1. The Deepwater Horizon explosion is a major explosion that occurred in 2010, resulting to death of 11 workers and spillage of over 3 million barrels of oil that spread over the Gulf of Mexico. The incident was the largest oil-spill reported in the US. The disaster is type 1 as it required high resistance to stabilization, required numerous periods, significant effects on the population, took more than a month, resulted to housing for people living on islands and on shores had to relocate for months for the cleaning process to take place (McGuire et al., 2022). The coordination was multiorganizational and the possibility of exacerbation of current incident due to changes in winds and tides in the ocean.
Resources deployed for the incident involved massive investment in oil collection from the affected area. The federal government provided resources to fund use of chemicals to assist in collection of oil from the ocean. Through FEMA and the BP corporation, emulsifiers were used to make collection of oil easier (McGuire et al., 2022). As oil began to contaminate Louisiana beaches in May, it was manually removed; more difficult to clean were the state’s marshes and estuaries, where the topography was knit together by delicate plant life.
Protocols that were successful involved the use of chemical dispersants to break oil into smaller droplets and reduced the amount of oil reaching the surface. The releasing of fresh water into the ocean prevented most of the oil from reaching the shores. However, strategies to remove oil from vegetation and infrastructure along shores proved unsuccessful due to the extent of size and damage (McGuire et al., 2022). Creating better response mechanisms and incorporating all involved parties without blaming would enhance cohesion towards the clean-up process. Overall, there is need to invest in new technology to control oil spills in the future.
2. For this week’s discussion, I would like to talk about the Las Vegas shooting that occurred on October 1st, 2017. This infamous disaster was dubbed the most deadliest shooting done by one gunman in American history. This would be considered an Active Shooter Incident because it includes an armed person engaging in killing people in a confined and populated space.
The resources that were deployed during this disaster include: hundreds of officers from different jurisdictions, fire departments and ambulance services, and emergency management was also involved. (CCFD, LVMPD, & FEMA, 2018) The protocols that were successfully done include the early establishment of resources and coordination thanks to the MACC (Multi-Agency Coordination Center) and the proper agencies were deployed and managed during this disaster.
Some unsuccessful protocols include communication gaps between the different agencies deployed, including the police, fire departments, and ambulance services. There were also security breaches in the medical tents and hotline calls were not handled properly due to insufficient training by the staff.
To improve the disaster response in the future, more training can be implemented as well as better protocols for communication as those were the main issues that arose during this disaster.
