**** IMPORTANT MUST HAVE ACCESS TO TEXTBOOK Islam, T., & Ryan, J. (2015). Hazard mitigation in emergency management (1st Ed.). Waltham, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN: 978-0124201347.****** Hazard mitigation in emergency management -chapter 5 & 6 summary READ THE SUMMARIES BELOW and EXPAND ON THE THEM (DISAGREE OR AGREE) DO NOT COPY THE PARAGRAPH INTO YOUR REBUTTAL. Elizabeth Chapter 5&6 Chapter Five covers natural hazards. It highlights the fact that hazards vary significantly based on the location that it occurs. Thus, some areas have less or more potential for the hazard depending on the geographical area. So, like many of us that live in the tri-state area have face severe winter storms, places like Florida face many hurricanes, and places like California face many earthquakes and wildfires, for instance. The essential part of the chapter are the definitions of Hazards, which are described in four categories atmospheric hazards, hydrologic, geologic or other hazards. An atmospheric hazard, includes tropical cyclones, hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms and lightning, heat from extreme summer weather, avalanches, and severe winter storms. Hydrologic hazards include floods, drought, coastal erosion. Geologic hazards; these include earthquakes, landslides, and land subsidence. Other hazards include; Tsunamis which are generally caused by earthquakes, yet they displace a large volume of water, generally from the ocean. Also, wildfire hazards can be caused by a number of factors that include weather conditions and hydrology. The Chapter than describes the type of hazards by characteristics of each one. I found it knowledgeable the explanation on how cyclones are named and how major hurricanes name are retired and replaced. Reading about hurricanes and about how hazards vary on the geographical area made me wonder why would anyone want to live in such hazardous places. Granted we have winter storms, heat waves, flooding ect and many other hazards, none are extreme. Yet, in areas where it is known to be hazardous doesnt stop people from moving in. Something I found fascinating was reading about the ring of fire. I was oblivious to the ring of fire. Was anyone else unaware about this? The chapter provides potential emergency managers a clear understanding of what natural hazards in order to identify the hazards and to mitigate a plan to respond. I found this chapter interesting because I learned a lot of natural hazards are and about the characteristic of make the hazards. Chapter six cover manmade hazards- Technological hazards, or man-made hazards, are wide ranging and they emanate from manufacturing, transportation, and the use of substances such as radioactive materials, chemicals, explosives, flammables, pesticides, herbicides, and disease agents; oil spills on land, coastal waters, or inland water systems; and even debris from space. Thus, some manmade hazards are nonintentional incidents that cause harm to an environment, yet there are some hazards that are intentional and those are acts of terrorism. Terrorism has also become a major issue around the world as radicals impose fear of communities by using explosions to spread their ideology. It is imperative, that vulnerability reduction of critical infrastructure and key assets should always be a focus of the mitigation strategies. The chapter explains the DOTs nine categorized classes of hazardous materials, which help reveal and identifies the hazards. (I found this significantly important because as a first responder you always want to know what kind hazards your dealing with if you ever have to respond to a call of a spill or something in that nature). Moreover, all technological hazards are defined in the chapter, as it is essential that managers understand these hazards and respond with appropriate measure to mitigate for a potential hazard, and also to respond to. The chapter explains the difference between international, domestic terrorist which covers their ideological beliefs and the type of act of violence they use. I was unaware that civil unrest was a matter that required the assistance of EM, however I can understand why it is the responsivity of emergency managers to respond to such civil disorders. Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE). Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) is another term used by homeland security and emergency management programs and reference documents. WMD is also inclusive of chemical, biological, nuclear, radiological, and high-yield explosive weapons. The text explains that these weapons are likely to be used by terrorist since it inexpensive, there is much as availability since the materials are not monitored, it is also known to be highly effective causing mass causalities and they are harder to detect. However, there are any incidents to date where terrorist have used WMD. There are many chemicals that could be used to cause harm to others and they are all over the community and although there havent been significant acts using them it is important that a manager can identify and locate them. This chapter was fascinating. I do feel that it imposes a little bit of a challenge or Emergency Responders because all the incidents mentioned are non-predictable. In my opinion, some of the natural hazards can sometimes be predicted and more action can go into to deter the effect in the community by providing preventative measures through informing, evacuation warnings and shelters. However, for some manmade hazards can be surprising and can cause more harm to the community as there are not many measures to take to prevent in the case of a biohazards spill, or a mass terrorist attack. Therefore, I believe this requires people within the community to take action and measure to responds to possible hazards References Islam, T., & Ryan, J. (2015). Introduction. In Hazard Mitigation in Emergency Management. Oxford, England: Butterworth-Heinemann.
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