World Conference on Disaster Management, 20-23 June 1999 at Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Citation

Levinson, D.J. (1999), "World Conference on Disaster Management, 20-23 June 1999 at Hamilton, Ontario, Canada", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 8 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.1999.07308eac.001

World Conference on Disaster Management, 20-23 June 1999 at Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

World Conference on Disaster Management, 20-23 June 1999 at Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

The 9th WCDM sponsored by the Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness (CCEP) met in Hamilton, Ontario, 20-23 June 1999. Mr Brian Miller, Director of CCEP, opened the conference, stressing the inter-relationship between disaster recovery and disaster response. He also reminded the audience that although there might eventually be federal or provincial assistance in a disaster, the first level of responsibility will always be the local jurisdiction.

In the first plenary lecture Assistant Chief Constable Tim Lewis, Royal Ulster Constabulary described events after the explosion on 15 August 1998 of a 500lb car bomb in Omagh, Northern Ireland, a small town 75 miles distant from Belfast. A total of 21 people were declared dead at the scene, and another eight died in hospital; over 300 people suffered some degree of physical injury. The police were responsible for the coordination of the disaster response, based on a pre-planning model that had been written. The call-out system worked well, even though the incident occurred on a Saturday during a month in which many people are away on holiday. Miller related that it was essential to have an official declaration of disaster so that more flexible emergency work rules could be put in effect. Emphasis was put on providing practical assistance to affected families. There was a communications system breakdown resulting in the necessity to send messengers by road to Belfast. A need arose for Spanish language translation; fortunately, a Spanish tourist vacationing in the area volunteered to assist. Following the incident 23,000[1] attempts were made to telephone the local police; after the communications system was restored, 3,500 calls were handled. Hospitals established a second site for handling less serious or minor injuries; there was initial confusion, since the opening of these sites had not been reported to the police. A center to receive relatives was established in a sports facility. Although the media tried to exert heavy pressure for quick identification of the victims, the police realized that the correct formula for identification was a balance between absolute correctness and required timeliness. Although information leaks were deplored, it was recognized that they did have the positive effect of taking pressure off the police and coroner. A policeman and social worker were assigned to each of the families affected by the bombing. A temporary mortuary was established in a hangar at a nearby military base. A "waiting room" and a "viewing room" were furnished with aesthetic concern to ease the pain of those identifying the dead. The BBC sent a staff of 200 to cover the bombing and its aftermath; Sky News sent more reporters than it had assigned to the funeral of Princess Diana. This led to the police conclusion that there must be a comprehensive program to deal with the press as part of any disaster contingency plan.

Dr John Butt, Chief Medical Examiner of Nova Scotia (Canada) and professor at Dalhousie University (Halifax, Canada), discussed the response to the crash of SR 111 near Peggy's Cove late in the evening of 2 September 1998. All 229 passengers and crew aboard the flight were killed. According to Butt, there are some 550 "heavy" transatlantic flights in the skies over Nova Scotia every day[2]. Emergency response (and possible medical rescue) is of primary importance; body recovery is secondary. The Nova Scotia Office of the Medical Examiner has fewer than four manpower slots, hence outside assistance was necessary. A temporary mortuary was established in a hangar[3] and supporting facilities at the Shearwater Military Base, 25 minutes by car from Halifax. Recovery was over a period of three months and was hampered by the onset of winter storms. Initially, there were extensive searches for wreckage and bodies washed ashore; then diving platform, grab lift, and dragger operations were undertaken. Only one virtually intact body was recovered. The RCMP was responsible for command and coordination, security, criminal investigation, and support to the Transportation Safety Board. The medical examiner had sole responsibility for the examination, custody, and repatriation of human remains; determination of identification and cause of death; and, the general mortuary facility and its operation. In all, over 10,000 pieces of human remains (of numerous sizes) were collected; more than 1,450 pieces were sent for DNA examination. The basic temporary mortuary in the hangar was ready and operating within 24 hours. The identification operation consisted of pathology, odontology (with civilian and military assistance), DNA (PCR system, run by RCMP), fingerprinting (RCMP) and X-ray. It was later determined that the X-ray unit was possibly superfluous, since very few identifications were made using these photographs[4]. Butt made the very pertinent point that disaster response is not learnt in medical school. Disaster responders should not be overworked; for their own well-being, they must continue as much as possible in their normal life pattern. Damage to the aircraft was extensive. More than one million pieces were recovered (a short detached length of wire is called a piece for the purpose). The body part most often recovered whole was the foot, since it was partially protected by the seat in front. There were 104 identifications by dental, 90 by DNA[5,6], 30 by fingerprints, and five by radiology (X-ray) (including identifications made by more than one method).

Mr Henry Sadler of the Minnesota Division of Emergency Management discussed the tornado that went through the St Peters area late on the afternoon of 29 March 1998. During the first 12 hours of response the major task was to search homes for trapped people and to look for gas leaks. Tape was applied to mark buildings that had been searched. This operation was accomplished without the benefit of any telephones, since service had been totally disrupted. When telephone service was restored, the lines were jammed because of too heavy usage. At 03.00 an operations center was opened. There was one death, and numerous people were injured. All elderly were evacuated from the area. By the time the operation was over, more than 100,000 meals had been served in the various parts of the response program. The incident command system (ICS) system was used.

Dr Jay Levinson was invited from Israel to speak about problems associated with the year 2000 in Jerusalem. He described several groups that had planned disruptive activities associated with Y2K, then he discussed some of the problems of police response. One issue, for example, was the opening of a second door to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is expected to be the focal point of Christian religious visits. He stressed in particular the question of how fatalities are handled, citing problems associated with varying requirements needed by different religions. This sensitivity to religions is proper in all disasters. At the end of his presentation Levinson stressed that problems are, indeed, the exception, and that Jerusalem will be a positive experience for visitors in Y2K.

Dr Jay LevinsonIsrael

Notes

1. 1.

   This number represents the number of attempts to access the police switchboard. It can be assumed that the number of actual callers is much less.

2. 2.

   Following the crash of PA 101 over Lockerbie in 1988 similar statistics were cited with the inference that there should be response contingency planning in the area overflown.

3. 3.

   Hangars are common sites for temporary morgues. At this same WCDM conference Lt Mike Thompson described the use of a hangar as a temporary mortuary following the Del Rio, Texas floods in August, 1998.

4. 4.

   Dr James Young, a veteran Canadian pathologist and Assistant Deputy Solicitor General of Ontario, assisted Dr Butt during the Swissair response. At a lecture on 10 June 1999 at Israel Police Headquarters in Jerusalem, Dr Young stated that he had come to the same conclusion. He cited the development of DNA as the primary reason for the decline in the need for X-rays.

5. 5.

   TW 800 was the first major crash in which DNA was used for identification. SR 101 is the first time that DNA played a major role.

6. 6.

   Pieces of all bodies were identified by DNA, though names were not determined, generally due to the lack of appropriate ante mortem specimens.