A single broken window can help a hurricane tear the roof off a house
When one window or door shatters in a severe storm, wind rushes inside and pressurises the house from within, making it far likelier that the roof lifts away. Closing interior doors reduces the load on the roof. Details like this are the everyday business of emergency management, which tries to shrink disasters before they strike.
The field is usually described in five phases: prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Its goal is to stop disasters where possible and otherwise blunt their harm, especially events such as hurricanes, pandemics and terrorism that overwhelm what a community can handle alone. That demands cooperation among households, charities and every level of government, from search and rescue to evacuation warnings and meeting basic needs.
Mitigation often means engineering. In earthquake zones, valves can automatically cut the gas supply, buildings can be seismically retrofitted, and heavy items like refrigerators and water heaters can be anchored to walls. Flood-prone homes may stand on stilts, and one building guideline calls for construction two to five feet above the 100-year flood level or up to the 500-year flood height. Doors, windows and roofs rated for winds of 195 mph hold up better against hurricanes and tornadoes, and reinforced safe rooms offer near-total protection in extreme winds.
Planning is cyclical, borrowing from risk management: identify hazards, rank them, assign trained decision-makers, and test the plan regularly. Drills rehearse responses to fires, tornadoes, earthquakes and lockdowns. In the United States, the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service gives officials and relief organisations priority on the phone network during crises. On a global scale, 168 governments meeting in Kobe in January 2005 adopted a ten-year plan against natural hazards, known as the Hyogo Framework for Action.
Recovery carries hazards of its own. Floodwater hides sharp debris and often carries bacteria, sewage and chemicals, while collapsed buildings can release asbestos. Mould thrives in warm, damp structures after floods and storms. The CDC lists witnessing suffering, personal danger, punishing workloads and separation from family as major strains on responders.
Source: Emergency management
