Essay Example: Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Management

Any given occurrence that demands an immediate action due to epidemics, natural and technological disasters, as well as other human-made causes, get referred to as an emergency. Emergency preparedness, therefore, is a programme of long-term activities whose goals aim at strengthening the capacity of a country to manage all types of emergencies competently. Emergency plans ought to get proficiently developed with appropriate personnel training and educating communities at risk as well as navigation with regular monitoring and evaluation of the program. Disaster management refers to the management of specific resources with the aim of reducing potential losses from hazards, ensure suitable aid and efficient recovery from the disaster.

The Haiti earthquake is believed to be the most destructive disaster ever experienced by any country in modern times. The disastrous earthquake in Haiti followed enormous damage with the of over 300,000 homes. An estimated 60% of the economic infrastructure, 80% of schools and 50% of hospitals were also destroyed (Louis, Buteau, Boncy, Anselme, Stanislas, Nagel & Yang, 2017). Three nursing interventions employed in the Haiti incident that includes; primary interventions, secondary interventions, and tertiary interventions.

According to (Ray 2017), Primary prevention is the initial stage that aims at reducing the risk of disaster occurrence, by the elimination of any vulnerability. Following disastrous events such as the Haiti earthquake majority of the victims lose their property and consecutively lack their basic needs. It is therefore vital to provide the victims from the disaster with the most basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing. An excellent example of a nursing intervention implemented under the primary intervention stage is the reallocation of victims to safer and much-dispersed spaces to minimize overcrowdedness.

Secondary prevention primarily aims at identifying and reducing the effects that arise from a particular disaster and occurs in the acute stage of the event. In most cases, secondary intervention fluctuates mainly depending on the type and range of the disaster (Ray, B. (2017). A good nursing intervention example in the secondary prevention stage for any given disaster entails the provision of first aid, management of non-injured survivors from the disaster as well as the transport of the casualty to the emergency departments.

Tertiary prevention measures involve nursing interventions that are designed to meet long-term needs of the community resulting from a solved disaster. The scope of the catastrophe acts as a determinant of the types of tertiary services required by the affected community (Louis, Buteau, Boncy, Anselme, Stanislas, Nagel & Yang, 2017). The nursing intervention in this stage ought to include an effective pharmacotherapy alongside lasting rehabilitation and hospitalization of victims. Another essential nursing intervention in this stage is the provision of places whereby individuals share their experiences that are essential to the healing process from the trauma.

There are four phases of disaster management, and they include; mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Mitigation phase targets for reducing disasters risks. Structural and non-structural measures are the two categories of the Mitigation phase (Oloruntoba et al.,2017). Structural measures examples include retrofit acute structures and lifelines as well as improved construction practices. Non-structural measures examples, on the other hand, include; post-disaster assessment and communication capacity, creating awareness on the potential disasters such as earthquakes and the mitigation strategies to various stakeholders.

The preparedness phase refers to the planning, organizing, training, exercising and evaluation for an efficient organization and enrichment of the capability to prevent, respond to, recover from and mitigate outcome of natural disasters. This phase also involves the development of an appropriate plan of action that manages and counter their risks as well as taking action in building the necessary capabilities that are needed to apply such strategies.

The Response phase entails the mobilization of necessary emergency services such as police, ambulance crews, and firefighters mainly as first responders to the disaster area. This stage involves the employment of secondary emergency services, for instance, select rescue teams for efficient rescue coordination (Oloruntoba et al.,2017). The response phase also requires a well-developed and rehearsed emergency plan that ensures coordination in the rescue teams to prevent overlapping of tasks.

According to Louis, Buteau, Boncy, Anselme, Stanislas, Nagel, and Yang (2017), recovery phase aims at restoring of the disaster-stricken areas to their normal states. This stage focuses on decisions made after addressing the immediate needs. Recovery efforts involve actions that aim at rebuilding the destroyed property, repair of essential infrastructure. These efforts are made to build back better to minimize pre-disaster risks that are essential to the community and the infrastructure.

In conclusion, the nursing prevention interventions lie under the mitigation phase as well as throughout the recovery phase. When it comes to facilitating the proposed interventions, I would prefer to work with organizations such as Red Cross, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and the CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention). Charity organizations would as well come in handy to enhance and contribute to the intervention process to an ultimate conclusion and success. These organizations are highly recommendable for humanitarian aid during disastrous events.

References:

Louis, F. J., Buteau, J., Boncy, J., Anselme, R., Stanislas, M., Nagel, M. C., ... & Yang, C. (2017). Building and Rebuilding: The National Public Health Laboratory Systems and Services Before and After the Earthquake and Cholera Epidemic, Haiti, 20092015. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 97(4_Suppl), 21-27.

Oloruntoba, R., Sridharan, R., & Davison, G. (2017). A proposed framework of key activities and processes in the preparedness and recovery phases of disaster management. Disasters.

Ray, B. (2017). Response of a Resilient Community to Natural Disasters: The Gorkha Earthquake in Nepal, 2015. The Professional Geographer, 1-11.