If there was a #SDG18 it might well coalesce around the concept of #ResilienceforAll

 

As it is, the concept of resilience is fundamental to achieving all of the SDGs, seeking as they do to strengthen people’s ability to survive, cope and thrive on this planet.

 

Over the last couple of months, I have met and heard from politicians and civil society representatives from over 100 countries meeting in regional platforms for disaster risk reduction in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

 

All take the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 as their manifesto, providing guidance and a gateway towards coping with a world where inclusion is under threat, disaster displacement is an everyday occurrence, urbanization is proceeding at breakneck speed and the earth’s resources are being used up at an alarming rate.

 

Building ‘resilience for all’ seems to be the underlying theme, be it for the most vulnerable people, the displaced, or for those affected by rapid urbanization which ignores the principles of good land use and safe building codes.

 

We have had wide-ranging discussions on subjects as diverse as resilient infrastructure, the role of eco-systems, the protection of livestock, accessibility to multi-hazard early warning systems, public-private cooperation and working with informal settlements.

 

A key issue that surfaces time and again is concern over disaster displacement. This is now a chronic issue which needs to be addressed if we are to make progress on making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable as SDG 11 calls for.

 

Just in the last week, my own country Japan has had to cope with the most extensive disaster event since the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011. The floods and landslides have caused over 200 deaths or missing, great disruption to normal life and highlighted once more how even the best disaster-prepared countries in the world can be blind-sided by extreme weather events fueled by climate change.

 

My heart it torn to see the tragic images that are emerging from Japan, and my thoughts are with those who have lost their loved ones and are now living under extremely difficult conditions.

 

Millions of people in Japan were ordered to vacate their homes earlier this month and forced displacement because of disaster events, usually a flood or a storm, is now a chronic problem in many parts of the world.

 

Consistently over the last ten years, more people have been displaced by natural hazards than by conflict. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, last year conflict and disasters displaced 30.6 million people within their own countries and this included 18.8 million people displaced by disasters in 135 countries.

 

We note a number of things about how efforts to build societies resilient to disasters are falling short.

 

First, it is the poor who are disproportionately affected by these events, often they are people forced to live on flood plains or in marginal areas which lack resilient infrastructure, access to water and sanitation, and other basic services.

 

Second, we are becoming too reliant on evacuation as a solution to saving lives and minimizing the injuries and ill-health which can accompany an extreme weather event or an earthquake when what is required is that we become better at managing the risks which drive these events before disaster strikes.

 

Third, it is time to act on the realization that we are living with unsustainably high levels of risk given what we know about the likely increase in intensity and frequency of extreme weather events linked to climate change, and population growth in hazard exposed areas.

 

These are just some of the reasons why I have been emphasizing two issues in particular in my speaking engagements at these recent regional meetings: the need for inclusion, and the importance of local strategies for disaster risk reduction wherever there is a human settlement.

 

If we do not include all sections of society in our planning for prevention and risk management, then we will see some groups suffer disproportionate loss of life not because they have been deliberately discriminated against but because their voices have not been heard and their needs have been overlooked.

 

We are getting better at disseminating early warnings, organizing evacuations and providing emergency aid and shelter as part of efforts to build urban resilience but we need to make a much greater effort to prevent displacement and find long-term solutions which reduce the risk of it happening.

 

Vital to this effort is ensuring an increase in the number of countries with national and local strategies for disaster risk reduction by 2020, a key target in the global plan for reducing disaster losses, the Sendai Framework.

 

Disaster risk is best managed at the local level where the results will quickly show. One outward sign that this is increasingly entering the mainstream is the growing number of municipalities who are opting to join UNISDR’s 4,000-strong Making Cities Resilient Campaign.

 

We need more countries to follow the examples of Mongolia and Bangladesh which have signed up all their cities and towns to the campaign.

 

Resilience for all does not come without effort. The future is unfolding before our very eyes; we cannot afford a half-hearted response.

Antarctica worlds first #haemorrhagingdisaster > SHOCK. Everything is dying…

After a disastrous shock, what can we learn from isolated groups in historic disperse breakout patterns?

Vegetarian diet a cure –  Scurvy

Scurvy has followed in the wake of human-made disasters and war, where starvation, famine and rationing threatened both civilians and soldiers.
It has appeared during the crusades and during poorly equipped travel expeditions. The best known, however, are the stories of all the seamen who became ill and died when long cruises between the continents became common centuries later. At that time, many thought that scurvy was due to poisoning.

 

The initial stages of scurvy begin with fatigue, irritability, impaired workload and intellectual ability. Experiments made in England in the 1940’s have shown that after 17 weeks of vitamin C low-fat diet, symptoms begin to seriously occur with the destruction and congestion of the hair follicles, the skin forms small wounds that do not want to heal, blood vessels break, the gums begin to swell and bleed, one gets nasal blood, bowel ducts, internal organs and joints begin to bleed. Additionally, you get pain in your muscles and joints. Symptoms may vary depending on where the bleeding occurs. Death can come suddenly at scabbard, for example, bleeding from the heart muscle.

Catastrophic numbers bleed to death – Pandemic

A pandemic is a disease that rapidly and surprisingly spreads across large parts of the globe, and researchers assume that the next will be a flu. The virus is particularly dangerous when a variant from animals, such as birds or pigs, infects humans.

 

If a bird and a human influenza attack the same cell, their DNA is copied simultaneously, thus combined into a new virus that exploits the most dangerous properties of both fluids.

 

If a killer virus breaks out near you, make sure you cough and sneeze in a disposable tissue or in your sleeve – not in your hand. You should wash your hands frequently with warm water and soap or alcohol, and do not share personal belongings such as towels, sheets and toothbrushes.

 

Clean surfaces like door handles, tables, toys, keyboards and toilets frequently. Avoid contact with infected people or stay away from others if you become ill.

Trauma – Earthquakes

Trauma is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in a number of different disastrous scenarios but it is the predominant mechanism of injury following earthquakes and constitutes the majority of earthquake‐related hospital admissions in the first 24h. The very young and the very old have the highest risk of mortality from an earthquake. Chest trauma is present in around 10% of earthquake casualties who present to hospital and management may be complicated by delays of several hours or even days in extricating some of those trapped under the rubble.Chest injury is often accompanied by injuries to other organ systems and multiple injuries are associated with increased mortality.

 

Excluding superficial abrasions to the chest, the spectrum of injuries seen in those with chest trauma following earthquakes includes: rib fracture (17–50%), which may be complicated by flail chest, pneumothorax (6–52%), haemothorax/haemopneumothorax (11–19%), subcutaneous emphysema (10%), pulmonary contusion; rupture of cardiovascular system and diaphragmatic rupture. In addition, pulmonary embolism and pneumonia may complicate chest trauma, and ARDS and renal failure can develop in those with severe polytrauma or crush injuries.

 

Management of the trauma patient should follow in accordance with the advanced trauma life support (ATLS) guidelines and is beyond the scope of this review. In addition to immediate airway management and cardiovascular support, tube thoracostomy is one of the most important thoracic interventions in the acute setting. Tube thoracostomy was the second most common procedure (behind fasciotomy) performed in one hospital following the 1999 earthquake in Turkey, occurring in 34/263 (13%) of patients.

How will we respond to fast approaching haemorrhaging disasters?

It is not rocket science to recognise that melting from all white, sea- and land ices and glaciers will cause unprecedented need for global disaster risk resilience (#SDG18). Global warming year 2070, after this tipping point will it ever snow on Earth again?

 

 

‘Utterly Terrifying Haemorrhaging Feedback Loops’ – What’s next, when the oceans turns acidic how will this affect ecosystem’s oxygen cycles? Ecological apocalypse, what new mono-cultures will spread in vegetated habitats? Will regions loose control to prevent invasive spices from taking over? Will only underground life thrive in the new natural environment?

 

What will the damaging effect be with the extinction of all winter mammals and fish dependent of cold temperatures? What human consequences will occur as a result of biggest planetary biomass mass death event in modern time?

 

We must predict and calculate unpredictable threats attacking the humanity via land, sea, air and geospace. Super-powered global practises are needed to slow down this dyer warming process caused by humans everlasting desire to grow more and stronger prosperity. Could the answer lay right within our collective communities state of commodity dependence?, to put a halt on all new development for the next fifty years? Would you adapt!? The increasing risks of climate disaster are haemorrhaging, so maybe…

 

Can advances in artificial intelligence rise be a prominent driver in to help tackle disastrous temperature rise?

 

In the XXIst century you can no longer work isolated in your corner. Coalitions rule!

 

 

Antarctica worlds first . Everything is dying… w/ –> SLOW

 

 

Sources:

 

Respirology

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1440-1843.2011.01923.x

Baylor University Medical Center

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1291330

Education.com

https://gb.education.com/science-fair/article/acid-rain-oxygen-concentration

University of Huddersfield Repository

http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/33429/1/4%20%20FINAL%20Global%20Report%20final%20%28PR%29-updated-refs.pdf