Disaster Management

Dutch Experiences

Tom Smit

EFCA Istanbul 24 May 2004

Risk in an Open Society

We are not able to create a no-risk society Media often suggest the contrary in reaction to

incidents Government and Industry have important Role and

Task in anticipation and reaction on man-made and natural disasters and incidents

Context of Incidents is as important as incident or disaster itself!

Enschede Fireworks Disaster May 13, 2000 learned us not to overreact but to emphasize on anticipation and evaluation but also on restoration of trust in and regulation by government in our densely populated country, the Netherlands undoubtedly is!

Enschede May 13, 2000

For the general public and politics a complete surprise! Who expected a disaster like this, causing 22 dead,

950 wounded, the complete destruction of two hundred houses, 300 houses damaged, 50 office buildings destroyed?

Nobody really was aware of the fact we still had active fireworks factories in Dutch cities.

Rules were there but not strictly monitored because local officials supposed fireworks to be rather harmless

Professionals knew that here a potential danger existed. In 1991 there was already a smaller incident in the town of Culemborg causing 2 dead.

Disaster Management

In anticipating, mitigating, reconstructing, rehabilitating

and evaluating man-made disasters we deal with;

Time Budget Quality Information Organization

Time

We are always in a crises when dealing with disasters even anticipating potential incidents; we simply don’t have enough time….even if and when there are contingency plans, etc.

Time management is essential in every stage of a disaster or anticipating that incident….

Disasters are almost by definition unexpected and government is expected to act immediately and effectively!

Budget

There is never enough money to handle the effects of

man-made disasters so classify risks that are:

1. Avoidable

2. To diminish

3. To be shared with industry

4. To insure (if and when possible…)

and deal with them! Plan, Do, Check, Act!

Quality

Define the options you want to have in dealing with

disasters:

1. Plan the measures you want to take…not everything does have to be full proof!

2. Scenarios can give you insight in the measures you have to take….and not everything has to be 100%...80% will do!

3. Prepare yourself….in this respect Government and Industry Partnerships often work better than Regulation alone.

Information In all stages of disaster management information is

vital.

1. Start with inventory…where are the risks…and communicate

2. Analyze the risks, Classify and react by taking decisions …and communicate

3. Control the effects, evaluate …and communicate

4. Take all necessary measures …and communicate

5. Inform yourself, Be informed …and communicate!

Crisis Management is first and foremost information management!

Organization

Pro-act; look for the unrealistic possibilities! Prevent; Which measures are to be taken now? Prepare; Find the strong and weak spots in your

organization and try to improve by training and instruction.

React; Who does what in a crisis? Plan! Follow-up; Take the responsibility and always

evaluate, so lessons can be learned!

Disaster Management

Anticipation Mitigation Reconstruction Rehabilitation Evaluation

In all 5 fazes the consulting engineer is present. We are vital because we have the knowledge and the experience gained out of a lot of crises and incidents e.g. in the NL. We are the consistent factor because as consultants we were involved in dealing with all natural and man-made disasters and developed our knowledge in all aspects of disaster management.

FIGURE 0-1 PROBLEMS AND CAUSES

SPATIAL DEVELOPMENTS

Social significance of activities and accumulation of risks not taken into account

Standards only aimed

at external safety Different approach to

risks related to stationary and moving

Concept of group risk

orientation value difficult to deal with

Ambitious objectives Insufficient effort on the part of authorities

Lack of incentives to limit risks Network managers not responsible for risk control Lack of co-ordination between policy areas

GAP BETWEEN POLICY OBJECTIVES AND POLICY MEANS

INSUFFICIENTLY CLEAR ALLOCATION OF RESPONSIBILITIES AND POWERS

PROBLEMATIC SETTING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF STANDARDS

EXTERNAL SAFETY

Dutch Government

The Government of the NL developed an external safety program, as they called it, dealing with Chemicals, LNG, LPG, Fireworks, Transport of Dangerous Goods, Floods, Fires and Small Earthquakes.

This policy has a chance and effects approach. The Government set a risk standard of once in 1 million years and has a policy in which they don’t except certain effects anymore (e.g. no nuclear fall out, no major firework incidents in cities).

Dutch External Safety Policy

In the NL we have a no effect policy where Chlorine, Ammonia, LPG is concerned and we use a probability standard of once in 1 million years to balance the costs and effects of certain industrial activities in our densely populated country.

So gradually and slowly we move towards a society where you don’t find LPG Gas filling stations, and where we don’t have chlorine or ammonia transport through cities and towns anymore….

ALARA

The As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) Principle is hardly observed in the NL because we don’t have enough space left for activities with dangerous goods and we need the economic benefits of those activities….

All local Governments wrestle with their responsibilities in this respect and need scientific based knowledge, they themselves don’t have...

Role of Consulting Engineers

There is hardly any link now between the spatial development policies of local government and the external safety rules and regulations. Standards are defined and implemented in a less than adequate manner

So there is a need for scientific based and thorough but pragmatic advising. Government needs the know how and experiences of consulting engineers in policy advise, monitoring whether objectives are achieved and signaling inconsistencies!

ONRI

The Dutch Organization of Consulting Engineers (ONRI) is taking an active role in developing a more consistent external safety policy in the NL by creating a knowledge forum for engineers, giving advice to Government and evaluating our role in the policy process. We still have a long way to go but we are on the move!