Phases of Disaster Response. John Yeaw, Gavin Vanstone, Haochen Wu, Jordan Tyler

Transcription

1 Phases of Disaster Response John Yeaw, Gavin Vanstone, Haochen Wu, Jordan Tyler

2 BP Oil Spill One of the worst man made disasters in human history The BP oil spill occurred in April of 2010 when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and sunk After it s sinking BP noticed the source of the well at the bottom of the ocean was leaking oil The well leaked for 89 days and it was estimated that around 3.19 million barrels of oil (about 300 million liters) leaked into the Gulf

3 Mitigation Policy making and regulation Dual Barrier Concept- the failure of one barrier would not cause the release of hydrocarbons. Instead, two failures would cause the leaking of hydrocarbons Blowout caps: The MMS required a blowout cap to try and prevent a spill similar to the BP spill. Well casings: The MMS also required well casings to help prevent the seepage of hydrocarbons into the groundwater. The regulations and policies were set to prevent future oil spills like the Deepwater Horizon.

4 Preparedness Minerals Management Service was prepared to prevent oil spills. They had prevented and cleaned up oil spills before. They prepared the people who lived in the area accordingly Even employed local workers put out of work by the spill The appropriate agencies were also prepared to clean up a spill According to various investigations, the workers on the rig ignored many warning signs leading up to the eventual spill. This was the most important phase in this disaster response, because a failure here caused the disaster to occur

5 Response The federal government took control and led a recovery effort BP followed all the recommendations set forth by the government and coordinated a massive, $14 billion recovery attempt. This included nearly 2,500 miles of booms and 6,500 different vessels working to prevent the spread of the oil from affecting the fisheries and sea resorts in the area It was hard to prevent the oil deep in the Gulf from spreading because the booms were not designed to prevent that They also failed multiple times trying to cap the well and to prevent the further oil from spilling These failed attempts actually helped scientists better understand how to cap a leaking oil well better, and helped develop new techniques for stopping a spill

6 Recovery BP helped to clean up and stop the spill from continuing. The well was sealed using a sealing cap. The company used part of the $14 billion they spent in researching the long term effects this kind of spill will have on the Gulf ecosystem This money also went into researching ways to better stop these kinds of spills in the future. In 2014, the Gulf region was deemed clean of any residual oil Ultimately life has returned to a sense of normalcy for the people of the Gulf region

7 Hurricane Katrina One of the costliest natural disasters in the history of the United States Hurricane Katrina was a tropical storm that formed over the Bahamas in late August in 2005 that rapidly intensified when it crossed into the Gulf. In less than two days, it intensified to a category 5 hurricane. It made a second landfall in southeastern Louisiana. New Orleans was at risk because it s average elevation is six feet below sea level Massive flooding occurred in the city because of the failed levee system

8 Mitigation The Army Corps of Engineers developed the levee system to protect against flooding in the city Local governments created housing regulations to limit the damage caused by hurricanes. City and state governments developed evacuation plans to help ease the evacuation of metropolitan areas.

9 Preparedness The region was ultimately well prepared for the storm The National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center provided the area with regular forecasts and predictions Various education programs put into place before the storm helped to tell people about the necessity of evacuating The appropriate agencies (FEMA, Coast Guard) knew exactly how to respond to a disaster of this magnitude.

10 Response New Orleans had set up evacuation shelters before the storm even hit and also issued a mandatory evacuation warning FEMA provided supplies and living arrangements The American Red Cross provided hot meals and blankets immediately following the storm The US government pledged $105 billion to help restore local economies and to repair damages. The Coast Guard rescued nearly 33,000 people from the flooded city

11 Recovery The Red Cross helped in the recovery of Hurricane Katrina by creating the Hurricane Recovery Program which raised nearly $2.188 billion The Carter Work Project in the Gulf Coast was a group of 5,000 volunteers who helped build 250 homes The Army Corps of Engineers learned from their failure and redid the levee system in New Orleans The United States Government pledged nearly $105 billion to help the area recover. FEMA helped people without homes find homes for nearly 5 years after the storm.

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