Week 1

Question 1

Disaster definition

Answer 1

serious destruction to community life which threatens or causes death or injury in which community and/or damage to property that is beyond day to day capacity of authorities to cope

Question 2

Emergency definition

Answer 2

any event actual or imminent which endangers or threatens to endanger life property or the environment

Question 3

Incident definition

Answer 3

an event accidentally or deliberately caused which requires a response from emergency response agencies

Question 4

Types of incidents

Answer 4

natural or human made
simple or compound
compensated or non compensated

Question 5

Natural incidents

Answer 5

an incident that is naturally occurring

Question 6

Human made incident

Answer 6

an incident that is not naturally occurring

Question 7

simple incidents

Answer 7

the infrastructure remains intact. that is, roads, hospitals and the lines of communication

Question 8

compound incidents

Answer 8

where damage to infrastructure is sustained

Question 9

Compensated incident

Answer 9

when the resources such as equipment, personnel and facilities are adequate to cope with the number of casualties

Question 10

uncompensated incident

Answer 10

when the resources are inadequate to cope with the number of casualties

Question 11

Earthquakes

Answer 11

due to sudden release of siesmic energy most commonly at the edge of plate boundaries

Question 12

manners of measuring earthquakes

Answer 12

rossi-forel
modified mercalli
omori
richter scale

Question 13

Richter scale

Answer 13

quantifies the amount of seismic energy released by an eartquake
it is a base-10 logarithmic scale therefore the quantities increase exponentially

Question 14

tsunamis

Answer 14

result of earthquakes, landslide or volcanic eruptions undersea
speed of up to 100m/sec - controlled by the depth of the water therefore different to a wind generated wave

Question 15

cyclone

Answer 15

a tropical cyclone is a low-pressure system which develops in the tropics and is sufficiently intense to produce sustained gale force winds or at least 63km/hr
If sustained winds reach hurricane force

Question 16

how do cyclones form?

Answer 16

form over warm tropical oceans, and hold enormous amounts of moisture and can produce heavy rainfall over extensive areas

Question 17

storm surge

Answer 17

a raised dome of water about 60 to 80 kms across and typically about 2 to 5 metres higher than normal tide level

Question 18

how is a storm surge caused?

Answer 18

caused by a combination of strong winds driving water onshore and the lower atmospheric pressure in a tropical cyclone.
in the southern hemisphere the onshore winds occur to the left of the tropical cyclone’s path

Question 19

tornadoes

Answer 19

rapidly rotating vortex or funnel of air extending ground-ward from a cumulonimbus cloud

Question 20

land gales

Answer 20

winds greater than 62km/hr

Question 21

severe thunderstorms

Answer 21

hail greater than 2cm diameter, wind gusts greater than 90km/hr, flash floods, tornadoes, combination of above

Question 22

floods

Answer 22

water where it is not wanted

can be slow or fast, caused by prolonged rainfall, snowmelt, dam failures

Question 23

landslides

Answer 23

mass of earth, rock and debris moving slow or fast down an incline
if saturated with water it will become a mudflow

Question 24

fires

Answer 24

grassfires - fast moving, passing in 5 to 10 seconds and smouldering for minutes. low to medium intensity
bushfires - slower moving but higher heat output. pass in 2 to 5 mins, but smoulder for days

Question 25

volcanic eruptions

Answer 25

volcanic ash, dust and noxious gases effect people over 1000s kms as well as magma flows up to 1200 degrees

Question 26

avalanches

Answer 26

snow landslide

Question 27

road incidents

Answer 27

involvement of buses involves a major incidents, not just cars

Question 28

rail indicents

Answer 28

issues with scene control, further dangers such as explosions or leakage, and problems with coordinating with other agencies

Question 29

construction failure caused by

Answer 29

poor design
poor construction
overloading
sheer age
collision with a vehicle

Question 30

building collapse

Answer 30

can be implosive or explosive

remove debris vertically rather then horizontally

Question 31

bridge collapse caused by

Answer 31

design faults
scour
storm damage

Question 32

nuclear collapse

Answer 32

exposure to radiation and release of radioactive material

Question 33

crowd incidents

Answer 33

initial incident is often increased by the craze - group behaviour in where temporary, short lived competitive rush by a group to an attractive or object or panicked retreat

Question 34

casualties in crowd incidents associated with

Answer 34

heatstroke
missiles
trampling and crushing
injuries from moshing, crowd surfing and crowd diving 
drug and ETOH use