What will the apocalypse look like? Ever since Nov. 8, it's been hard not to imagine the United States morphing into a lawless, post-nuclear wasteland ruled by Immortan Trump. Yet Oregon faces a threat that's arguably more dangerous than the rise of any despot, the looming Cascadia earthquake.

It's a terrifying prospect, especially in the wake of New Yorker writer Kathryn Schulz's notorious 2015 article, in which Kenneth Murphy of the Federal Emergency Management Agency ominously declared, "Everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast." The quake is predicted to devastate Portland and up to 140 square miles of the Pacific Northwest—quite an event for a city where a few inches of snow is considered a "Snowpocalypse."

When I first heard about this, I shelved it in one of the back corners of my mind, near my youthful love of The Phantom Menace. When I finally read "The Really Big One," I was stabbed with despair: the collapse of a million buildings and our region's economy. According to FEMA, thousands of people will die.

There's not much we can do about that. What's the best way to give ourselves a fighting chance? Build a disaster preparedness kit.

It's not hard to find a list of items for that kit. But before you start shopping, pause for a minute and think about your overall strategy.

 

"There's a lot of groundwork that needs to be done before you even start worrying about the kit," says Althea Rizzo, geologic hazards program coordinator at Oregon Emergency Management.

Rizzo says the key isn't to hit Costco and stuff everything on the Red Cross' exhaustive list into a big duffle bag, it's to make plans to stash that stuff wherever you expect to be when the quake hits.

"We really recommend that people look at their lifestyle, look at where they spend time, and just squirrel away food and supplies there," she says. "Make sure you have a flashlight at work or a gallon or two of water. Maybe that's all you can put in your cubicle, but if you do, it'll still be more than you had yesterday."

You'll want to spread supplies across multiple locations—and in your car, which will be in multiple locations.

"We recommend people keep seven to 10 days' worth of supplies in their car because we're Americans, so we usually have our cars with us," Rizzo says. "So if you have seven to 10 days of supplies at your office and seven to 10 days of supplies in your car, that's two weeks' worth of supplies."

Of course, if disaster strikes while you're at work, you're still going to need a way to get home. The Hawthorne, Steel, Interstate and Fremont bridges are expected to collapse. Anyone who needs to cross the Willamette should prepare to walk across the revamped Sellwood Bridge or Tilikum Crossing, both of which are earthquake-resistant.

Rizzo is also quick to emphasize that communication is crucial to surviving any natural disaster. That's why picking a post-fallout meeting spot for family and friends is important, as is tapping a relative who lives outside the impact area as an emergency contact.

The other pressing issue is water. If you've got water, you've got at least a few days to figure things out.

"One gallon per person per day is the rule of thumb," says Monique Dugaw, director of communications for the Red Cross in the Cascades region. When expanding your kit, Dugaw says water, nonperishable food and first-aid supplies "are the three basics to start with."

Rizzo also emphasizes the importance of post-disaster hydration. "At home, I have 14 days' worth of water for two people," she says "But that's probably not going to be enough. So what I have is a couple of different ways to purify water."

This is something anyone can do. A basic water-purification straw costs $14 on Amazon, allowing you to stash them in your car, house and office.

The more I talked and read and learned, the more I realized that survival, like anything, depends on strategy.

"Most of the people who died in the Indonesian earthquake and tsunami died because of the tsunami," Rizzo says, "and they died because they did not know what to do."

HAVE you ever heard the story of a girl named Tilly Smith? On Dec 26, 2004, Tilly and her family went to Phuket, Thailand, for a Christmas holiday. While at Maikhao Beach, she sensed something was not right.

The water was bubbling and swelling, the tide went out suddenly and the sea was fizzing. Tilly freaked out and shouted that a tsunami was coming.

The 10-year-old learned about tsunamis in her geography class two weeks before coming to Thailand. Tilly’s action saved about 100 people and because of that she was once called the “angel at the beach”.

Tilly’s experience teaches us that it is imperative for society to learn about every aspect of disaster education, starting from the understanding of different types of disasters to learning about the numerous ways to save lives.

The learning process should be carried out in the school system or through informal education for the masses. Regardless of the medium of learning, disaster education should be implemented immediately, since a catastrophic disaster will strike without any notice.

Disaster education is important not only because it raises public awareness of disasters, but because it will also provide useful knowledge on disasters.

The students and the general public could learn about various kinds of disasters or the signs of disasters.

At the same time, disaster education helps community disaster preparedness. Finally, learning about disaster will facilitate the community to act appropriately in any disaster. At the end of the day, all of these will strengthen community disaster resilience.

Community disaster resilience refers to the ability of the community to face the disaster and their capability to rebuild their lives to the pre-disaster situation.

Besides the ability of a community to “bounce back” (i.e. resume normal functioning) to pre-disaster conditions, community resilience also involves the capacity of the community to “bounce forward”.

Malaysia is regarded as a fortunate country (particularly Peninsular Malaysia), which is not vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes.

However, Malaysia is exposed to other types of catastrophes such as floods, droughts and haze.

Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Perak, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak are often hit by floods, particularly monsoon floods.

On December 2014, most of these areas were hit by massive floods.

The National Security Council Malaysia confirmed that the floods, popularly called the Bah Kuning, that hit Kelantan were the worst in the history of the state since 1967.

According to the council’s report, the water level of Sungai Kelantan at Tambatan DiRaja, which has a danger level of 25m, reached 34.2m in 2014 compared to 29.7m in 2004 and 33.6m in 1967.

The 2014 floods taught us that being better prepared, especially at the community level, is crucial.

As the community is the “first responder” in any disaster, they should be well-prepared to face the calamity.

Preparedness is part of disaster education. In terms of Malaysia, site-specific disaster education programmes are crucial. In other words, this kind of education is vital, especially for communities prone to disasters.

The education programme must not be done in an ad hoc manner.

A well-organised and consistent disaster programme is essential in order to enhance overall community disaster resilience.

The preparedness effort is natural in the life of any person.

Even in Islam, making a systematic preparation or arrangement before any disaster event is strongly recommended.

In the Quran, the story of Prophet Yusuf’s preparation for a disaster (famine) is very enlightening.

He interpreted a king’s dream to mean that there would be seven years of abundance and the land should be properly cultivated.

This would produce an excess of good harvest, more than the people needed and the excess should be stored.

Following that seven years of abundance, there would be seven years of famine during which time the excess grain could be used.

He also advised that during the famine they should save some grain to be used for seed for the next harvest.

Prophet Yusuf also added that after seven years of famine, there would be a year during which water would be plentiful.

If the water was properly used, grapevines and olive trees would grow in abundance, providing the community with plenty of grapes and olive oil. (Yusuf, 12:46-49)

The story teaches us that disaster preparedness is important.

In Malaysia, carrying out a disaster preparedness programme, be it in terms of education, technology advancement or food storage, is essential and should be strongly encouraged.

Azrina Sobian is a Fellow at Ikim’s Centre for Science and Environment Studies. The views expressed here are entirely her own.

The Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Muhammad Sani Sidi has lamented that responding to the current humanitarian challenges in Northeast Nigeria was one of the major challenges of the agency in 2016.

NEMA's Head of Media and Public Relations, Sani Datti said Sani Sidi disclosed this at the annual retreat organized for Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness in Jos Plateau State at the weekend.

He quoted him as saying “this year has been challenging just like last year, we have been occupied responding to the issues in  North east and North west, particularly Zamfara State.

“Insurgency is new to us as a people and as a country, managing its consequence will certainly be new to us, but we are learning and I want to assure you that we are learning fast as an agency and as a country.”

According to Datti, the Chairman of the committee, represented by the Vice Chairman, Hon. Ali Isa (JC) in his remarks, commeded the agency for making judicious use of the little resources it received, adding that it had been very effective in handling most of emergency cases in the country.

Isa promised that the committee will look at the Act of the agency with a view to enhance and improve the functions of the agency.

Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/responding-to-humanitarian-crisis-a-major-challenge-to-nema--dg/176679.html#7wYAEXWgPvaloqa8.99

The possibility of using drones to deliver humanitarian aid in the wake of natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific region will be investigated as part of a new research project.

For the next nine months, a research team funded by the Australian Red Cross and the Department of Foreign Affairs will examine how drones could help in relief efforts.

"After a natural disaster, one of the most critical elements is time," said Peter Walton, Director of International at the Australian Red Cross.

"The aim is [to find out] is this a way to get humanitarian aid to be more effective and faster?"

The team will head to Fiji — hit by Cyclone Winston earlier this year — and other South Pacific countries.

To begin with, researchers will assess what drones can do after a severe cyclone that conventional aircraft, like planes and helicopters, cannot.

After recent cyclones in Fiji and Vanuatu, it was several days before many areas could be safely overflown to assess damage.

"The cloud cover was low, the weather conditions were very poor," said Mr Walton.

"Drones offer us an ability to actually fly at much lower levels. [They] give us the opportunity to get GPS coordinates so we know exactly what has happened where."

Patrick Meier, executive director of WeRobotics and a leading expert in the use of drones in humanitarian assistance, said drones could fill the "vacuum of information" in the wake of a disaster.

"Understanding who has been affected, how badly, and where, is absolutely key. Otherwise you're just guessing," he said.

Based in Washington, DC, Mr Meier will lead the research project in the South Pacific. He also worked in the region in Vanuatu after Cyclone Pam in 2015. His team used drones to assess recovery efforts.

"This is important, because we need to identify the price, the costs of the damage in order to basically be able to rebuild."

The study will look at some of the potential issues surrounding the use of drones, such as whether they comply with local aviation laws, and making sure their operation does not offend cultural sensitivities.

Ultimately, the goals will be to permanently base drones in South Pacific countries and train local operators.

"It takes time to fly international teams, it takes money to fly international teams around the world," said Mr Meier.

"Why not work with first responders, who are by definition the local partners and the local communities, and build their capacity?"

The study will also look at what is the holy grail for drone operators who work in humanitarian relief: the possibility that drones could eventually be used to deliver vital emergency supplies, such as medicine and food, to areas isolated after a disaster.

"As Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones) become more available, more common, then I think it's absolutely feasible that we could look at dropping essential aid items," said Mr Walton.

"But firstly we have to make sure that it's possible."