Natural disasters might cause significant disruptions in the operation of facilities, might lead to injuries of a vast amount of people, and result in devastating destruction. One hazard that had severe results is tornadoes that happened in Alabama in April 2011. Sixty-two confirmed tornadoes led to 247 people deaths, hundreds of people injured, and thousands left homeless (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). Tornadoes happened due to a severe weather outbreak caused by an “upper-level trough” that moved into the southern states (Morgan, 2019). Reviewing the disaster, it can be stated that all people and services had an inaccurate estimation of the magnitude of tornadoes and did not expect it to happen several times during several days (Morgan, 2019). However, emergency services were well-prepared and established a safety system right. The Alabama Department of Public Health used Public Health Emergency Preparedness system mitigated the situation by opening shelters, helping hospitals, creating mobile pharmacies (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). Due to the department’s fast response, the recovery was efficient, and rescuers were able to focus on the coordination of mass fatality issues.
Another natural disaster, a winter storm, happened in November 2014, affecting Central and Eastern United States (Pignataro, 2017). The storm led to 26 people’s deaths, disrupted roofs of houses, outbreaks in energy systems, and shutdown of public facilities. The winter storm was caused by the lake’s cold wave and an extratropical disturbance that created heavy snowfalls (Pignataro, 2017). Analyzing the disaster, it can be noted that the authorities did not respond as fast as they could and were not initially prepared enough, which was a wrong strategy. What went right is a mitigation of the storm and response from emergency crews and the National Guard after the announcement of the State of Emergency (Linshi, 2014). Afterward, the recovery took months to deal with snow and renovate power systems and stations and help people overcome cold injuries. Such native disasters discussed should be investigated to prepare for possible problems in the future.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Severe tornados in Alabama. Web.
Linshi, J. (2014). State of Emergency declared as Buffalo pounded by snowstorm. Time. Web.
Morgan, L. (2019). April 27, 2011: Why did so many die that day?Advance Local. Web.
Pignataro, P. J. (2017). November 2014 storms become case study for better lake-effect forecasting. The Buffalo News. Web.