Disaster Managment

Question 1

What is a disaster?

Answer 1

“A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources”

exceeds the community’s ability to care for it

Question 2

Agroterrorism

Answer 2

the malicious attempt to disrupt or
destroy the agricultural industry and/or food supply system of a population through the malicious use of plant or animal pathogens to cause devastating disease in the agricultural sectors

Question 3

What are the 4 phases of disaster managment?

Answer 3

1. Mitigation
2. Preparedness
3. Response
4. Recovery

Question 4

Mitigation

Answer 4

Attempt to prevent hazards from developing into disasters altogether
OR…
To reduce the effects of disasters when they occur
Focuses on long-term measures
Can be part of recovery
Can be structural
Can be non-structural (procedural changes- i.e. changes in buliding codes or policy)

Question 5

Preparedness

Answer 5

• Plans and preparations made to save lives and property, and to facilitate response operations.
• Provisions to ensure that all the resources/services needed to cope with a disaster can be rapidly mobilized and deployed-

Question 6

Examples of Veterinary Preparedness

Answer 6

 Emergency and evacuation plans
 Unobstructed escape routes
 Emergency lighting
 Multiple exits
 Accessible and adequate numbers of leashes and carriers for animal evacuation
 Adequate animal transportation
 Regular disaster/evacuation drills (invite local fire department)
 Phone-tree with 24-hour contact numbers
 Off-site emergency meeting place
 Off-site temporary animal shelter
 Alternative food and water sources in case of contamination
 Identification on all animals at all times
 Employees’ personal family disaster plan (so things at home are taken care of, and they will be available to help at the practice)
 Inventory of hazardous materials (on-site and off-site copy)
 Adequately insured

Question 7

Response

Answer 7

 Actions taken to provide emergency assistance, save lives, minimize property damage, and speed recovery.
 Static and mobile vet clinics
 Search and rescue operations
-provision of emergency food and water
 Temporary shelters

Question 8

Recovery

Answer 8

 Actions taken to return to a normal or improved operating condition following a disaster
 Reconstructing physical structures
 Restoring emotional, social, economic, and physical wellbeing
 May include continued veterinary care

Question 9

Companion Animal Issues in Disasters

Answer 9

 Failure of people to evacuate because of their pets
 Animal abandonment
 Logistics of care and sheltering of animals-
equipment, space, behavior concerns
 Animal identification
 Reuniting displaced animals with their owners
 Adoption

Question 10

Special considerations with LA Infectious Disease Outbreaks

Answer 10

 Veterinary manpower
 Carcass disposal from mass casualties
 Animal identification and premise ID
 Time from diagnosis to slaughter
 Indemnity/insurance payments
 Policy issues (vaccination vs. stamping out)
 Environmental contamination (surface/groundwater and atmospheric pollution from carcass disposal)

Question 11

CART

Answer 11

County Animal Response Team
 Intended for use by local government and agencies to take immediate action in providing a means of care to minimize animal suffering in the event of a large scale disaster
 Rapid response – local!
 Utilizes local resources
 Established relationships with local agencies (EM, sheriff, fire, Animal Control, Ag Ext)
 Familiarity with territory and special considerations (special populations/features)

Question 12

SART

Answer 12

State Animal Response Team
 Interagency organizations dedicated to preparing, planning, responding, and recovering during animal emergencies
 Public private partnership, joining governmental agencies with private goals
 Train to facilitate a safe and efficient response to disasters on the local, county, state and federal level

Question 13

Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams(VMAT)

Answer 13

 Operate under the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)
 Provide operational assistance to state animal health authorities
 Must be requested by a state
 Funded through the American Veterinary Medical Foundation

Question 14

Does federal help come in?

Answer 14

usually the vets in the area have to request this unless this is a major disaster such as a hurricane

Question 15

VMAT’s primary functions

Answer 15

 Early Assessment Volunteer Teams
4-6 person teams, self sufficient and available upon request from the appropriate state authority. Deployments are 72 hours not including travel time. Teams will focus on assessing veterinary conditions & infrastructure, and gather verifiable data to enable state deployment of appropriate state resources.
 Basic Treatment Volunteer Teams
4-6 person teams, self sufficient and available upon request by the appropriate state authority. Deployments are 5 days not including travel time. Teams provide primary field care to augment overwhelmed local capabilities, which could include establishment of a base-of-operations as a field staging area for state-based veterinary triage and veterinary medical care of displaced animals.
 Training
Provide emergency-related education and training to state veterinary associations, professionals and colleges. Topics for 1-2 day training lectures and courses include: animal decontamination, disaster veterinary medicine and triage, hazmat awareness for veterinarians, critical incident stress management, leadership, risk communication, occupational safety. Training programs to start as a lecture format, developing into field exercises later

Question 16

National Veterinary Response Team

Answer 16

 Part of the Dept. of Health & Human Service’s National Disaster Medical System
 Fully supported Federal program.
 Professional expertise in veterinary medicine,
public health, and research
 Private citizens who have been approved as intermittent federal employees and activated in the event of a disaster.
 Assigned to designated regional teams which train in preparation for what might be experienced during a response

Question 17

NVRT Responsibilities

Answer 17

 Assessing the veterinary medical needs of the community
 Medical treatment and stabilization of animals
 Animal disease surveillance
 Zoonotic disease surveillance and public health assessments
 Technical assistance to assure food safety and water quality
 Hazard mitigation
 Care and support of animals certified as official
responders to a Disaster or emergency
 Humane euthanasia
 Biological and chemical terrorism surveillance
 Animal decontamination

Question 18

NAHERC

Answer 18

National Animal Health Emergency Response Corp
 USDA’s Animal and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS)
 Established to respond to exotic disease outbreaks and other disasters which affect livestock, poultry, companion animals and wildlife.
 Temporary USDA APHIS employee

Question 19

US public heath service

Answer 19

 Elite team of more than 6,500 public health professionals
 Commissioned corps
 One of the seven uniformed services ( not an armed service)
 100+ veterinarians
 Officers are dedicated to PH promotion, PH response, disease prevention, and PH science
 Work in areas of disease control and prevention; biomedical research; regulation of food, drugs, and medical devices; mental health and drug abuse; and health care delivery.

Question 20

Problems with Past Disasters

Answer 20

 Communications issues ·non-interoperable radios
·no common communications plan ·no common terminology
 Command and control problems
·no command post or lack of central post ·no coordination between agencies
·no common incident command structure
 No standardized plan ·outdated or none
 Training
·different agencies and jurisdictions trained differently with no common operating plan
CHAOS

Question 21

National Response Framework

Answer 21

• Department of Homeland Security-effective March 2008

* establishes a comprehensive, national, all-hazards approach to domestic incident response.

Question 22

Key Features of the National Response Framework

Answer 22

 All-hazards approach
 Lists all levels of government (local, tribal, state, and federal), private sector, and non- governmental organizations in a unified approach to emergency management
 Builds on the National Incident Management System (NIMS) with its flexible, scalable, and adaptable coordinating structures
 Aligns key roles and responsibilities across jurisdictions
 Always in effect-can be partially of fully implemented
 Best practices and procedures

Question 23

National Incident Management System

Answer 23

 Homeland Security Presidential Directive -5
 Core set of concepts, principles, and terminology for incident command and multi- agency coordination
 Mandates the use of the Incident Command System

Question 24

NIMS Command and Management

Answer 24

 Incident Command System

 Multi-agency coordination system  Public information system

Question 25

Incident Command System

Answer 25

 Standardized, on-scene, all-hazard, incident management
 Uses standard terminology
 Modular, flexible, and adaptable
·can collapse or expand to adjust to incident size/complexity
 Multiple agency cooperation ·efficient and effective management ·multiple sites or jurisdictions
 Top-down structure:
·only positions that are necessary will be filled
·each element will have a person in charge


Question 26

ICS Span of Control

Answer 26

 Based on the amount of individuals or resources one can supervise
 Vital to effective incident management
1:5 is ideal
1:3 if you need to shrink response
1:7 if you need to expand response

Question 27

ICS Structure

Answer 27

Five management functions:
·Incident command
·Logistics
·Operations- veterinarians primarily 
·Planning- veterinarians
·Finance and administration

Question 28

Examples of Incidents

Answer 28

 Fire, both structural and wildland
 Natural disasters
 Human and animal disease outbreak
 Search and rescue missions
 Hazmat incidents
 Criminal acts and crime scene investigation
 Terrorist incidents, including WMDs
 National special security events (Presidential
visits or the Super Bowl)
 Other planned events (parades/demonstrations)