EMERGENCY RISK REDUCTION

A popular media segment at the end of every year is ‘most important news’, especially on radio, which is my favorite means of receiving news clips. I thought I’d look back at some of worthwhile stories (i.e., those beyond the local politics and teapot tempests of Vancouver Island, BC)

Although I am a huge advocate of uplifting, positive stories, we all know that the ‘if it bleeds, it leads’ news gets public attention. I will concentrate on what I think are profound 2014 developments, which may affect us well into 2015.  As we know, events can be divided into ‘natural’ or ‘human-induced’. Sometimes this line is blurry.

Human or manmade events in 2014 include the Islamic militant Islamic State or Putin’s Russian push into Crimea or the Ukraine. This may continue to be a big flex of muscle into next year, for cultural, political, and economic purposes.  The result is a Middle East and beyond which continues to be a mess (excluding the Jewish/Palestinian enigma), with huge suffering of the populations and faltering economies. Really a chess game of epic proportions, coming to a town near you, as we saw in a coffee shop in Australia and a theater in mid-America.

Another event of note has been the huge drop in oil prices, which have rocked the world’s economy – mostly positively. The ramifications are great, and the low oil price impacts the financial revenues of ‘resource economies’, including both Russia and Canada.  This will profoundly impact funding the social services of Canada, straining budgets and cause greater debt, causing a weakening of the Canadian dollar – which we already are witnessing.  This may impact foreign aid to developing countries in 2015, which have become dependent on the West. The result may be humanitarian crisis, continued ethnic unrest, or exacerbated conflict.

Natural emergencies or disasters were not as impactful as in years past. The most notable and far reaching might be Ebola in west Africa. Is the current lack of reporting is media fatigue, or an effective response and an actual drop in new cases? The jury is still out of this possible pandemic, that I’ve blogged about previously. Other natural disasters in 2014 have been a typhoon in the Philippines, a volcano in Hawaii, and wildfires in California. And who can forget the seven feet of snow last year in Buffalo, New York! Fortunately the death toll from these disasters did not compare to the SE Asian tsunami, Haiti earthquake, or Japanese tsunami.

As we enter 2015, let us pray for safety. Let us hope for no disasters this year, either those that are human-induced (senseless!) or natural events (possibly avoidable!). May each of us maintain a level of reasonable preparedness for ourselves and our loved ones. And if we have the capability, for our friends and ever strangers — who surely will need assistance if a sizeable emergency occurs.

Thanks for reading.