The increased levels of disasters have led to the increased levels of loss of property and life. This suggests that the mechanisms that have been put in place to avert such disasters are not sustainable and resilient to such disasters and, therefore, leave communities vulnerable to other future disasters. In my understanding, emergency mitigation strategies are required to offer minimal exposure of both people and property to natural disasters leaving the communities sustainable and resilient to such disasters. How then do mitigation strategies determine the sustainability and resiliency of communities towards disasters?
Disaster-resilient and sustainable communities are not worse affected by catastrophes such as earthquakes, floods, wild fires and can easily bounce back to the economic and social conditions before such catastrophes. Such communities live conscious of the possibility of such disasters taking place and have put radical measures to deter them or lessen their effects. These measures are described below. They ensure that the ecological balance of the environment systems is maintained i.e. the environment is used to ensure economic growth while still ensuring that there are sufficient resources left for future generations (Shaw, Pulhin and Pereira 20). With this measure in place, these communities can avert the effects of climate change which is the leading cause of disasters e.g. drought, floods, temperature increments (Shaw, Pulhin and Pereira 23).
They make developments that are in synchrony with the working of the environment i.e. such developments do not disrupt the ecological systems. For example, such communities build dams that do not fully restrict the flow of rivers to ensure that such rivers do not break their banks and cause floods. Other developments such are roads, bridges and houses are built to withstand even the strongest forces of nature (Kapucu and Özerdem, 53). Technological advances have been used to ensure that these communities stay ahead of disasters. For example, the use of seismographs to detect earthquakes has made such communities to take relevant measures such evacuation of people and property before they occur. Weather forecasting techniques also warn people of adverse weather conditions such as hurricanes and tornadoes (Kapucu and Özerdem, 55).
In conclusion, disaster resilient communities also keep off areas that are prone to catastrophes e.g. areas surrounding nuclear reactors, areas around tectonic plates to ensure that the occurrence of such disasters does not affect them. Therefore, it is these mitigation strategies discussed above that that determine the resiliency and sustainability of communities to disasters.
Works Cited
Brose, Dominic A. Developing A Framework For Measuring Community Resilience. Print.
Kapucu, Naim, and Alpaslan Özerdem. Managing Emergencies and Crises. Burlington, Mass.: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2013. Print.
Shaw, Rajib, Juan M Pulhin, and Joy Jacqueline Pereira. Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction. Bingley, U.K.: Emerald, 2010. Print.
