Does anyone have any reading tips for how different types of disasters and rescues are handled? I.e, earthquakes, capsizing boats, people stuck in mines, fires, etc. I especially need to find out about the technical aspects, like what priorities rescue workers have after an earthquake, when and how professional firemen enter a burning building, what airplane pilots do when an engine malfunctions, etc.
you need to be more specific... in what part of the world would your disasters be occurring? i'm sure if you google for each type of emergency protocol, you'll find all the info you need...
Primarily in the USA, but descriptions from other areas are also welcome. All my googling attempts have turned up so far are safety tips aimed at the individual, not descriptions of how rescue teams work.
then you clearly need to be more creative in googling... "us earthquake disaster response techniques" in the browser got me all kinds of info on how earthquakes are handled... got the same wealth of info on 'fire' and 'flood'... try some variations on that wording and you'll get more than you need...
Might be worth checking out the UK fire brigade - they have techniques and usually go out to scenes throughout the world. Its always a bit disconcerting to see them right in the middle of most disasters on the news lol Especially since about 4.0 is a major earthquake in the UK
Please check your facts before you respond to a question. Your searches turn up precisely the information I found on my own, namely general information on rescue organisations, courses, community planning, etc, not detailed information on how specific disasters are handled. Thanks, I'll try to register on their forum. That seems to be where the interesting information is.
other place would be youtube - people put up videos of disasters. Might show rescuers working and there was the recent enquiry into the 7/7 bombings in the UK my knowledge of the US comes from watching crime shows lol RAF Kinloss has an RAF mountain rescue team they might have info, Google can be singularly useless at answering specific questions. I now know my question about falcons which I kept getting told to Google has no available answer known to humans at this time lol - however Google couldn't tell me the answer didn't exist. When I was told to google alcohol levels - I was glad I hadnt I wouldn't have known to include the effects of martial arts training etc. It is only as smart as you are. It also doesn't like you asking clarifications questions. PLUS you cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information - Wikkipedia is just as good from that point of view.
You seem to be wanting techniques that are included in specialized training. Try searching for training manuals for the different types of disasters/situations you want to research. You could also contact your local fire/police departments and Red Cross chapter to ask specific questions about their disaster procedures. You might also check the curriculum of a local vo-tech school. If they have classes such as EMT training, you might be able to talk with an instructor or get a training manual that will help answer some of your questions. Keep in mind that each jurisdiction (city, county, state, nation) has its own disaster plan/policies and procedures, so specific techniques used and step by step procedures will vary depending on location.
Yes, Red Cross has emergency diasater training that anyone can obtain. So, there's going to be course info to find on the web, or maybe order. Also, the government agency FEMA handles really bad situations. It' would be interesting to find out in what order things are handled given the situation.
i did 'check my facts'!... and i did find detailed info on how specific disasters are handled... so can you, if you work at it for a while, as i did...
what airplane pilots do when an engine malfunctions[/I ]You must do three things in this order of priority: 1/Aviate 2/Communicate 3/Navigate 1/ First thing is to Fly the plane! You (meaning the crew as one unit) get the plane stabilized, under control, maintaining a straight and level attitude, or attitude appropriate to the phase of the flight (takeoff, climb, curse, decent, landing). You identify the problem, and complete the applicable memory items, (as the name suggests, these are memorized actions applicable to certain scenarios) you then complete items on SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) check list if need be, and if time! or go to 2 2/ you communicate with Air Traffic Control, (ATC) possibly making an emergency or PAN PAN call. 3/ You Navigate – for this you need to know three things: Where am I? Where to I want to go? How do I get there? The Hudson River crash landing cockpit/ATC recording link demonstrates this at work. 1 the crew maintained control of the aeroplane (pity this recording only cuts in at 2, but obvioulsy they did 1 first!) 2 they communicated with ATC 3 they decided on a destination. - and once decided it was the Husdson, and having commuincated this to tower, the crew ceased communications with them for the last seconds they had left, in order prioritize back to 1 - and fly the plane. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAD5xBgPTWQ&feature=related The tendency for pilots in an emergency situation (and any other human in an emergency situation!) is to do much too fast and too little too late. Ie, initially panic and over react, then freeze up and fail to complete critical items. A pilot will give an emergency brief to the other member(s) of the crew prior to take off ie "take off will be from runway 31. Any problems below V1 we will abort. Single engine failure after a V1 of one hundernd and seven knots, we will continue take off, setting maximum power and flaps ten, we will climb straight ahead to 2000ft, complete memory items, declare an emergency and return to land. Blah blah…" So that there is some plan of action in place prior to anything going wrong… dont know if that helps, but anyhow...
All my googling attempts have turned up so far are safety tips aimed at the individual, not descriptions of how rescue teams work. The common element in an organized Emergency Responses of any nature are flow charts…ie, if this occurs, do A,B,C,D…at D, (or wherever) the flow chart might divert (like branches of a tree). D might be, ‘is there immediate danger to lives’ – and the chart will divert from here depending on weather the answer is ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Again, a flow chart may comprise either or both memorized items, and hardcopy items. Its all very systematic and dependent on the nature of the accident or incident. Then there are unorganized responses, when something so unexpected occurs there is no flow chart for, or those people who are supposed to deal with the emergency are incompetent, unprepared, untrained, or whatever…
Neat, they have a set of detailed PDF manuals for different disasters. Thanks! Thanks, this is gold! So you actually worked for a while at refining your search phrase and reading the pages that turned up, just to help me? That's very sweet of you. Which pages did you find that had useful information?
yes, i did... and i'm often 'sweet' to writers who need help, as you can see by the huge number of my posts... but since i obviously no longer have them open and have been working on many other things since then, how can you expect me to have that page info at my mental fingertips?... are you trying to imply that i lied, or just wanting me to do your research work for you?
I believe you glanced at the pages, but not that you read them. For example, let's take a look at the ten first hits on Google for "us earthquake disaster response techniques": #1: "Use of Geospatial Techniques in Post Earthquake Disaster Mitigation" - An article discussing how geospatial techniques (satellite imaging of the Earth) can help preparedness for earthquake disasters #2: The Wikipedia article on "Emergency Management", with extremely general and abstract information on how disasters are handled #3: "Advancing mitigation technologies and disaster response for lifeline systems" by James E. Beavers - a book which discusses disaster handling on a high abstraction level, with statistics and mathematical equations to calculate potential damage. #4: "JDC's Haiti Earthquake - Disaster Response" - A summary of how much food, medical supplies, etc, were handed out in conjunction with the earthquake on Haiti. #5: "APPLICATION OF EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING INFORMATION IN HOSPITAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND RECOVERY" - a research paper which discusses the need for engineering in mitigating disasters at hospitals #6: The home page of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with information directed at private citizens, like how to apply for assistance #7: "Disaster Relief Agencies" - a list of organisations providing disaster relief #8: "Community Emergency Response Team" - General information on a course provided by Cuyahoga County, Ohio #9: "U.S.-Japan Cooperative Program on Urban Earthquake Disaster Mitigation" - self-explanatory #10: "Center for Refugee and Disaster Response" - a broken page belonging to Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
i didn't offer advice to have what i wrote investigated and to be interrogated and, in effect, be called a liar in public, islander... fyi, sites on a first page of hits, though they may not be the optimum info-sources themselves, do contain links to related sites that also contain links, and so on... and that's how seasoned writers/researchers often find the info they need, without asking others to do the searching for them...
And I didn't ask for reading tips on a subject to be told, in effect, that I'm lazy and trying to get others to do my research, mammamaia. If someone asks for reading tips, and you don't know any off the top of your head, you have the option of simply not responding. Nobody was asking you to do web searches for anyone else. Which is what I did, and those pages contained similar info to the directly linked pages. You need to learn to check your facts more carefully before you assume how well other people do their research.
Um, Islander, even I can see that your response amounts to "Well, it's not my fault you tried to help and I responded patronizingly! You totally had the option of not helping!" Let it go. This is a small disagreement that escalated. Something that might be useful to you, though, are specific historical instances of emergencies being dealt with. Ernest Shackleton's failed expedition, for example. Or if you look at news sites, their archives are really helpful. In particular, FEMA guidelines are very general. But the news stories often discuss priorities that are set after the situation has been evaluated by rescue workers who've had a chance to see the dangers. Sometimes this means that the first priority is to clear roads and get supply trucks through. Sometimes this means focusing search teams on schools and hospitals. In other cases, the earthquake has disrupted water-related infrastructure, and the workers have to try evacuating an area while dealing with rising floodwaters. http://articles.cnn.com/2005-10-10/world/quake.asia.relief_1_massive-quake-76-magnitude-quake-muzaffarabad?_s=PM:WORLD talks about road-clearing http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/17/chinaearthquake.china2 talks about relief efforts amid poor weather, rumors of imminent flooding, and direction of injured earthquake victims to hospitals in unaffected provinces. If you have the time, opportunity, and inclination, you might look into CERT classes. (Community Emergency Response Team.) They aren't super in-depth, but they do talk about how to set up aid stations to deal with injured, how to search buildings for survivors, how to coordinate in pairs to extinguish fires, how to prepare for the stress of a disaster, and so on. Among other things, this could be useful for showing you how rescue teams are taught to think, including how they cooperate and communicate with each other, and how they assess risks ("Is this building safe to enter?" "How much medical help does this person need?")
Actually, my point is that mammamaia responded patronisingly to my question and presumed I hadn't even tried obvious web searches: But you're right that it's not that important. Thanks for all the great info! It will take a long time to go through everything I have now...
