Assigned Blog #1

This week my blog was going to be about the Geneva Convention and about disasters being called “human-made.” Once I started the blog, I realized I had way too much information and about disasters and there was no way I would be able to blog about both topics in a timely fashion. So, I decided to focus on the class’s discussion about Human-Made disasters. When we say “natural disaster”, it isn’t actually nature creating the disaster. It is humans failing to prepare or human’s ignorance to the disaster’s situation. Basically it can be considered a lack of planning or lack of disaster preparedness-measures and plans taken to minimize the loss of life and damage done.

Human-Made Disasters?

First examine two terms, both in the reading Cahill: disaster, which is a breakdown between man and his environment. It is a sudden or slow event that demands exceed the available resources, and generally requires outside help. Then there is a natural disaster, a sudden major upheaval of nature that causes a lot of destruction, death, and suffering.

It’s mind-blowing that disasters are considered human-made. When we say a natural disaster occurs, nature can’t be blamed entirely for what happened and the destruction caused. For example, the class discussed the destruction in Japan caused by the tsunami and. Someone in class had mentioned that there had been a line of rocks placed near some of the coast in Japan. These rocks had engravings that read; “do not build below these rocks” (or something close to this). The warnings had been there for years, yet the people of Japan chose to ignore them, and build in an unsafe area where the tsunami had struck. Had these rocks not been ignored, or if measures of effectiveness had been taken, the tsunami’s impact could have been avoided with minimal loss and damages. By ignoring the rocks and not implementing measures of effectiveness, the Japanese built communities along the coast where the tsunami was able to destroy the communities. This is one reason that favors the idea of disaster being human-made.

Similar to the damage cause by the tsunami is Japan was the damage done by Hurricane Katrina. The area affected by the hurricane used to be much like a swamp land. Years ago, these swamp lands would naturally break up the hurricane before hitting the main land, weakening the blow.  Like Japan, if these warning signs would not have been ignored much destruction could have been avoided and lives could have been saved. Both of these are just two of the many examples of how and why disasters are, for the most part, human-man.

One might argue a couple of points from this topic. First, and probably most apparent, one would argue that if the natural disaster (meaning nature; hurricane, earthquake, flood..ect) didn’t occur, humans wouldn’t have to worry about a disaster, nor would humans be blamed for creating the disaster. Especially after examining the two terms; disaster and natural disaster, it seems apparent that you can’t have one without the other. In class we said, if humans weren’t there, then a crises wouldn’t exist. But, I think we could say if the natural disaster wasn’t there, the crises wouldn’t exist. It’s definitely and arguable subject.  Another argument; when homes and building we built in the flood zones in Japan and affected hurricane areas in Southern America, that the architecture of the buildings and land could sustain nature’s impacts with minimal damage. This might be true; however, the past would prove that argument wrong; however, it would prove that argument right. I definitely think both of these points are two very good arguments about disasters being “human-made.” I’m not exactly sold on human-made disaster, yet I’m not sold on blaming nature 100 percent for disasters.

In the blog I mention the terms; measures of effectiveness and disaster preparedness, which is basically taking measures to prepare for something, more specifically a disaster or crises. I found and interesting video on emergency preparedness for hurricanes. I felt it was related to the blog and interesting because the east coast was just hit by a hurricane. The video can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIj_I-Kpqm8

First Blog

About Me:

My name is Zach McManigle, I am a 3^rd year student and Penn State majoring in Security and Risk Analysis with a focus in Social Risk Factor. I was born in El Paso, Texas and later moved to Emporium, Pennsylvania. In 2005 I graduated from Cameron County High School and immediately enlisted in the United States Navy. After four years of service I decided to take advantage of the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill and further my education at The Pennsylvania State University. Though my future is uncertain I hope build a career involving anti-terrorism, legal work, or physical security through the state or government.

My only real hobby is rifle hunting during antler and antlerless season, and I usually hunt black bear during the University’s winter break as well. I enjoy traveling around the county, and when possible, around the world. The past few years I’ve toured South Africa, England, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. I’ve also traveled to, or through, about half of the lower forty-eight. In the future I plan on traveling to Washington State and possibly Alaska. As far as sports; I am a Steelers, Bucs, and Pens fan. I like to go to Buc’s games as much as possible, and would like to see the Pens in the new Energy Consol Center this winter.  

Connection to Crisis Informatics:

I am currently Majoring in Security and Risk Analysis with a focus on Social Risk Factor.  The major is based on studies involving securing systems, measuring risks, and securing technologies for users and businesses. I chose to focus on the Social Risk Factor to avoid the cyber aspects of the program and hopefully focus studies on the physical side of Security and Risk Analysis.  I’m not exactly sure how this decision will impact my future, but maybe Crisis Informatics will point me in the right direction.

The e-mail I received about SRA 397A Crisis Informatics grabbed my attention and interested me enough to enroll in the course. Crisis and how people react has always interested me, especially natural disasters. Other than a few tropical storms I have never experienced a natural disaster, which is why I am interested in learning about the impact of disasters. I am all about studying the technologies that warn people about a crisis or provide faster more efficient help to impacted victims.

I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect from this course but after the first class I am glad I enrolled in SRA 397. The discussions on the first day were interesting and held my attention. Above that, the guest speakers sound pretty serious and like they will provide a significant amount of usual information for the class.

Overall, the course seems to be interesting. Much of the information discussed in the first day of class interested me. Hopefully someday I will be able use the information taught in this class. If not, I’m sure this course would look good on a resume. I am glad I scheduled this course; everything from the course details to the guest speakers’ interest me.