The document provides an overview of disaster basics and communications training opportunities through REACT International. It defines what constitutes a disaster, outlines different types of disasters and their impacts. It also describes various disaster measurement scales. Finally, it promotes REACT's free training programs and certification exams to improve members' readiness to assist with communications for emergency response organizations.

1. DISASTER BASICS
Ravindranath Goswami
robby@9Z4RG.com
2019-04-28
REACT INTENATIONAL, INC.
TRAINING FOR REACT COUNTY CARONI 6005
NESC FACILITY, WOODFORD LODGE, CHAGUANAS
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2. AGENDA
• REACT’s Purpose
• REACT International
• Training Opportunities
• What Is A Disaster?
• The Types Of Disasters
• What Do Disasters Do?
• The Specific Impacts of Events
• Disaster Scales And Other Measures
• Q&A
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3. “
”
We will provide public safety communications to
individuals, organizations, and government
agencies to save lives, prevent injuries, and give
assistance wherever and whenever needed. We
will strive to establish a monitoring network of
trained volunteer citizen-based communicators
using any and all available means to deliver the
message.
MISSION STATEMENT 3
Source: http://reactintl.org/

4. Purpose 4

5. STRUCTURE
• REACT International, Inc. – HQ – Franchisor – Standard Setting
• Board of Directors – Policy and Governance
• Regions – Administrative - Segmentation
• Councils – Umbrella and Coordination
• Teams – Management – Autonomous - Franchisee
• Membership – The real REACT
• Junior REACT – The Youth Arm 11-17 – Lifeblood - Future
• Affiliates – Associates
• Partners – MOUs – Friends of REACT
It only takes 3 persons to start a REACT Team.
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6. Strategies – Region 9 6
Emphasis on Training and Development.
Promotion of the REACT brand.
Strengthening the governance, administration and communication
with the served territories.
Focus on and promotion of the distinctive capabilities.
Providing an avenue for each sub-region to have an active voice in the
operations of REACT International.
Recognition of excellence.
Human capital development.
Technology diffusion.

7. TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
FEMA ICS Courses
• IS-100.b - Introduction to
Incident Command System, ICS-
100
• IS-200.b - ICS for Single
Resources and Initial Action
Incidents
• IS-700.a - National Incident
Management System (NIMS) An
Introduction
• IS-800.b - National Response
Framework, An Introduction
There are a ton more….
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NIMS Resource Typing
• Type IV Communications Team -
deployable
• Base Radio Station Team – fixed
• Message Handling Team – REACT
Traffic System

8. TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES 8
• 109B Messages – ICS 213 General
Message
• 110 Deployment Awareness
• 111 Basics of Drills and Exercises
• 113 Disaster Basics
• 114 Alerting
• 115 The Emergency Operations Plan
• 116 Introduction to Net Control
• 117 Spot Reporting
• 120 Traffic System Operator Basic
Familiarization
• 101 Emergency Communications
• 102 Introduction to Land Search and Rescue
• 103A Using the Traffic System Message
Bulletin Board
• 103B Protecting Personal and Sensitive
Information
• 103C Using the Zello Voice Training and
Operations Nets
• 104 Monitoring
• 105 Introduction to Net Operations
• 106B Family Radio Service
• 109A Messages – The Radiogram Training@REACTIntl.org

9. Safety First
As a priority, always bear in mind to avoid undue risks that would
result in injury.
Remember we will not be able to carry out our duty if we are
injured.
This is not being selfish, it is being selfless.
An aircraft safety briefing says to put on YOUR oxygen mask FIRST.
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10. DISASTER BASICS
• A key part of communications in major emergencies and disasters
is understanding what a disaster is and the types of impacts it has.
• This gives the radio operator a better appreciation of the types of
things that drive the communications needs of the organizations
we support.
• This course provides an overview of what disasters are, what types
of impacts they have, and how we categorize them.
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11. What is a Disaster
• Routine Emergency – something
that requires an emergency
response to protect life, property,
or the environment, but that can
typically be managed by only a
partial commitment of the
resources of the jurisdiction in
which it is occurring. Routine
emergencies are typically
resolved in hours.
• Major Emergency – an emergency
that requires commitment of
resources from a full range of
government departments, adding
agencies such as Public Health,
Highway, Public Works, Social
Services, and even the Sanitation
Department, and that stresses
the jurisdictions capabilities.
Mutual aid may be a necessity to
meet the full impact. Major
emergencies typically are
controlled within a day or two.
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12. What is a Disaster
• Disaster – an event that exceeds the
capability of the jurisdiction to manage it,
and that requires assistance from higher
levels of government. Typically purchasing
and contracting rules are suspended,
employees can be tasked to work outside
their normal job description, and the
normal budgetary allocation of funds can be
modified to allow government to spend the
sum sufficient to deal with the impact.
Other rules and regulations may be
suspended, evacuations ordered, shelters
opened, mass feeding started, etc. Disaster
response and initial recovery may be
completed in weeks to months, but
rebuilding from the event may take years to
decades
• Catastrophe – a disaster event that severely
stresses or exceeds available all national
level resources and that involves extreme
impacts over large areas, including massive
destruction and large numbers of
casualties. Assistance from other countries,
especially by specialized teams, may be
required. Although rescue efforts may be
completed in days and key infrastructure
stabilized in weeks to months, a return to a
semblance of normalcy may take years, and
in some cases recovery may never be
complete.
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“All disasters are emergencies, but not all emergencies are disasters.”
A disaster is a disaster when someone who is authorized by law to declare a disaster to be a disaster in fact does so.

13. Types of Disasters (Hazards)
• Natural
• Hydrometeorological – Storms, Lighting, Floods, Landslides
• Seismic – Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Volcanic Activity
• Anthropogenic (Human Behaviour and Activity)
• Environmental
• Chemical
• Biological
• Nuclear
• Technological
• Cybersecurity
• Sociological, Political and Economic
• Crime
• Terrorism
• Combat/Wars
• Famine
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14. Definitions
Term Definition
Hazard A source of potential damage, synonymous with a threat.
Vulnerability A weakness in a system that increases susceptibility to impacts.
Event A planned occurrence that is usually desirable.
Incident An unplanned occurrence that requires a response.
Disaster An occurrence, often sudden, that causes great damage or loss of
life.
Mitigation Proactively minimizing the impact and loss, as well as facilitating
recovery from an incident.
Resilience Ability to adapt to or recover from hazards achieved through
planning ahead.
Risk The probability of something failing (likelihood) times the
consequence of it happening (impact, damage or loss).
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15. Onset
Chronic
• Slow onset, often over years or decades.
• Requires vision to identify them because
the rate of change is slow and other
problems may appear far more pressing.
• Often are recognized, but the political
will does not exist to resolve them.
• Progressively worsen over time, until
conditions force a solution which is often
less effective than an earlier response
would have been.
Acute
• Rapid onset, in weeks, days, hours, or
minutes.
• Usually easy to forecast, recognize, and
react to the threat.
• Time to react effectively may not exist,
however.
• Outcomes are influenced by the behavior
of people in the impact zone.
• Typically create the greatest potential
for injury and death (although the
development of effective warning
systems for many threats have
significantly reduced actual losses).
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16. Area Covered
• Single Town or City
• Region within a County
• County
• National
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17. Phases
• A - Pre-Existing Threats
• B - Environmental Changes
• 1. Disaster prevention
• 2. Mitigation
• C. Prodromes
• 3. Preparedness
• D. Seasons
• E. Development
• 4. Watches and Warnings
• 5. Response
• 5.1. Mobilization
• 5.2. Evacuation
• 5.3. Sheltering
• F. Impact
• 5.4. Rescue
• G. Secondary Disaster Events
• H. Dissipation
• 6. Emergency Recovery
• 7. Reentry
• 8. Recovery
• 9. Long Term Recovery and
Rebuilding
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18. Timeline 18

19. What Do Disasters Do
• Deaths and injuries
• Psychological impacts on both
those impacted and the
responders
• Disruption of, damage to, or
destruction of lifeline services
• Damage to or destruction of
infrastructure
• Damage to or destruction of
property
• Impact on the economy
• Economic cost
• Impacts on the trust people
have in their government
• Criminal activity
• Impact on relations with
others based on economic
status, race, and ethnicity
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20. Impacts
Event What Is It? Impacts
Climate change Gradual warming of the Earth’s climate Sea level rise and flooding, vegetation changes, desertification, changes
in weather patterns
Earthquake Rapid shifting of the earth’s surface, typically
along fault lines
Damage to transportation, power, and communications systems;
building, bridge, and dam collapses; fires; mass casualties with people
trapped; tsunamis
Flash flooding Rapid onset flooding of low lying areas caused by
heavy rain or rapid melting of snow
Transportation routes closed, roads and bridges damaged, structures
damaged or destroyed, animal and human deaths
Hurricanes and other
tropical cyclones
Rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure
center, low-level atmospheric circulation, strong
winds, thunderstorms that produce heavy rain,
and tornadoes.
Coastal erosion and flooding, inland flooding from heavy rain, human,
animal, and plant deaths, coastal settlements damaged or destroyed,
communications outages, vessels sinking
Landslide A sliding mass of earth or rock including rockfalls,
slope failures, and shallow debris flows.
Destruction of buildings, transportation and communications
infrastructure, towns buried, fatalities
Riverine Flooding Outflow of water into normally dry land from
watercourses ranging from creeks to major rivers
Transportation routes closed, roads and bridges damaged, structures
damaged or destroyed, animal and human deaths, water supply
contamination
Tsunami Series of ocean waves resulting from earthquakes
or land collapses or slides (including underwater)
Intense, rapid onset, wave trains leading to severe coastal flooding,
destruction of built environment, and mass fatalities
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21. Impacts 21
Event Impacts
Mass casualty and mass fatality incidents Large numbers of injured (mass casualty, with the potential for
significant mortality) or deceased (mass fatality) victims requiring
special procedures for their management
Hazardous materials spills and releases Exposure leading to illness, injury, or death for humans, animals, and
plants, pollution, long term contamination of land, airborne inhalation
hazards to life
Residential fires Building destruction or damage, in apartments and residential facilities
mass casualty incident
Bridge collapses Transportation routes blocked
Highway accidents Vehicles damaged or destroyed, large incidents involve mass
casualties, hazardous materials releases, pollution

22. Disaster Scales
• Watch – conditions are favourable for the development of a
particular type of event.
• Warning - the event type is expected or is in progress now.
• 100-500 Year Events - tool to describe the magnitude of an event.
• Injuries and Fatalities
• Multiple Casualty Incident
• Mass Casualty Incident
• Mass Fatality Incident
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The importance of all these scales lies in what they tell you about the probability that the
disaster will occur and the disaster environment in which you will be working.

23. Moment Magnitude
Magnitude Effects Estimated Annual Number
2.5 or less Usually not felt 900,000
2.5 to 5.4 Often felt but causes only minor damage 30,000
5.5 to 6.0 Slight damage to buildings and other structures 500
6.1 to 6.9 Extensive damage in very populated areas 100
7.0 to 7.9 Major earthquake with serious damage 20
8.0 or greater Great earthquake able to completely destroy
communities near the epicenter
One every 5 to 10 years
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The relative size of an earthquake based on the maximum motion as measured by a
seismograph. The larger the number the more extreme the motion.

24. Modified Mercalli Scale 24

25. Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale 25

26. CONCLUSIONS 26
1. REACT offers many training
programmes for the
membership.
2. Training is free and a benefit as
a REACTer.
3. Training is one mechanism to
improve readiness.
4. For each programme,
certification exams are
available.
5. Have fun
“The world is moving, and an organisation that contents itself with present accomplishments soon falls behind.”
- George Eastman

27. REACT INTERNATIONAL, INC.
REACT International, Inc.
Post Office Box 21064
Glendale, CA 91221
Office:(301) 316 2900
Fax: (800) 608-9755
Email: ri.hq@reactintl.org, r.goswami@reactintl.org
Website: http://reactintl.org
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28. THANK YOU – Q & A 28
https://www.facebook.com/groups/reacttnt/