Examples analysis
In this section we will utilise the concept of experience being the best teacher.
This is one of the reasons that I am so keen on Erik Auf de Heide’s book Disaster response: Principles and coordination.
At the end of this section you will be able to recall, from some examples of emergencies/disasters, key issues in the management of external operational aid.
Some of the issues that struck a chord with me are illustrated in the following examples:
Example 1 Do not send aid until it is asked for; what they want may not be what you send and you could further strain their limited resources by them having to cope with something they did not seek or expect. (I can remember when we had to give a personnel manager the task of appropriately disposing of unwanted donated clothing and goods. It took him six months full time to complete the task).
|
Example 2 Be wary of utilising the well intentioned volunteer. When you accept their offer you are accepting accountability for their actions and their safety. (I also remember when it was not until it was realised that the sum of the bones on a burned out fire truck exceeded that of the number of crew, that we could at last account for a lost volunteer. You would be surprised at the various stories that went around the community explaining his disappearance).
|
Example 3 Do not wait until the event to start arranging for the acquisition of external aid. Do it now! You will have too many things to think about without wondering on the day how to make it work. |
Example 4 Accessing specialist resources. Some examples I can think of are:
|
The second example had an interesting aspect. The pumps were sent very quickly and were received at the scene by a Mines Department Inspector who was supervising the unloading of the Bethioua. He had no prior experience of using these types of pumps. There was naturally some reluctance to turn the pumps on in an atmosphere that was full of flammable white spirit fumes. It was only after reassurances were provided by the Department of Transport that the pumps were turned on.
In the Department of Transport incident debrief notes, the following comments were recorded:
Where equipment is supplied from areas other then local, in this case the Department of Transport Sydney, someone familiar with the use of the equipment should accompany it.
I think that this is an important lesson for us when we are seeking external aid. Have any of us thought that some thermal imaging equipment would have been useful in a particular situation? Did we also consider what level of expertise we or others had in using the equipment?