Mass Disasters and Human Rights Flashcards
What are the three disaster classifications?
1. Unexpected events ○ Natural vs man-made causes 2. Scale, scope and duration (can change the impact) ○ Localized vs dispersed across geography ○ Acute vs diachronic time frames 3. High loss of life ○ Open vs closed disasters ○ Open-many unidentified victims ○ Close-few known victims
What is a natural disaster?
○ Earthquakes, storms, then floods(most-less common)
○ 2003-2012
388disasters/year, 216 million victims, 106,1000 fatalities, 4.9% overall annual fatality rate
Describe anthropogenic disaster.
- Accidental
- 2012-188disasters
- Traffic(>70%) or Technical - Criminal&HumanRights
- War crimes
- Terrorist attacks
- Organized groups
- Single offender homicides
- Violations of human rights
What are some socio-cultural considerations.
- Impact on family, friends, communities and society
- Cultural sensitivity
- National laws and idiosyncrasies
What are the four levels or responders?
- Survivors and bystanders
- Local
- Federal
- International
What happened July 2013?
In Lac Megnatic, Quebec, a runaway train derailed, crashed and exploded in this small town of around 6,000 ppl. The train was left unattended and started to travel backwards at 90km/hr. Derailment resulted in the rupture of a bunch of tankers, and the fire burned for 36 hours.
Describe management.
- Key to successful response is management
- Existing plans and networks
- Leadership and chain of command
- Appropriate resources and personnel
- Standardized analysis, reporting and data management
- Clear communication channels
- Teams for investigating missing persons (AM)
- Teams for looking at unidentified victims
Describe the Lac Megantic team members.
- Surete du quebec
- Bureau du coroner quebec
- Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de medicine legale
- Missing person unit
- Crime tech, fire scene specialist, etc
Describe the initial response at site.
- Protection of life
- Search and rescue
- Treatment of injured
- Personal and property security
- Search and recovery
- Assessment of Site(s):
○ Perimeter
○ Site conditions
○ Hazards and other dangers
○ Condition of corpses
○ Logistical and operational needs
What are the health and safety considerations?
- Sanitary, hazard-free working conditions
- First aid training and kits
- Personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Immunizations and vaccinations
- Disposal of biological waste
What are the responsibilities of the site team?
○ Body and body part recovery ○ Collection of isolated personal property or other evidence ○ Documentation ○ Chain of custody ○ Quality control
What are the steps from start to end?
Secure scene -> document scene -> op zones -> search and flag -> item exposure -> item documentation -> recovery -> transfer to holding zone/triage -> transfer to mortuary -> conduct final search -> close scene -> final report
Describe the Lab Megantic Site workflow
- All scenes had multiple search teams
- Started july, ended August
- Items of interest were found all around town (50 official case numbers for human remains) – only one location failed to yield a result
Describe the antemortem (AM) data collection.
- Physical description
- DNA
- Context
- Photos
- Fingerprints
- Personal effects and clothing
- Medical records
- Dental records
Describe the postmortem (PM) data collection.
• Chain of custody: admitting and triage -> screening and radiology ->
photography & associated artefacts -> biological profile: cause and manner ->
resolve commingling -> data to IMC
PM involves: pathology, radiology, anthro, odontology, DNA, fingerprints, and evidence officer
