LEARNING FROM GLOBAL DISASTER LABORATORIES PART 4: CYCLONES

1. LEARNING FROM GLOBAL DISASTER LABORATORIESPART 4: CYCLONES Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia, USA 

2. FACT: SEVERAL NATIONS NEED TO BE CYCLONE DISASTER RESILIENT • INDIA, BANGLADESH, and MYANMAR--- with some of the world’s poorest of the poor • AUSTRALIA

3. Storm Hazards: • Wind pressure • Surge • Rain • Flood • Waves • Salt water • Missiles • Tornadoes • SEVERE WINDSTORMS • INVENTORY • VULNERABILITY • LOCATION • PREPAREDNESS • PROTECTIONS • EARLY WARNING • EMERGENCY RESPONSE • RECOVERY and • RECONSTRUCTION RISK ASSESSMENT POLICY OPTIONS ACCEPTABLE RISK RISK UNACCEPTABLE RISK CYCLONE DISASTER RESILIENCE Wind profile DATA BASES AND INFORMATION Gradient Wind Ocean COMMUNITY

4. CAUSES OF RISK WIND AND WATER PENETRATE BUILDING ENVELOPE UPLIFT OF ROOF SYSTEM FLYING DEBRIS PENETRATES WINDOWS STORM SURGE CYCLONES HEAVY PRECIPITATION IN A SHORT TIME GLOBAL DISASTER LABORATORIES FLASH FLOODING (MUDFLOWS) LANDSLIDES (MUDFLOWS)

5. PILLARS OF CYCLONE DISASTER RESILIENCE Preparedness Adoption and Implementation of a Modern Wind Engineering Building Code Timely Early Warning and Evacuation Timely Emergency Response (including Emergency Medical Services) Casualty insurance to underwrite losses Cost-Effective Recovery

6. WE CONTINUE TO OPERATE WITH A FLAWED PREMISE: KNOWLEDGE FROM CYCLONE DISASTERS, WHICH OCCUR ANNUALLY IN PARTS OF THE PACIFIC AND INDIAN OCEANS, IS ENOUGH TO MAKE ANY NATION SUSCEPTIBLE TO CYCLONES ADOPT AND IMPLEMENT POLICIES THAT WILL FACILITATE ITS DISASTER RESILIENCE

7. FACT: IT USUALLY TAKES MULTIPLE CYCLONE DISASTERS BEFORE A STRICKEN NATION WILL ADOPT AND IMPLEMENT POLICIES THAT MOVE IT TOWARDS CYCLONE DISASTER RESILIENCE

8. TYPICAL SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS • A community’s (worst case--the Capital) functions are shut down for a time • Downed trees • Flooded streets • Power outages • Roofs ripped off

9. TYPICAL SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS • Major roads blocked by debris • Bridges washed out or impassible • Sea wall, levees, etc., damaged • Airport closed; planes damaged on the runway • Landslides

10. TYPICAL SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS • Region- and locale-specific damage to food crops and “money crops” (i.e., exportable goods)

11. EXAMPLES OF PAST CYCLONE DISASTERS

12. INDIACYCLONE PHALIN—One of Many OCTOBER 12, 2013

13. CYCLONE PHALIN”S IMPACT AREA

14. AUSTRALIA Cyclone TRACY: 1974 Cyclone LARRY: 2006 Cyclone HAMISH: 2009

15. AUSTRALIA

16. IMPACTS OF CYCLONE TRACY • Cyclone Tracy devastated the city of Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, 1974.

17. IMPACTS OF TRACY • Tracy killed 71 people, caused AS837 million in damage (1974 dollars) and destroyed more than 70 percent of Darwin's buildings, including 80 percent of the houses.

18. IMPACTS OF TRACY • More than 30,000 of Darwin’s 47,000 inhabitants were evacuated tom Adelaide, Whvalla, Alice, Springs, and Sydney. • Many never returned to Darwin.

19. IMPACTS OF CYCLONE LARRY • Throughout Queensland, Cyclone Larry resulted in A$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion USD) in damage, making Larry,at that time the costliest tropical cyclone to ever impact Australia, surpassing 1974’s Cyclone Tracy’s losses.

20. CYCLONE HAMISH’S IMPACTS Hamish, a CAT 4 storm with 290 kph (175 mph) winds, disrupted coal exports and slowed the tourist industry. Amajor oil spill occurred and polluted the beaches.

21. CYCLONE NARGIS STRIKES MYANMAR (BURMA)MAY 2-8, 2008 INADEQUATE ADVANCE WARNING MILITARY JUNTA SLOW TO ALLOW AID INITIAL DEATH TOLL UNDER-ESTIMATED; REACHED 140,000 THOUSANDS OF HOMES DESTROYED ONE MILLION LEFT HOMELESS

23. PATH OF CYCLONE NARGIS: MAY 2-3, 2008 :

24. A BAD TIME FOR CYCLONE NARGIS • NARGIS STRUCK JUST DAYS BEFORE A REFERENDUM ON A NEW CONSTITUTION. • MYANMAR, ALSO KNOWN AS BURMA, HAS BEEN UNDER MILITARY RULE SINCE 1962.

25. BUDDHIST NEW YEAR: A BAD TIME FOR A CYCLONE • MANY PEOPLE ACROSS THE GEOGRAPHIC REGION WERE IN MYANAMAR CELEBRATING WATER FESTIVAL AS PART OF THE BUDDHIST NEW YEAR. • THE INFLUX OF VISITORS INCREASED LOSS OF LIFE AND EXACERBATED THE EMERGENCY RESPONSE PHASE.

26. People were completely unprepared for what happened.

27. LESSON: THE TIMING OF ANTICIPATORY ACTIONS IS VITAL • The people who know: 1) what to expect (e.g., storm surge, high-velocity winds, rain, flash floods, and landslides,),2) where and when it will happen, and 3) what they should (and should not) do to prepare will survive.

28. CYCLONE NARGIS WARNINGS WERE INADEQUATE • Advance warnings grossly underestimated the arrival time, the wind speeds, and the storm surge. • Storm surge and torrential rain caused local flooding.

29. CYCLONE NARGIS FLOODED YANGON, THE CAPITAL

30. CYCLONE NARGIS: FLOODING IN YANGOON:

31. CYCLONE NARGIS: • The storm's 120 mph winds blew the roofs off hospitals, downed trees, cut electricity to 6.5 million in Yangoon, the capital, and destroyed 90% of the housing in some villages.

32. CYCLONE NARGIS: DOWNED TREES IN YANGOON:

33. CYCLONE NARGIS: DOWNED TREES:

34. CYCLONE NARGIS: DOWNED POWER LINES IN YANGOON:

35. CYCLONE NARGIS: DAMAGED CARS IN YANGOON

36. CYCLONE NARGIS: DEBRIS IN YANGOON

37. BUDDHIST MONKS CLEARING ROAD

38. USING A BUCKET OF WATER FOR A SHOWER

39. Survivors: Temporary Housing, May 10

40. TAKING SHELTER IN A BUDDHIST TEMPLE

41. Survivors: Temporary Housing, May 10

42. General Than Shwe Inspecting Temporary Housing

43. Survivors: Flooded Rice Fields, May 16

44. Survivors: Bogale, May 21

45. Survivors: Setting Up Electrical Generator, May 22

46. Survivors: Rebuilding With Few Materials, May 22

47. Survivors: Waiting for Food That WAS SLOW ComING, May 27

48. Food, BUT Without Anyone to Distribute It, May 27

49. NEED FOR INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE: • THE INITIAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE WAS SLOW, PARTLY BECAUSE THE EXTENT OF THE DISASTER WAS GROSSLY UNDERESTIMATED.

50. DELAY IN RECEIVING INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE: • THE RULING MILITARY JUNTA ASKED FOR INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE, - - - • ALTHOUGH, SEVERAL NATIONS RESPONDED IMMEDIATELY, THE RULING MILITARY JUNTA WAITED 7 DAYS BEFORE ALLOWING VERY LIMITED ASSISTANCE TO BEGIN.