Same problems keep arising in N.Z. disasters

Press, 30 July 1982, Page 14

Same problems keep arising in N.Z. disasters

After all the expense and labour of production, the Commission for the Future was abolished before it was able to publish a future contingencies paper on “Societal Disaster.” This report has now been published privately by those involved, and tabled in Parliament by Mr P. T. E. Woollaston (Lab., Nelson) as a public document. The paper was prepared by Dr A. R. Parr, senior lecturer in Sociology at the University of Canterbury. OLIVER RIDDELL reports.

In a study of five New Zealand disasters — the Napier earthquake, the wreck of the Wahine, the Inangahua earthquake, the Parnell chemical spill and the Abbotsford landslip over a period of 50 years — it was found that serious sociological problems occurred in all five. Moreover, similar problems have kept occurring in New Zealand disasters. But the study found it was not inevitable that these sociological problems should continue to occur. On the contrary, the study of disasters produced ideas about what future disasters may be.like, and these ideas can be the basis for decisions, policies and plans, which will result in the mitigation of problems in the future. Thinking about the problems should lead to their prevention. Some of the 16 implications may” seem selfevident, but the study found that the problems they are intended to overcome have arisen repeatedly in previous disasters.— 1. As much information as possible has to be known as quickly as possible about the nature of the disaster to facilitate the most effective handling of problems. 2. Resources must be devoted to the development of

communication and transport facilities which will remain operative during and after very severe disasters. 3. Communication facilities which will handle adequately a very large volume of messages in a short time need to be readily available. 4. Comprehensive identification lists of the dead and injured are needed as quickly as possible. 5. Attention must be devoted to verification of the accuracy of disaster information. 6. An over-all, disasterwide assessment of the situation has to be made. There needs to be a mechanism for sharing information between organisations 'so that the disaster can be defined comprehensively. 7. Decision-making and over-all direction and control in disasters should emanate from positions of authority. Key decision-makers should prevent lapses in authority by devoting themselves to

maintaining control and coordination, rather than doing field tasks such as search and rescue. 8. There needs to be a clear specification of responsibility for control and direction of disaster activities. To avoid ambiguity, a well-defined authority structure has to be worked out to control all disaster activities. 9. Command posts should be set up as soon as possible at the scene. 10. The activities of the organisations responding to the disaster should be coordinated on a disaster-wide basis. 11. Response capability should be developed to handle a disaster of any magnitude. The capacity should exist to handle all new tasks generated by the disaster, and exceptionally large tasks. 12. Supplementary material resources should be readily available to replace

resources which are damaged or destroyed. 13. Organisations must devote special attention to mobilising their members during a disaster. 14. Procedures should be developed to provide as much disaster warning as possible. 15. Disaster plans should constantly be practised and revised. 16. A range of plans should be developed to cover every potential type of disaster. Emphasis needed to change from reacting to disasters to anticipating them, the study said. Once a capacity had been developed to anticipate what could happen in future disasters, plans and decisions could be made to prevent and mitigate anticipated social problems from actually occurring. As a starting point, a great deal of creative “brainstorming” could produce various possible solutions to the problems which had arisen in

previous disasters. These should include Civil Defence. Police, Fire Commission. St John Ambulance, and personnel from other organisations. This would produce innovative solutions to problems, or ways of avoiding them. Existing plans needed considerable elaboration, extension, updating and practice, but (equally importantly) alternative plans needed to be formulated. Disaster planning must be done in the context of a possible major crisis occurring. The ramifications of such a major crisis made traditional plans seem hopelessly inadequate and inappropriate, the study said. Once alternative plans had been developed, regular disaster simulations should become an integral and regular feature of New Zealand life. As wide a cross-section as possible should partiepate in simulation exercises. Extensive brainstorming about disasters could also be done in schools as a regular part of secondary school work, said the study. This would be a good way to encourage flexible thinking, and to handle uncertainty and solve problems. In education generally there was a need to develop self-reliance and the ability to take control of future developments.