The Administration on Aging understands the heavy impact that being the victim of a disaster can have on older adults. As a result, AoA developed guidelines to help local aging services providers both understand the potential for problems specific to seniors and to help providers be successful advocates to help them.
After a short definition of the type of disaster, AoA has compiled information on the amount of time you are likely to have before a type of disaster occurs, the potential for damage, the likely type of casualties, what type of immediate response an advocate for older adults might take, what type of long-term implications might be encountered, and a section on additional considerations.
Agricultural disasters may have many causes, such as flooding or winter storms. The consequences of these causes are discussed in their proper place. However, a drought is the one disaster which focuses on agriculture because it is agriculture. Agricultural disasters are primarily economic, and the impact on the populace is financial and emotional/psychological .
Leadtime:
Droughts have extended lead time and even significant portions
of a year in warning time. Further, a drought is one of the few natural
disasters which can be naturally and suddenly alleviated; two or three
days of gentle rain and the drought is merely a memory.
Damage:
Widespread; extensive to universal. Crops first, then
native flora; then fauna, particularly livestock.
Casualties:
Actual physical injury to persons from a drought is rare.
Immediate
Response:
Need to focus as much on the emotional and psychological
impact as the economic; may need to advocate relocation early
in the drought, and an abandonment or temporary withdrawal from
agriculture on the part of older persons. Resource information
dissemination is important, as is information on assistance targeting
farmers.
Long-Term Action:
Loans, relocation advocacy and assistance with the possible
decision to terminate active farming operations.
Observations
and Comments:
Drought generally involves a large area, frequently
crossing AAA and state boundaries. There is a tendency among
older farmers to remain on the farm and battle a drought. Persons
of strong religious faith frequently encounter a crisis of belief
or strong feelings of guilt as a result of experiencing a drought,
and counseling assistance may be required in this area.
These are the result of a situation where gravity overcomes friction, and portions of the upper part of a mountain decide to join the valley below. These are among the most capricious disasters, destroying some property and totally sparing others nearby.
Leadtime:
Winter avalanches and rainy season mudslides require specific conditions,
and when conditions support such slides the fact is usually publicized.
This is comparable to a "watch" condition, but warnings are
seldom available. Rockslides are less predictable.
Damage:
Initial damage from descending material can be total. Consequential
damage may include loss or disruption of electric, water, sewer,
and other services. Flooding may result upstream from a blockage
in a flowing body of water, isolation and disruption of distribution
of food and other necessities, and the paralysis of some communities.
Casualties:
Casualties may be severe when avalanches strike occupied
places.
Immediate Response:
Rescue; victims frequently survive in buried structures
for substantial periods of time. Shelter, alleviation of the
effects of isolation, more severe among older persons. Establishment
of services or substitutes; reassurances about the availability
of food and other necessities.
Long-Term Action:
Usual procedures for disaster relief.
Observations and Comments:
Usually a narrow band of damage or destruction. Localities
which experience these disasters have usually experienced them
before, and older persons have often had substantial experience
in dealing with these phenomena. It would not be unusual to encounter
older persons demonstrating the toughness and resiliency which
is frequently present as they deal with the events before them
and tell tales of the "Big Slide of 47".
Earthquakes are severe seismic disturbances which may be localized or general. Although they usually occur in locations which are known for earthquakes, they may and do happen in every state, and a major earthquake is now expected within a century at New Madrid, Missouri, hardly a center of seismic activity.
Leadtime:
Almost none; although major quakes sometimes have "foreshocks",
it is not now possible to distinguish a foreshock from a smaller earthquake.
Damage:
Damage can range from disruptive to devastating, depending
on the severity of the quake and the location. In addition to
collapsing structures, and the elimination of the structural
integrity of apparently sound buildings, great damage is caused
by secondary effects; these include fires, local flooding from
ruptured water and sewer pipes, and the possible escape of damaging
agents ranging from toxins to zoo animals.
Casualties:
Can range from mercifully light to decimation, depending
on the time and circumstances of the quake. The 1994 Martin Luther
King quake in Los Angeles had modest casualties compared to the
earlier World Series earthquake in San Francisco, because it
struck early in the morning on a Monday holiday.
Immediate Response:
Rescue, especially since older people often can give
only feeble alarms. Emergency services of all kinds to those
in the afflicted areas.
Long-Term Action:
Every possible kind of service and advocacy, including
repairs, rebuilding and relocation. There will be specially heavy
demands for respite services as primary care providers are called
upon to deal with their own problems as well as the problems
of their elder dependents.
Observations and Comments:
Of all the disasters, earthquakes strike most suddenly,
deal horrendous damage, and attack the confidence of the victims.
When older persons no longer feel safe inside, it is sometimes
difficult for the aging network to deal with their problems.
This is particularly true when helpers and caregivers share the
unease indoors.
A widespread medical emergency, usually dealing with communicable disease. This disaster carries with it the seeds of great panic.
Leadtime:
Usually little or none prior to the recognition of the presence
of an epidemic; once an epidemic is noticed and measures are taken
to deal with it, the emergency becomes self-sustaining for the duration
of the emergency.
Damage:
None, unless structures need to be razed because of contamination
or because they are a source of a carrier of a disease, as in
the case of rats with bubonic plague.
Casualties:
Depend on the virulence of the disease and how widespread
it might be. However, as we are reminded during most flu seasons,
older people are at greater risk in the face of medical problems
and their needs in this area are often greater than the general
public.
Immediate Response:
Assist in securing medical attention, seeing to it that
the special needs of the older people, who are particularly vulnerable,
are not lost in the general excitement. Dissemination of medical
information, once again with particular attention to the needs
of older persons.
Long-Term Action:
Probably very slight; after-effects of some diseases
may change the service requirements or capabilities of older
persons, requiring extra effort from case managers.
Observations and Comments:
A key concern is the alleviation of panic. It is also
important to remember that among older couples one patient may
well require services for two because of the absence or incapacity
of the partner.
Floods are of two types - General widespread flooding from the rising of rivers and streams; and, Flash Floods, where strong rains and narrow drainage channels combine to overburden runoff routes, causing sudden dramatic rises, generally on a local basis.
Leadtime:
Floods of the general widespread type, like those encountered in
the Midwest in 1993, are seldom sudden. Leadtimes of days and even
a week sometimes occur. Floods are monitored by the Weather Bureau,
which has warning standards.
Damage:
Extreme. Structures may be washed away, or their foundations
may be so weakened that they are unsafe for any purpose. Damage
may not show up for extended periods; for example, a furnace
may be destroyed by a spring flood but the malfunctioning may
not be evident until the fall when it is first turned on.
Casualties:
With adequate lead time, these are generally slight, although
there is a tendency among many people to overwork. The risk of
heart attacks, as well as such stress-induced afflictions as
stroke, is magnified during the period leading up to the crisis.
Immediate Response:
Rescue and evacuation, if necessary enforced evacuation
when further effort is dangerous and futile. It is vital that
areas where older persons may be found be identified by local
Aging Network organizations. In addition, flooding disrupts road
networks, making travel especially difficult for those who are
readily confused. Service systems will be disrupted and may be
out of service for extended periods.
Long-Term Action:
The usual range of disaster relief services.
Observations and Comments:
Once again, the experience of older persons who have
long lived in flood-prone areas make these people a resource
as well as a dependent community. Among such people, a feeling
of resignation is as likely as a feeling of panic. Service providers
would do well to consider the older community as a source of
information and assistance, every bit as much as a center of
needs.
A prolonged period of high temperature often offers a special threat to older persons. This is particularly true among older persons of limited means, for whom an increase in a utility bill is an important disincentive to taking advantage of air conditioners or fans, and for whom the purchase of a fan is a major expenditure.
Leadtime:
Usually from day to day.
Damage:
None.
Casualties:
The death rate among older Americans rises sharply during
any sustained period of heat. This is especially true for those
with respiratory disorders. Preventive action can reduce these
heat-related deaths. Among those older persons who occupy their
own homes, and those who lead active lives, there is a tendency
to attempt to carry on with activities which could be hazardous
when it is hot outdoors.
Immediate Response:
Establish temporary facilities where the effects of
heat can be reduced. Conducting a two-part publicity effort,
to make the older adults aware of the location of cooling places,
and to counsel against exertion in the heat. Some communities
establish fan banks where an older person can borrow or be given
a fan.
Long-Term Action:
Not much long-term action can be taken. Most utility
companies have special provisions for older and poorer customers,
which permit the use of cooling electricity without fatal effects
on a budget, and the Aging Network can coordinate information
programs with the directors of the utility programs.
Observations and Comments:
Heat waves happen from day to day. No research has been
found which indicates how many days of heat must pass before
adverse effects become significant, nor is there a standard to
determine when "a couple of hot days"
becomes a heat wave, so service providers must be alert during summer
because sometimes one day is enough to cause distress or injury to
some. In addition, the off-season is the time for service providers
to begin to line up cool environments for use in summer. Schools, churches
and libraries are among the kinds of facilities which might be willing
to offer respite for the heat. Remember, too, prolonged heat attacks
tempers with as much vigor as bodies.
A hurricane is a severe tropical storm bearing high winds and heavy rain. They generally have the greatest impact in coastal areas, although their destructive force can reach well inland, to cities as far from the sea as Charlotte, North Carolina. They may carry with them a "tide surge" which brings great quantities of the ocean flooding inland, and even when they are no longer of the force of a hurricane they can do dreadful damage, causing flooding as Alberto did in 1994. Pacific hurricanes are called "typhoons.
Leadtime:
The Weather Service maintains a National Hurricane Forecasting
Center in Miami which is dedicated to providing the greatest lead time
available. There is generally a few hours at least, but the warnings
tend to cover large areas of coastline, reflecting the fact that the
path of a hurricane is quite unpredictable. In addition, the strength
of a hurricane varies greatly from hour to hour. A storm which seems
to be spent and drifting on out to sea may suddenly re-gather force,
change direction, and batter the shore in an unexpected direction.
Damage:
Damage can be great. Wind can open a structure and then attendant
rain can ravage the interior. Heavy rains and tide surges can
bring flooding and the damage which attends flooding. The winds
can destroy power lines, send trees crashing into houses, and
rip the very skin from buildings. In low-lying areas such as
some of the barrier islands, severe hurricanes can push a tide
surge completely across the land.
Casualties:
Can be moderate to great. This varies with warning time,
storm strength, and the severity of flooding and other secondary
effects.
Immediate Response:
Evacuation of low-lying areas. Rescue. Generally similar
to the response to flooding.
Long-Term Action:
Wide-ranging disaster response activities.
Observations and Comments:
A hurricane leaves a broad path of destruction from
wind and water, and is capable of reaching far inland. Where
the sea reaches inland, destruction can be much greater because
of the effects of sea water on property.
This contemplates a peacetime nuclear disaster, such as Three Mile Island or Chernoble. It may involve an explosion or the escape of radioactive matter into the air.
Leadtime:
None.
Damage:
An explosion will result in total destruction in the immediate vicinity
of the center of the explosion, ranging down to modest damage further
away. The radius of the area of total destruction and the distance
at which damage becomes modest and occasional depends on the magnitude
of the explosion. Secondary damage will result from firestorms, the
windstorms which spring up at the edge of the devastated area, and
from fires started in damaged structures.
Casualties:
Casualties will be of three kinds: (1) those suffering injuries
from burns and blast as a result of the direct forces of the
explosion; (2) those suffering from the effects of radiation;
and, (3) those suffering the ordinary injuries which follow any
destructive episode, sustained fighting fire, negotiating wrecked
and ruined structures, cuts from flying glass and debris, etc.
In many cases, ordinary injuries will be complicated by radiation
burns or radiation sickness. Prognosis for those so injured is
limited.
Immediate Response:
Rescue. Temporary shelter. Triage.
Long-Term Action:
The range of disaster responses.
Observations and Comments:
A nuclear explosion will doubtless bring every federal
disaster response entity, the Defense Department, and an entire
alphabet soup of federal agencies. Aging Network elements will
doubtless receive immediate (and perhaps conflicting) direction
from federal entities. In addition, older persons are apparently
extremely susceptible to radiation poisoning and radiation sickness,
and casualties among older survivors will be much higher than
the general population.
Older persons usually understand themselves to be among the weaker elements of society, protected by the social structure. When that is destroyed, they properly feel highly vulnerable.
Leadtime:
Seldom any leadtime at all; the civil disorders that marked the
assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King flared up on a city-by-city
basis that sometimes provided a 24-hour warning period, but usually
not. No warning preceded the disorders attendant on the "Rodney
King Verdict"disorders in Los Angeles.
Damage:
Physical damage to structures by fire was frequent; damage
by looters forcing entry, or by rioters merely doing damage is
substantial. Economic damage to small businesses is frequent.
The greatest damage is the crisis in confidence caused by an
apparently impotent governmental system.
Casualties:
Frequent; often fatalities are "personal", the
result of a specific episode between individuals or an individual
and a group. Civil disorders are propelled by great rage in individuals,
and violence can become random.
Immediate Response:
Identify vulnerable older persons and seek to devise
protective measures for their safety, and less urgently for the
safety of their property. Deal with the urgent and immediate
needs only during the course of any widespread civil disorder.
Long-Term Action:
Usual disaster responses, depending on the nature of
the damage suffered. A key target area is the restoration of
comfort with the community and the authorities, and the restoration
of a feeling of safety or a reduction in the feeling of fear
in public places.
Observations and Comments:
Riots and civil disorders generally operate in an atmosphere
of "We" against
"Them." Racially or ethnically motivated disorders often
impose great risk on older persons of the "wrong" ethnic
or racial group, while only offering minimal threat to those older
persons of the same racial or ethnic background as the rioters. In
these cases, care must be taken to reduce the risk to caregivers as
much as possible by choosing the most acceptable persons to actually
enter unstable areas and then only if necessary. Remember, too, that
even after the principal centers of civil disorder have been stabilized,
small pockets of disruption may remain in cities.
A violent, twisting windstorm, generating winds of up to 300 mph at the center and sometimes keeping these twisting winds confined to a disc of 100 yards or less, as if the wind were blowing at 300 mph from the south at the visitor's goal posts and 300 mph from the north at the other end of the field. Tornadoes are especially formidable because their path on the ground is so unpredictable.
Leadtime:
The National Weather Service Severe Storms Forecasting Center in Kansas
City, Missouri, is dedicated to providing as much lead time as
possible for tornadoes. A system of watches and warnings for severe
thunderstorms and tornadoes has cut down drastically on the number
of casualties, but the warnings are for general areas of up to
a few hundred square miles, so the actual location of a tornado
is usually not predictable.
Damage:
Destruction is nearly total in the path of a tornado, which
may be up to a mile in width, although the average is about 150
yards. Debris and even entire structures may be borne for miles
by the wind.
Casualties:
May be great in the storm track, although the danger of injury
decreases dramatically when people take proper shelter at the
warning of a tornado.
Immediate Response:
Rescue. Emergency shelter and meals. Because services
are often disrupted, particularly electrical service, assistance
must be provided in this area.
Long-Term Action:
Typical disaster response activities.
Observations and Comments:
More than most disasters, injury from a tornado can
be reduced by taking shelter promptly. Therefore, the importance
of these measures must be stressed beforehand and reinforced
when warnings are issued. Although tornadoes have been reported
in every state, certain areas of the country are particularly
prone to these storms, especially states in "Tornado Alley,":
Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Missouri, and
Illinois. Tornadoes are also frequent and damaging in the states
bordering the Ohio River. Residents of these areas, including
older persons, often have a supply of tornado anecdotes and a
full stock of tornado lore.
Forest fires, prairie and brush fires, and other widespread conflagrations. These may be the result of other disasters such as earthquakes or may be caused in the usual way.
Leadtime:
Fires rarely threaten occupied areas suddenly; there should be
hours or days of notice.
Damage:
Varies. Frequently severe or total destruction, especially
to closely located buildings. Catastrophic to victims, who rarely
save anything.
Casualties:
Burns and wounds suffered fighting fires and seeking to prevent
the destruction of property are common; although severe, life-threatening
injury is less frequently encountered. Fatalities sometimes occur.
Immediate
Response:
Where possible, encourage limited efforts to avoid total
loss, but such measures must be of limited duration. Evacuation
is the wisest response.
Long-Term Action:
Assistance with rebuilding or repairs; temporary shelter
and meals, perhaps relocation in certain instances. General disaster
assistance.
Observations and Comments:
Residents only rarely can take effective ad hoc actions
to preserve their residences. Widespread fire can sometimes induce
great panic in individuals, who will take irrational steps to
preserve their property. On occasion, evacuation may require
forcible assistance. In many instances, high proportions of the
casualties in widespread fires result from the efforts of homeowners
to preserve their dwellings, only to realize too late that their
own safety was in peril.
Winter storms include blizzards, heavy snowfall without wind, extended periods of cold weather, and ice storms. Blizzards are storms which combine snowfall with high winds, and in coastal areas may result in dangerously high tides and local flooding. They also lead to diminished visibility and disorientation. Any winter storm includes the hazard of reduced visibility and road peril, which frequently cause people to stop their cars or become stuck; lives are often threatened by conditions along the road.
Leadtime:
Usually several hours or more, occasionally less.
Damage:
Damage to structures will usually be the result of the heavy
winds associated with blizzards, less frequently from the weight
of snow. Ice storms cause damage to power lines and other suspended
cables and to trees, while severe cold may cause freezing and
ruptured pipes.
Casualties:
Could be severe. In addition to the cold, and injuries sustained
from structural collapse, there is a need to guard against the
effects of isolation. Starvation might result from the disruption
of food supplies, and fuel supplies could be interrupted.
Immediate Response:
Rescue. Monitoring the condition of older persons, either while they
remain in their usual dwelling, or when they have been removed to a
central location. Isolation brings problems to the older person with
special needs, over and above the community-wide need for emergency
food, power, and services. Hypothermia begins sooner in older people
and has more severe consequences.
Long-Term Action:
The usual range of disaster relief services.
Observations and Comments:
The onset of a feeling of isolation may occur when older persons see
the unshoveled walkway leading to their house. Walk shoveling is an
important assist to many older persons. In addition, these weather
conditions result in more falls among every segment of the population,
but older bones tend to be more brittle.
*Information in this section is courtesy of the U.S. Administration on Aging
Home :: Section Home :: Top of Page :: Topic Index
