Examine CRED Poverty & Death: Disaster Mortality 1996-2015 http://www.cred.be/publications and answer the following questions

1. How is a megadisaster defined?

Create a table identifying

1. The megadisasters which have occurred in the 20 years from 1996-2015
2. Where the megadisasters occurred
3. The number of people who perished in each megadisaster
4. The income bracket of each country

2. What conclusions can you draw from these findings

Activity 1.2:                                                                                                                                                       200 words

Examine the Annual Disaster Statistical Review 2016: The numbers and Trends at http://emdat.be/sites/default/files/adsr_2016.pdf  and create a table identifying

1. The number of meteorological, hydrological, geophysical and climatological disasters that occurred in 2016 and the number of people affected by each
2. What conclusions can you draw from this table.

Activity 1.3                                                                                                                                                         250 words

Natural disasters are a high risk, low probability phenomena, and as such, this causes governments to consider the value of spending money preparing for an event that may never happen.  When disasters do impact communities, they can be catastrophic with in some cases, life-long adverse consequences for people affected.

1. Consider the following statement and provide your thoughts on this. Do you agree/disagree
   1. Disaster preparedness is the responsibility of both governments, the community and the individual.
2. What strategies do you think could be implemented to improve human resilience to the impact of natural disasters. Consider all sections of a community you are familiar with, particularly the vulnerable.

Activity 1.4                                                                                                                                                         250 words

According to the Annual Disaster Statistical Review 2016: The numbers and Trends found at http://emdat.be/sites/default/files/adsr_2016.pdf, the top 10 disasters in terms of economic damage in 2016 were all from high or upper-middle income economics, yet of the top 10 countries by people affected (%) consist of five countries classified as lower-middle income, four countries classified as low-income and two considered upper-middle income economies.

1. What conclusions can you draw from this finding.

Activity 1.5:                                                                                                                                                        200 words

1. What are the normal psychological reactions to the loss and grief associated with disasters and at each stage,
2. what type of physiological/psychological responses might you see.

Activity 1.6:                                                                                                                                                        200 words

Consider the three  broadly grouped functional areas:

1. Comprehensive approaches
2. Coordinated activities
3. Integrated approaches

Develop a table that lists the principles of these functional areas and in another column, list the key practical strategies for ensuring these principles are met

Activity 1.7:                                                                                                                                                        200 words

In Queensland, the relevant disaster management focused legislation are the Disaster Management Act 2003 (Qld) and the Public Safety Preservation Act 1986 (Qld), however there are a number of other pieces of QLD Legislation that provides powers when carrying out disaster management related activities.

1. Name three other pieces of QLD Legislation that provides special powers
2. What protections are officers afforded under the Disaster Management Act

Activity 1.8:                                                                                                                                                        200 words

Consider external assistance following a natural disaster

1. Should countries offered external assistance in the form of both physical and non-physical resources be expected to always accept this aid. Support your position

Module 2 Activities – 8 marks

Activity 2.1:                                                                                                                                        250 – 500 words

From the previous discussion regarding the use of Haddon’s Matrix(3): the host, agent/vehicle, physical environment and social environment throughout the pre-event, event and post-event cycle. Develop a table utilising these concepts that addresses prevention/mitigation in the following scenarios

Produce a table for each of the following

1. The legal, economic, physical and social strategies pertaining to a property development application on land adjoining National Park which is home to several native species of endangered animals and is prone to wildfire
2. Helping the elderly and vulnerable in the community to prepare for cyclone season

Activity 2.2:

Create a table identifying mitigation strategies that can be carried out at Federal Government, Local Government, Community and individual level for the following natural disasters

1. Prolonged heatwave
2. Influenza Pandemic
3. Cyclone / hurricane
4. Wildfire

Activity 2.3:                                                                                                                                        250 – 500 words

Developing a disaster plan for a community is fraught with challenges given the diverse communities in which many people live i.e. different ethnic / religious groups, level of law and order, ranges of ages – children to the elderly, level of unemployment and economic viability of the community, willingness of community to engage in planning process.

Imagine you have been tasked with the challenge of developing practical strategies for engaging with the community and establishing a community forum to be convened at a public meeting which intends to discuss community readiness for the upcoming storm season

1. Who would you want on the forum and why? How would you engage the forum panel
2. What do you consider to be the top five priorities to be discussed at the community meeting
3. What strategies would you use to ensure you reach as many people in the community as possible to improve the likelihood they will attend the community meeting

Activity 2.4:                                                                                                                                        250 – 500 words

Non-routine risks, while low probability come with high-impact in terms of loss of life, injury, people affected and economic damage.  Develop a table identifying the routine and non-routine risks the following face during a highly contagious Influenza Pandemic season

• Ambulance services
• Hospital services
• Nursing homes
• Schools and childcare centres
• Workplaces
• Public places i.e. shopping centres, places of worship, entertainment precincts etc .

Module 3 Activities – 8 marks

Activity 3.1:                                                                                                                                                        500 words

Consider the example of Melbourne’s water supply during the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires.  Representatives from Melbourne Water were in incident rooms providing strategic advise and fire management expertise.

1. What other critical assets need to be considered during a bushfire and what expertise would you want in your incident room if you were the Incident Commander / Manager.

There are a number of Incident Management Systems in use around the world.  For example USA use the National Incident Management System (NIMS), New Zealand use the Coordinated Incident Management System (CIMS) and Australia uses the Australian Inter-Service Incident Management System (AIIMS).  Each have been designed to be flexible depending on the incident being managed

2. Summarise the components of an Incident Management System you would like to see operationalised during an earthquake/tsunami response. Provide a brief explanation of why you believe these units/cells are important

Imagine you are the advisor to the Prime Minister / President and you have just been advised there has been a catastrophic tsunami in your geopolitical region.  You have been asked to undertake a preliminary assessment of the situation, and the level of assistance required, although getting corroboration of reports coming out of the region is difficult as all official communication channels have been impacted.

Prepare a list of dot points outlining your first steps and strategies you recommend be undertaken by agencies in your country.  Justify your strategies and recommendations

Module 4 Activities – 8 marks

Activity 4.1:                                                                                                                                                        500 words

At the start of this module, you were provided with the 10 principles of disaster recovery.  Considering each of those principles

1. Develop a table outlining practical strategies for achieving each of the 10 principles of disaster recovery, include a column that identifies the systems and structures required for achieving your strategies
2. Include another column that provides a timeframe of when these strategies should commence and the duration you believe they would be required

How would you evaluate the effectiveness of your strategies