Dubai Municipality discusses emergency preparedness

Mr. Kiley J Taylor of Zephyr Environmental Corporation, USA was speaking at Dubai Municipality today in a seminar organized by the Environmental Protection and Safety Section in the Environment Department on "Emergency Response-Preparedness and Effectiveness".

Taylor pointed out that Oman and the UAE responded properly when the Gonu cyclone came by evacuating many people in advance.

He said transportation is a major challenge when mass evacuation becomes needed. "A disaster is an emergency for which we are unprepared," Taylor said.

He said preparedness to meet disaster involves physical and mental readiness as well as awareness and acceptance of the gravity of the situation. Taylor said the causes can be natural, human factors, technological or intentional acts such as terrorism.

To manage emergencies, he said, the authorities should work for mitigation by way of planning facilities that could later minimise recovery efforts, in addition to have preparedness, and proper response and recovery systems.

Quoting the lessons learned from Katrina Hurricane, Taylor said the major players in emergency should be ready with the right resources for the incident in hand and at the same time flexible for meeting any unexpected turn of events.

He advised to eliminate bureaucratic wrangles to avoid delays in action. "We tend to shift our efforts to prepare for the incidents that just occurred, not the one that is to come," said Taylor.

Talking about the contingency plan outline, he suggested that the scope and purpose of authority should be specified in advance and the authorities should think in terms of establishing separate sections for specific incidents such as discovery, initial response, sustained action, termination and follow up.

"The primary mission of the evacuation plan should be life saving. At the same time, it should be taken into consideration to avoid utility disruption," said Taylor.

He said that instead of going through the routine command systems followed by the existing authorities, it is better to resort to the time-tested Incident Command System, which can be utilised for specific incidents.

Taylor said the basic emergency response objectives include preserving human life and health, preventing the incidents from worsening, minimizing the effects to the environment, minimizing property damage, and promoting prompt recovery.

He said the unity of commands between different operating authorities is pivotal in the success of emergency operations, especially in big catastrophes. "On many occasions, the question of who has the authority and command over the operation had become a tricky problem resulting in total failure and further disasters. It was evident in the rescue operations conducted during the 9/11 incident," pointed out Taylor.

He said integrated communication is also very important in such situations. "There should be uniform commands and proper coordination between different players," said Taylor, adding that establishing an integrated National Incident Management System would be an ideal solution to these problems.

Eng. Redha Salman, Head of Environment Protection and Safety Section delivered the introductory speech in the seminar. Eng. Rashed Karkain, Head of Environmental Planning Unit gave a presentation on the updates on the Dangeraous Goods Code of Practice in the Emirate of Dubai.

He said the Code of Conduct is being updated in line with the current international standards, the major changes being the adoption of Federal Law No.1 of 2002 regarding placarding of the dangerous goods that are stored, Civil Defence certificates for drivers and current international regulations.

Karkain said the movement of dangerous goods via roads into Dubai is a major challenge faced by the Environment Department in the Municipality. He said other challenges include damaged or not claimed consignments on transit, resources compared to the growth of Dubai in industrial activities and permission with general trading regarding trade license activity.

He said regarding import of dangerous goods, the Municipality gets an average of 180 online applications a day. However, Karkain added that damaged or expired goods are not allowed to be disposed off in Dubai.