Disaster Management in Uruguay A novell field for Operations Research Ing. Omar Viera

Abstract Disasters are problems that causes human, material and other losses and requieres assignment of important resources to predict, mitigate and recovery from. This implies the need for effective, often real time cost reducing techniques. OR and OR researchers can provide up to date knowledge and experience in order to reduce the overall costs.

Outline PART I Definitions Types of disasters Disasters in numbers Disaster and disaster management Types of disasters Disasters in numbers Emergency management PART II What is Operations Research (OR)

PART I Disasters are events that may have a huge impact in societies. Disaster management is a scientific approach to deal with disasters.

Definitions Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters http://www.emdat.be/ “A disaster is a situation or event which overwhelms local capacity, necessitating a request to a national or international level for external assistance.”

Definitions http://www.ifrc.org A disaster is a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes human, material, and economic or environmental losses that exceed the community’s or society’s ability to cope using its own resources.

Definitions http://www.businessdictionary.com Calamitous, distressing, or ruinous effects of a disastrous event (such as drought, flood, fire, hurricane, war) of such scale that they disrupt (or threaten to disrupt) critical functions of an organization, society or system, for a period long enough to significantly harm it or cause its failure.

Definitions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OFDA A natural disaster is the consequence of a natural hazard (e.g. volcanic eruption, earthquake, or landslide) which affects human activities. Human vulnerability, exacerbated by the lack of planning or lack of appropriate emergency management, leads to financial, environmental or human losses. The resulting loss depends on the capacity of the population to support or resist the disaster, their resilience.This understanding is concentrated in the formulation: "disasters occur when hazards meet vulnerability“.

Definitions http://www.fema.gov/ A nonroutine occurrence that has resulted in property damage, deaths, and/or injuries to a community that requires the use of resources from outside affected community.

Definitions In common: A nonroutine event. Strong social impact. Disrupts the functioning of a society. Exceeds the or society’s ability to cope using its own resources.

Types of disasters http://www.fema.gov/ Chemical, Dam Failure , Earthquake, Fire Flood, Haz. Material, Heat, Hurricane Landslide, Nuclear, Terrorism, Thunderstorm Tornado, Tsunami, Volcano, Wildfire Winter Storm

Types of disasters http://www.ifrc.org Drought Earthquakes Epidemics Famine/food insecurity Floods Hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons Man-made disasters Population movement Technological Volcanic eruption

Definitions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OFDA Emergency management (or disaster management) is the discipline of dealing with and avoiding risks It is a discipline that involves preparing for disaster before it happens, disaster response (e.g. emergency evacuation, quarantine, mass decontamination, etc.), as well as supporting, and rebuilding society after natural or human-made disasters have occurred.

Definitions Drabek, T. E. (1991). The evolution of emergency management. In T. E. Drabek & G. J. Hoetmer (Eds.), Emergency management: Principles and practice for local government. Washington, DC: International City and County Management Association. “The discipline and profession of applying science, technology, planning and management to deal with extreme events that can injure or kill large numbers of people, do extensive property damage, and disrupt community life”

Definitions http://www.fema.gov/, FEMA, 2000 “A range of measures to manage risks to communities and the environment”

Definitions In common: A scientific approach to manage disasters.

Disasters in numbers

Disasters in numbers

Disasters in numbers

Some numbers in Uruguay Floods (web SINAE) Evacuated / Dead political and geographical district (1997-2005) Departament # Evacuated # Dead ARTIGAS 12979 1 CANELONES 2941 3 CERRO LARGO 1227 0 COLONIA 556 0 LAVALLEJA 611 0 DURAZNO 7170 1 FLORES 159 0 FLORIDA 545 0 MALDONADO 1156 0

Some numbers in Uruguay Political district # Evacuated # Dead MONTEVIDEO 782 2 PAYSANDÚ 3770 0 RÍO NEGRO 109 0 RIVERA 1333 0 ROCHA 246 0 SALTO 4608 0 SAN JOSÉ 447 1 SORIANO 991 0 TACUAREMBÓ 5337 2 TREINTA Y TRES 2214 0 TOTALS 47181 10

Some numbers in Uruguay Wildfires Dirección Nacional de Bomberos / Diario La República Year # Interventions 2005 3247 2006 2232 2007 3262

Emergency Management “OR/MS research in disaster operations management”, N. Altay, W. Green III, EJOR, 175 (2006), 475-493. Emergency management is described in terms of: Mitigation Preparedness Response Recovery

Emergency Management Mitigation: Preparedness: Response: Recovery: Prevent or reduce impact. Preparedness: Prepare for response. Response: Preserve life, property, environment and social, economic and political structure. Recovery: Long term actions to stabilize community and normalcy.

Emergency Management Activities Mitigation: Land use controls. Barriers Tax incentives o disincentives Risk analisys. Insurance. …

Emergency Management Preparedness: Recruiting personnel. Emergency planning. Training. Budgeting resources. Maintenance of emergency supplies. Communications systems. …

Emergency Management Response: Activating planes. Opening shelters. Fire fighting. Evacuation. Search and rescue. …

Emergency Management Recovery: Cleanup. Financial assistance. Rebuildning facilities. Full restoration of lifeline services. …

Emergency Management Characteristics of Emergency Management: Social and political in nature. Multi-organizational in nature. Multi-functional in nature.

Emergency Management What about vulnerability Shit happens…or

PART II OR is well suitable for all the activities and structures of Emergency management.

What is Operations Research http://www.scienceofbetter.org … operations research (O.R.) is the discipline of applying advanced analytical methods to help make better decisions.

What is Operations Research http://www.euro-online.org/ it can be described as a scientific approach to the solution of problems in the management of complex systems. In a rapidly changing environment an understanding is sought which will facilitate the choice and the implementation of more effective solutions which, typically, may involve complex interactions among people, materials and money.

What is Operations Research http://www.fing.edu.uy/inco/cursos/io/ …is the research on operations to achieve the optimal objective of a system or the improvement of it.

What is Operations Research That is: OR is a scientific approach that uses advanced analytical methods to obtain optimal decisions for problems in the management of complex systems.

What is Operations Research Lack of control. Soft OR (Problem Structuring Methods) Mo delling  Guiding solving steps Non-Mathematical. Dialogue. Participation.

What is Operations Research Characterised by: Multiple actors. Multiple perspectives. Conflicting interests Uncertainties. Objective facts and perception used to solve complex problems.

Conclusions OR and OR research has an enormous potential in the field of Emergency Management. This potential is even greater in Uruguay due to the lack of research and applications. Making decision makers concientious about the need to quantify is a big and necessary step. OR based DSS can not only help to save lives but to reduce overall costs and contribute to state policies in the field.

Conclusions Multi-organizational. Multi-disciplinary.

Conclusions Do or do not – there is no try (Master Yoda, Star Wars Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back)

Future research Soft OR. Soft System Methods. Decision Theory. Information Systems in real time. Information management. Konwledge management. Insurance. Logistics.

Future research Organizational management. …Disaster Management….