Hazard, Threat, and Incident Annexes for Earthquakes, Fires, Tornadoes, Floods, and Heat Waves
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Introduction
Several courses of action apply to all the major natural disasters experienced in St. Louis, Missouri. The region is significantly susceptible to earthquakes, floods, fires, tornados, and heatwaves. All the disasters may necessitate evacuations. FEMA and SEMA will evaluate St Louis’ safety concerns to determine cases that need evacuation. The responsible parties should disseminate the appropriate information to the appropriate people using all the available information-sharing methods.
Evacuation
Purpose
The purpose of this response approach is for situations that necessitate evacuations. This section will explain some of the critical steps applicable to small and large-scale evacuations.
Scope
This response plan applies to all the disasters that would happen in all parts of St. Louis, Missouri. Evacuating people from disaster areas would significantly reduce the chances of losing lives (Thompson, Garfin, & Silver, 2017). In the event of a major disaster, all the people at risk should be moved to safer grounds within the shortest time possible.
Situation
This response plan will be applicable in the events declared as major disasters. The plan will be implemented under State EOP. The plan can also be applied where the probability of adverse event occurrence is high enough to necessitate action. The federal, state, and local governments will mobilize resources required in the evacuation process (Hamilton, 2016). The resource providers should collaborate with FEMA and other relevant agencies to identify the necessary resources in the evacuation process.
Assumptions
This response plan is based on the assumption that all the parties responsible for the evacuation process shall properly play their respective roles in the event of a major disaster. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other relevant authorities will provide the correct information to the Governor’s Office and other leaders regarding the severity of the disaster (Hamilton, 2016). The Governor’s Office and other resource providers will then provide the right necessities as required. Several events are expected in all the adverse events requiring evacuations. Emergency response agencies assume that a significant number of people will evacuate without the help of emergency response agencies (Ndiaye, Neron, & Jouglet, 2017). A significant number of people will receive and follow the appropriate evacuation information through Emergency Notification System channels. However, a significant number will need assistance to understand the information (Baou et al., 2018). Others will purposely ignore the information, others will not understand, while a good number will not get the information at the right time.
Major Natural Disasters in St. Louis, Missouri
Earthquakes
An earthquake may be defined as the earth-shaking due to seismic waves. The waves occur due to a sudden flip on a fault. The earth-shaking can cause significant damage to property and loss of lives (Cramer et al., 2017). The wave strength is directly proportional to the adverse effects in most cases. St Louis, Missouri, experienced about 12 relatively strong earthquakes in the past 205 years (Cramer et al., 2017). That calls for residents to develop appropriate preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery measures.
Tornadoes
A tornado is a mass of spinning air. The mass of air spins and moves at a relatively high speed. The size and speed of the air mass are usually proportional to the degree of destruction caused. Tornadoes destroy structures and may cause loss of lives (Hamilton, 2016). St. Louis, Missouri, has been experiencing significant tornadoes for a significant long time. According to Hamilton (2016), up to 3 relatively strong tornados are experienced every year (Hamilton, 2016). That calls for well-established disaster preparedness.
Floods
A flood may be defined as a relatively large mass of moving water. Relatively dry areas are more prone to floods than wet areas. Floods are a significant risk in St. Louis, Missouri (Hamilton, 2016). It causes the loss of a significant number of lives and property every year. According to Hamilton (2016), floods cause loss of property worth $1 billion every year. Heavy rainfall is the primary cause of flooding (Hamilton, 2016). St. Louis has been experiencing relatively strong showers in the past few years. For that reason, all the responsible parties should ensure that the community is well prepared for the disaster.
Fires
Fires are a major unpredictable disaster in St Louis, Missouri. The unpredictability of the problem calls for the authorities and society to have well-developed preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery strategies (Akinola & Adegoke, 2019). People can use many approaches to protect themselves and others from fires. St. Louis has experienced many fires in the past. The fires had different degrees of effects depending on many factors. According to Akinola and Adegoke (2019), structure fires cause significant property destruction and loss of lives (Akinola & Adegoke, 2019). For that reason, state and federal emergency response agencies invest significant resources in preventing and responding to structure fires. Wildfires are also a major threat in Missouri. The 2012 fire was one of the major disasters experienced in Missouri. The prolonged drought period was the primary cause of the disaster. According to Akinola and Adegoke (2019), drought reduced plant moisture lows to historical lows (Akinola & Adegoke, 2019). That created a fertile ground for fires to start and spread. The 2012 fires destroyed plants and physical structures in more than 10,000-acre regions.
Heat Waves
Heatwaves have been a significant natural disaster in St. Louis, Missouri. It causes significant damage to property and human life. Extreme temperatures kill crops and pastures (Hamilton, 2016). The 1936 heatwave was the most significant. It caused significant destruction on infrastructure ad stress among residents. The fact that the problem happened in St. Louis history creates some probability that it might happen again in the future. That calls for people to put in place preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery measures.
Response Plan
The State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) collaborates with the Missouri local authorities in identifying the parties responsible for ensuring that the right degrees of preparedness, response abilities, mitigation, and recovery strategies are in place. SEMA also outlines the steps to be followed in the event of a disaster. It articulates the roles of the parties to be involved in the process. Position names are usually used in place of individual names.
Almost all the identified natural disasters in Missouri would involve evacuations as part of the response strategies. For that reason, all the residents and disaster response teams should be aware of the evacuation approaches. Most of the situations that necessitate evacuations are also associated with significant degrees of urgency. That means that one does not have enough time to exercise the methods before implementing them. For that reason, all the people at risk of the stated disasters should have mastered evacuation art in advance.
Many factors can necessitate evacuations in the event of a major disaster. Utility failure due to earthquakes, floods, tornados, and other adverse events is an example of a situation that would force people to vacate a building, several buildings, or a significantly large area. Routine drill and pre-planning exercises would be critically helpful in reducing the adverse effects of the stated disasters. The pre-planning exercises would help victims recognize evacuation alarms and respond appropriately at the right time. Evacuation training before the actual disaster gives people skills and experiences that would be significantly valuable in an actual disaster.
Concept of Operations
The Emergency Management Coordinator has the responsibility of ordering evacuations in the event of major disasters in St. Louis, Missouri. Federal, state, and local disaster management agencies shall provide the appropriate information and other critical resources required in managing disasters. The nature of the disaster and the available resources will determine the evacuation duration. All the responsible parties should look for the appropriate personnel and cater for their transportation to the disaster area. They should then ensure that all the people at risk have been moved to safe grounds. The parties should also identify the factors that threaten human existence in the affected areas. They should only allow reentry once the place has been declared safe.
Conclusion
This threat, hazard, and incident annex describe evacuation as a course of action applicable to most of St. Louis, Missouri’s major natural disasters. Earthquakes, floods, tornados, fires, and heat waves create situations that necessitate human evacuation from a building, several buildings, or specific geographical areas. The evacuation effectiveness depends significantly on disaster management. That calls for FEMA, SEMA, and other responsible parties to develop disaster response plans and convey appropriate information to all the people in the areas likely to be affected by the disasters.
References
Akinola, O. V., & Adegoke, J. (2019). Assessment of forest fire vulnerability zones in Missouri, United States of America. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 26(3), 251-257.
Baou, E., Koutras, V. P., Zeimpekis, V., & Minis, I. (2018). Emergency evacuation planning in natural disasters under diverse population and fleet characteristics. Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
Cramer, C. H., Bauer, R. A., Chung, J. W., David Rogers, J., Pierce, L., Voigt, V., … & McCallister, N. S. (2017). St. Louis area earthquake hazards mapping project: Seismic and liquefaction hazard maps. Seismological Research Letters, 88(1), 206-223.
Hamilton, L. (2016). Arts Facility Emergency Preparedness in the State of Missouri (Doctoral dissertation, Drexel University).
Ndiaye, I. A., Neron, E., & Jouglet, A. (2017). Macroscopic evacuation plans for natural disasters. Or Spectrum, 39(1), 231-272.
Thompson, R. R., Garfin, D. R., & Silver, R. C. (2017). Evacuation from natural disasters: a systematic review of the literature. Risk analysis, 37(4), 812-839.