that the public are aware that having a really good robust first aid kit,” Newcombe said, “knowing how to put a tourniquet on for a bleeding limb. They know some of these principles so that they can also care for themselves or some of these other injuries that may occur.”