How to Survive a Disaster

You do not need to have any special or amazing set of skills to survive a disaster, you just need to know what to do. Many of the deaths that occur in disasters are completely avoidable, but they occur because “75% of people thrown into a life-threatening situation” are so bewildered by what is happening that they are unable to think clearly and act in the correct manner to escape to save their own life. Many people are said to be frozen by fear of the situation, they become “mentally paralyzed” unable to act. On the other hand 15% of people are able to remain calm and think clearly to make the correct decisions to save their life. The remaining 10% hinder the survival chances of everyone else by acting irrationally. This is shocking to me that only 15% of people can act in the correct manner to save their own life.

When engineers design evacuation procedures for buildings they believe that people will respond immediately but this is not the case. For example during the plane attack of the Twin Towers on 9/11 many of the people did not even start to evacuate until 45 minutes after the alarms started going off. People were gathered in groups talking about what was happening, some people resumed their normal daily routine finishing up emails or working on projects, one person was even reported to have changed into their biking clothes to start on their way home. If they had followed the safety emergency plan and started to evacuate right away many of the deaths could have been avoided. Many people when a disaster occurs have trouble getting comfortable so they resume their normal activities to try and attain any amount of comfort.

Survivalist behavior is very goal-oriented, “if you are hungry you look for food, if you feel isolated, you seek companionship.” In a disaster it is difficult to ignore those feelings and to act and find the exit. In an emergency your brain becomes overwhelmed by all of the incoming stimuli before we can properly assess the situation and decide on the right decision. One way to override the wrong decisions is to make the correct actions automation through rigorous practice so it becomes second nature. In every new situation make sure to find the directions of the proper emergency plan, whether it be in a hotel, a movie theater, or at work. In a disaster there will always be things you cannot control, such as the 10% of people that are detrimental to others survival in an emergency situation. However in most situations groups are more cooperative rather than hindering each other’s survival.

If you were to ask a stranger if they saw someone being attacked in public while there were many other people around if they would do anything, they would of course say yes of course they would help. However, this is not always the case. The bystander effect proves that the more people there are that witness an attack, the more the individual responsibility is diffused. Everyone figures that someone else will do something.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201103/when-disaster-strikes-others-how-your-brain-responds

 http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150128-how-to-survive-a-disaster

http://www.udallas.edu/udjs/departments/psychology/2013-2014/survival-psychology.html

Fit Testing

There are four steps involved in the fit testing process: choosing the respirator, fit checking, taste threshold (sensitivity) screening, and the fit test. A company should provide various sizes from different brands to have available for selection for their employees. People have a variety of face and head sizes so there must be different types available for them to select which one is most comfortable. Before an employee can decide which one is most comfortable the company must first show them how to properly put the respirator on, including the position of the face piece on the chin and around the bridge of the nose. Once the employee has chosen a proper respirator they should next be taught how to perform positive and negative fit checks.

A fit check makes sure that the respirator properly fits the employees face and that no air is getting into the mask. There are two types of tests, positive pressure and negative pressure. This fit test should be completed every time the respirator is worn. A positive pressure test is when the user breathes out, which exerts a positive pressure on the respirator. On the other hand, a negative pressure check is when the user breathes air in, which exerts a negative pressure on the respirator. To perform these tests the user will properly put the respirator on and then they must cover the surface of the respirator completely. The entire respirator acts as a filter and this is why the entire thing must be covered. The easiest way to do this is to cover the respirator with a sheet of plastic.

To complete the positive pressure test the user should breathe out gently and feel around the respirator to see if air is escaping from the face piece. If the user does not feel air escaping around the face piece, they have passed the positive fit check. However, if they feel air escaping around the face piece, the respirator should be repositioned and perform the fit check until a positive result is achieved.

To complete a negative pressure fit check the user should inhale, thus creating a vacuum which causes the respirator to be drawn in slightly toward the face. If this does not occur then the test has failed and the respirator should be removed and examined for any holes or a problem with the seal. If neither is found then the respirator should be repositioned and the test should be re-performed until it results in a positive result.

The next step in fit testing is the taste threshold screen test. A dilute solution is used to determine if the wearer can detect the substance while wearing the respirator. Two substances that could be used are: saccharine (sweet taste), or bitrex (bitter taste.)

The fit test is finally performed after completing the above procedures. The subject should wear the respirator for at least five minutes before the fit test. The test subject should perform the following exercises for at least 30 seconds each, while the tester continues to squeeze the correct amount every thirty seconds: · Normal breathing · Deep breathing · Turning head from side to side, inhaling at both sides · Nodding head up and down, inhaling in both up and down positions · Bending forward to touch toes, inhaling when head is down · Talking (Ask the subject to read a paragraph aloud, such as The Rainbow Passage, or ask them to tell you a story, etc.) · End by resuming normal breathing.

This is the rainbow passage:

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act like a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

http://www.aphl.org/aphlprograms/infectious/tuberculosis/TB-Core-Curriculum/Documents/FitTestProcedure.pdf

SIte Evaluation

Phase one of CERCLA, Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act, has three parts. These parts are, pre-site evaluation, physical on-site inspection, and a written judgment. There is limited sampling in this step so you cannot confirm or deny the presence of hazardous materials in past issues, only determine what is currently there. In phase one it determines site history, deed notations, interviews with past and current owners. Some issues one could discover are site odors, soil discoloration, vegetative stress, soil disturbance, stream or surface water impacts, and any obvious hazardous material impacts.

                While researching the Flower Shoppe building on Union Street I could not find a lot of information, but it is believed that there has always been a restaurant or a business in that current building with a motel/ apartment above it so there would be no hazardous tanks underneath the property. I researched some more and on the Athens County Auditors website you can figure out what type of property was there before the Flower Shoppe. The current structure is unstable and will have to be torn down as is but I would recommend buying it after they rebuild it. Although the buildings will be rebuilt in the same way and with relatively the same materials as deemed by the Historical Society as a historical district, the fire safety and codes will be brought to the modern day level which will make it a much safer building. The original building was from pre 1900’s so there was no sprinkler system and many of the fire alarms batteries were dead or simply missing at the time of the fire. Chipotle survived the fire because it was a more modern building with more fire safety codes implemented into the building. At first I thought the only place to get a satellite image was Google images but those are not current, after doing a quick Google search I found various websites that are available to purchase satellite images of buildings.

                Some observations I had on site were: there is no fire hydrant nearby, there is a steam vent, water meter, sewer manhole, surrounded by old buildings, there is a lot of water damage to the building due to the firemen, there is a barbed wire fence at the back and part of it is hanging over the edge about to fall off, there are various exposed wires and pipes. As I was examining the building an employee of a nearby business told me we had to leave because of the structure is unsafe and could fall down. The Flower Shoppe is next to old buildings which could give the possibility of renovations over the years. The sewer is municipal so it is city owned. There are a lot of problems with the current property so I would not recommend purchasing the property, possibly when the building is done being rebuilt but you may have to deal with future problems since is it part of a historical district which could have certain coding laws.

http://www.mapmart.com/Products/SatelliteImagery/SatelliteImageMaps.aspx

http://www.athenscountyauditor.org/

Disaster Animal Response

When most people think about a major disaster that has occurred they think about how it has effected the people that were living in that area but very few people think about the effect major disasters have on animals that live in the area, both domestic and wild. Just from doing a simple google search I have found numerous websites and organizations that welcome people that are willing to volunteer in animal response and how to properly become certified to volunteer. Federal regulations require all states to include pets and other animals in their disaster plans. Many sites offered classes both online and in person on how exactly to become certified in disaster response for people. This website: http://www.aspcapro.org/resource/disaster-cruelty-disaster-response/disaster-response-training offfered three online and in-classroom training opportunities, and ten places where someone could get technical training. I also liked how this website listed off places to receive emergency management training and human first aid and crisis response training.

Online there seems to be a large amount of people saying that they would love to become a trained pet disaster response volunteer but they don’t know how to sign up, but there are numerous sites online you just have to put some effort into actually becoming one. Another website I found: https://www.petfinder.com/helping-pets/animals-and-disaster-relief/disaster-animal-response-team-volunteer/ gives people very specific step by step directions on how to best achieve becoming a disaster animal response team volunteer. The first part in any plan is to make sure that you yourself is covered, have a disaster kit in your home that fits your family’s needs including any pets that live with you. There are lists on the above website that tailor specifically for a disaster kit according to what kind of pet you own, whether it be a dog, cat, bird, or a horse.

After a disaster has occurred shelters open up for families and animals in the area that have no where else to go. Many rescue groups go back into the area to find any animals or humans that have survived and could be trapped alone somewhere. Becoming a foster parent to an orphaned animal or to animal whose family is waiting for relocation could greatly improve an animal’s life. Even some animals are critical in the search and rescue team, dogs can sniff out a person or animal under a lot of debris and alert people of their location. Any animal in distress from a disaster that may be sick, injured, or in a rash state of mind will react much differently to humans than will another human in distress. This is especially true if one animal is protecting another sick or injured animal.

For animals a disaster doesn’t have to just be a natural one but it can also be man-made. An example of one is a puppy mill where the conditions animals live in are horrible and they are suffering greatly just for the owners own personal greed. Another example is dogfighting, where countless animals are abused to make them more aggressive and fight another animal until one of them dies for no reason at all. Mobile care stations have been created for easy and fast treatment of these such animals that have suffered greatly.

http://savinganimalsduringdisasters.org/

EPCRA-302

The Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know- Act or EPCRA is to allow state and local planning for chemical emergencies, provide for notification of emergency releases of chemicals, and address communities right-to-know about toxic and hazardous chemicals. EPCRA is also known as Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA.)

                EPCRA Section 302 requires facilities to notify the state/tribe emergency response commissions (SERCs/TERCs) of the presence of any "extremely hazardous substance." Any facility that has any of these extremely hazardous materials at or above the threshold quantity has 60 days to notify the SERC and LEPC after they receive their shipment or produce the substance on site. These extremely hazardous substances and their allowable quantities are listed in 40 CFR part 355, appendices A and B. Here is a link for the table of the hazardous substances that section 302 covers on the list of lists: http://www.bnl.gov/esh/env/compliance/docs/SaraTitleList.pdf These extremely hazardous substances, or TPQs, are determined by the US EPA based on their potential to cause significant health effects in a single exposure.

http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/lcra.html

                Section 302 of EPCRA is for emergency response planning. This section requires state and local authorities to develop chemical emergency preparedness and response capabilities through better coordination and planning with local businesses.  Facilities have 30 days to report to the US Environmental Protection Agency any changes in the status of substances that would affect emergency planning. An example of this change is closing a facility, bringing a new extremely hazardous substance on site, moving the substances to a different location at the facility, and removing all extremely hazardous substances from a facility. If a facility has an extremely hazardous substance that exceeds the threshold planning quantity, the owner or operator must submit a one-time notification to the Georgia state Emergency Planning Commission (SERC) and the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) if one exists in your community.

http://www.ecy.wa.gov/epcra/section302.html

                If an EHS is present in a mixture, only the quantity (in pounds) of the EHS within the mixture applies toward the TPQ assessment. Refer to the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) to determine the mixture component percentages. For instance, if a 100 pound mixture contains 20% by weight of an EHS, then the EHS is present at 20 pounds. You do not have to count an EHS in a mixture if the concentration of that EHS is less than or equal to one percent. Some common EHSs and their 302 TPQs include ammonia (500 lbs), formaldehyde (500 lbs), chlorine (100 lbs), sulfuric acid (1,000 lbs), nitric acid (1,000 lbs), and phosphorus (100 lbs). TPQs refer to the cumulative total of each chemical stored at a facility. For instance, if a facility has 500 pounds of sulfuric acid used in wastewater treatment and 600 pounds of sulfuric acid in an electric fork lift battery, reporting is required because sulfuric acid is present at the facility over 1000 pounds, the TPQ. There are two main differences between EHS reporting associated with §302 and §312. First, an EHS in §302 is reportable if it meets or exceeds the TPQ. An EHS is reportable under §312 if it meets or exceeds the TPQ OR 500 pounds if 500 pounds is lower than the TPQ.

http://www.gecap.org/pdf/SARA302.pdf