Hazards Identification and Evaluation in Oklahoma City

Hazards Identification and Evaluation in Oklahoma City

Introduction

A risk is any activity or situation that involves exposure to danger, loss, or harm to people or their properties. Risks are usually uncontrolled losses resulting from any given inaction or action that is foreseen or unforeseen. To manage risk, it is essential first to identify hazards that constitute the risk of harming the community and people living in it. Hazards are agents that result in risk and are mostly either natural or manmade. In such cases, emergency management is important for a country or society to help in reducing the vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Oklahoma City is a state in the United States that is mostly affected by hazards making the community both economically and financially vulnerable. This paper identifies risks in Oklahoma City, categorizing, evaluating, and assessing them according to their probability of occurrence.

Hazards in Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City is mostly affected by specific hazards that are categorized and identified by NFPA. The categories include geological, intentional, meteorological, and biological, which is mainly caused by technology and human activities (NFPA, 2019). The most frequent hazards that Oklahoma City faces fall in the meteorological area, which are earthquakes and tornadoes (Tammineedi, 2010). Tornadoes affect most of the states in the U.S, but Oklahoma City feels the heat as it is placed at the center of the disaster. Fracking has resulted in the city experiencing earthquakes that damage the soil and ground for people. Fracking is a technique that is used to remove shale oil gas from the ground. The existence of other hazards in the city results in creating floods and expansive soils around significant areas of the city.

Biological hazards that affect the city include the biological hazards in the Oklahoma City bombing with ammonium nitrate. Ammonium nitrate exposure to the environment affected many lives in their health. Such biological hazards are supposed to be regulated in the city to avoid the outbreak of diseases. Intentional hazards include the deliberate acts of terrorism, explosion, structure failures, mining, and transportation accidents Homeland (Security, 2011). Local government should try to reduce and control such activities that result in managing disasters in the city. Actions should be taken to prepare counter preventive measures to reduce and control the hazards. NFPA standards should be applied in the city with the help of the national government in preventing and following rules to guard people’s lives.

Categorization of Hazards

Categorization of the Probability of occurrence of the above hazards in a table format. The numbers represent the value of the multiplier.

Evaluation of Hazards Occurrence

Earthquakes, tornadoes, and expansive soils will continuously be experienced since they occur naturally, and fewer actions can be taken to reduce their occurrence. Natural hazards are hard to prevent, as they are acts of nature and can only be controlled by the Supreme. Biological hazards like an outbreak of diseases are likely to occur less frequently if the government is able to put preventive measures like the administration of medicine to patients in time (Korswagen, Jonkman, & Terwel, 2019). Professional nurses and doctors are supposed to be on standby in case of an outbreak to help prevent its spreading to other people. Potential threats to terrorism and intentional acts can be discovered before they occur, thus preventable. The security forces in the city are supposed to work closely with the citizens to prevent such acts before they happen. Floods are minimal to occur if the drainage is well constructed, and water bodies are well maintained. Human settlement along rivers and lakes is to be discouraged, and people helped to settle in flood-free areas (Aven, 2016). Tsunamis are unlikely to occur if earthquakes do not interfere with water bodies in the city.

Assessment of Overall Risks of each Hazard

Severity of Impacts (The numbers represent the value of multiplier.)

In conclusion, Oklahoma City faces hazards that are common to other cities in the United States. To control the risks, there is need to identify, evaluate, and categorize them from the most frequent to the least improbable. After the categorization, evaluation of their impacts is conducted to reduce and prevent them from affecting other people and their properties. Emergency damage control, risk management policies, and NFPA standards are supposed to be used for a better tomorrow.

References

Aven, T. (2016). Risk assessment and risk management: Review of recent advances on their foundation. European Journal of Operational Research, 253(1), 1-13.

Homeland Security. (2011). Risk Management Fundamentals (1st ed.). The United States.

Korswagen, P. A., Jonkman, S. N., & Terwel, K. C. (2019). Probabilistic assessment of structural damage from coupled multi-hazards. Structural safety, 76, 135-148.

NFPA. (2019). NFPA 1600 Standard on Continuity, Emergency, and Crisis Management (1st ed.). The United States.

Tammineedi, R. L. (2010). Business continuity management: A standards-based approach. Information Security Journal: A Global Perspective, 19(1), 36-50.