CRISIS | RESPONSE
CRISIS | RESPONSE VOL:10
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ISSUE:1
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SEPTEMBER 2014
WWW.CRISIS-RESPONSE.COM
JOURNAL
Tenth anniversary edition | India building collapse | Climate change in Australia | Smart, resilient cities feature | Future technology feature | Syria’s rescuers
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CRJ IS TEN YEARS OLD
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V O L : 10 | I S S U E : 1 | SEPTEMBER 2014
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PLUS
◆ India building collapse ◆ Search & Rescue in Iran ◆ Queensland climate adaptation ◆ Terrorism in Pakistan ◆ Bioweapons & bacterial resistance ◆ 7UDLQLQJ 6\ULDnV UHVFXHUV ◆ Interview: Sir David King ◆ Smart, resilient cities ◆ Future technology
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September 2014 | vol:10 | issue:1 Editor in Chief Emily Hough emily@crisis-response.com Sales Manager Sacha Cunningham sacha@crisis-response.com Design and Production Tim Baggaley www.graphicviolence.co.uk Subscriptions and administration Emma Wayt emma.wayt@crisis-response.com Director Colin Simpson colin.simpson@crisis-response.com Director Peter Stephenson peter.stephenson@crisis-response.com Subscriptions Crisis Response Journal is published quarterly; it is available by subscription in hard copy, digital format and online. Association discounts, institutional and multiple rates are available; visit our website or contact us for more details Tel: +44 (0) 208 1661690 VXEV#À UH RUJ XN Back issues Existing subscribers: £25 (US$45; €₏36) per issue Non subscribers: £40 (US$72; €₏58) per issue Tel: +44 (0) 208 1661690 EDFNLVVXHV#À UH RUJ XN Published by FireNet International Ltd POB 6269, Thatcham, RG19 9JX United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 208 1661690 PDLO#À UH RUJ XN www.crisis-response.com ZZZ À UH RUJ XN
CRISIS | RESPONSE
contents
Cover story: CRJ’s Tenth anniversary Main artwork: Neil Webb Inset images: Eureka Entertainment | Shutterstock
News ...............................................................4 News extra ......................................................8 Comment ......................................................10 Tony Moore takes a comprehensive look at the incidents that occurred in the year of CRJ’s launch – 2004
A look at Johannesburg.................................46
Alois Hirschmugl describes a new European team formed to help citizens when they are stranded in large-scale emergencies abroad
our tenth volume of CRJ, which was launched a decade ago. The A living laboratory.........................................50 nature of the publication The campus of Lille University in Northern France has In depth means celebration is been turned into an experiment to demonstrate smart Business excellence and new technology .....68 inappropriate; too many city concepts, write Isam Shahrour and his team Mike Hall says it is time to embrace the business incidents have occurred over EHQHÀ WV WKDW HPHUJLQJ WHFKQRORJ\ FDQ EULQJ this time, too many lives Future technology lost. But it is, nonetheless, a gratifying milestone. Empowering people ......................................52 USAR in an active war zone ..........................70 Our founding ethos still holds true: to bridge The day when cities become smarter than their citizens James Le Mesurier looks at how community responders any institutional, organisational and national are approaching, according to Robert Ouellette in Syria are being trained in urban search and rescue gaps, to share information, enhance partnership working and improve communication. It has Spatial services ............................................55 Beyond the resilience apex ...........................72 been good to see how dialogue between various Dr HervÊ Borrion says spatialised social networks might %UHWW /RYHJURYH UHà HFWV RQ KRZ OHDGHUV QHHG WR disciplines and organisations has evolved, as protect people and provide help in emergencies think more differently today than ever before when shown by the increasing diversity of actors approaching business resilience and continuity and stakeholders who have become involved Evolution of disaster medicine ......................56 in the conversation through our pages. There is an increased imperative to develop and implement Facing biological risk ....................................74 Despite this, in many ways the world feels novel technologies to help medical professionals in Nicolae Steiner looks at the twin threats of biological no safer. The Hydra of wicked problems disaster situations. Here’s a glimpse of the future attacks and of increasing bacterial resistance to antibiotics, sometimes appears invincible, the same incidents and the prospect of an interaction between the two repeating themselves, locked in a dispiritingly Emerging technologies ................................. 61 familiar cycle. Each time we absorb the horror J P Vielleux describes real-time innovations in disasters &LYLO SURWHFWLRQ LQ *HRUJLD ............................76 of a disaster or terrorist attack, a bigger, 7KH 5HSXEOLF RI *HRUJLD LV WKH À UVW FRXQWU\ WR EH more destructive one seems to surpass it. Human-agent collectives ..............................62 SURÀ OHG E\ WKLV QHZ VHULHV RQ WKH ,QWHUQDWLRQDO The risk landscape has shifted in a decade: Civil Defence Organisation and its members David Jones describes a project that looks at forming climate change has been added to the list of symbiotic relationships between increasingly threats, exacerbating existing hazards. But the independent computer systems and user communities Regulars response, resilience and emergency planning Events ...........................................................78 community has developed accordingly in terms Unleashing the power of UAVs...................... 64 EU response to Balkan floods .......................80 of leadership acuity, interagency co-operation, Glenn Smith joins the debate, exploring the positive Looking back: Bhopal ....................................81 mutual assistance and business continuity. potential of drones in emergency situations Frontline........................................................82 And it is fascinating to observe the proliferation of emerging technology – ten years ago we hadn’t heard of Twitter, YouTube, the Internet Rescue in conditions of war p70 Bhopal 30 years on p81 of Things, smart cities‌ Of course, these bring their own vulnerabilities and can be exploited to cause harm, but their potential for improving safety and resilience should not be overlooked. So is with gratitude that we thank our sponsors, many of whom helped to launch CRJ ten years ago. Thanks also to our Editorial Advisory Panel – those who have been with us since the start and those who joined us along the way – and to the writers who have generously shared their thoughts, knowledge and experience. And an immense thank you to our subscribers. To paraphrase Camus, most people are good rather than bad; it is usually ignorance that causes harm, despite good intentions. And @SyriaCivilDef Keryn van der Walt | National Sea Rescue Institute this is why sharing experience and information is so vital: you are all working to eradicate ignorance and make the world a safer place. It is a privilege to observe and report on this. Emily Hough
Exercise Angel Thunder ................................30
Analysis Compulsive un-safety ...................................16 Satish Kumar Dogra examines why safety limits are being stretched in India
In May 2014, Rescue Global took part in Exercise Angel Thunder, the world’s largest interagency search and rescue exercise, writes David Jones
Terrorism & security
m*UHHQn UHVFXH NLW..........................................19
*HQGHU EDVHG YLROHQFH .................................32
One of our sponsoring partners, Holmatro, introduces its latest rescue tools
Lina Kolesnikova reports on an increasing trend whereby some militant organisations are using gender-based violence as a terrorist tactic
Climate change and the Fire Service ............ 20 Shan Raffel describes a co-ordinated approach to manage the effects of climate change on emergency response provision in Queensland, Australia
Mapping out terrorism in Pakistan ................34
Resilience peer review .................................22
Chemical potential ........................................38
Helen Braithwaite leads us through a journey of discovery into the world of resilience partnership peer review
The perceived threat from terrorists using chemical weapons had declined in recent years. Dave Sloggett questions whether that is still the case
Pakistan is home to many more terrorist organisations than the Taliban, says Luavut Zahid
NGOs Search and rescue in Iran .............................24
Smart, resilient cities
Emily Hough speaks to Behrouz Moghaddasi, Head of Iranian SAR, about how he has helped to establish volunteer teams across the country
Propelling us into the future..........................40
Volunteer searchers ......................................26
Building city resilience..................................45
Rachel Good and Andy Marshall take a closer look at the work of the Staffordshire Search and Rescue team in the UK
Applications closed for the next candidate cities in the 100 Resilient Cities Challenge in September 2014, writes Emily Hough. Which cities will make it onto the list?
Search & Rescue in Iran p24
Earth observation p66
(PLO\ +RXJK VSHDNV WR 6LU 'DYLG .LQJ WR À QG RXW PRUH about the Future Cities Catapult initiative in the UK
COPYRIGHT FireNet International Ltd 2014 Articles published in Crisis Response Journal may not be reproduced in any form without the prior written permission of the Editor in Chief Printed in England by Buxton Press ISSN 1745-8633
Resources, links, pictures, videos and much more are available for subscribers in our digital and online editions www.crisis-response.com join the CRJ LinkedIn group follow us on twitter @editorialcrj
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New team helps after disasters ....................28
Is Johannesburg a world-class African city? Yes, and no, according to Hilary Phillips
NASA
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Earth observation......................................... 66
comment
The potential contribution of space-based information to disaster risk management is not being fully exploited, say Antje Hecheltjen and Anne Pustina
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Crisis Response Journal 10:1
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in depth
Security, organisational continuity & Society: Part II
Beyond the
resilience apex
Crisis leaders need to get back to the future, says Brett Lovegrove. Traditional ideas about preparing, managing and recovering from crises are not good enough
I
f you regularly trawl the daily news for all items that can turn into a risk, it would seem that on a political, technical, economical and VRFLRORJLFDO OHYHO WKH ZRUOG LV Ă€ QDOO\ FRPLQJ WR an end. Business continuity professionals are already well practised in identifying those issues that will affect their sector and prioritising them for proposed action. Yet there is still so much we can do to try to get ahead of the curve instead of continually chasing the tail of the dragon. The world is becoming increasingly complex and it is much easier to place PRUH GLIĂ€ FXOW VKRZ VWRSSLQJ LVVXHV LQ the metaphorical ‘pending’ tray rather than confronting and dealing with them. If you are the type of leader who monitors all aspects of global risk, no matter whether it is normally associated with your sector, well done. But you will be painfully aware that you cannot possibly build a response to all of them. This situation begs for change and a new approach and we must all start to instigate this change now.
Reputational risk Let’s start at the very top. Often, the leadership of an organisation have arrived at board level by being the best of the best in their chosen À HOG 0RUH RIWHQ WKDQ QRW WKLV PHDQV WKH\ have bypassed any experience in crisis management – ironically, the very skills needed in the boardroom. Yes, they employ people to manage crisis for them. Yes, those people will report to them on the day and yes, all will return to normality in due course. Perhaps. But it is now no longer good enough for the board to rely solely on crisis response and recovery teams. Those teams, which are hopefully trained and practised, have the reputation of the organisation in their hands and so much can go wrong. Isn’t it right that the leadership should be able to ask the right questions of their teams? Isn’t it right that the
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leadership should be able to innovate other solutions, test thinking and, ultimately, increase their ability to steer their organisation past the rocks that have the potential to damage their reputation? And, because the leadership is ultimately liable for the preparation, management and recovery of an incident, is it not right that they should be personally prepared to grip that tiller, having been able to understand the threats that lie ahead? I believe that all successful board level candidates should have proven experiencebased skills in crisis management and this requirement should be part of the job description. It is no longer enough for the board to receive updates on the response strategy; they must have the experience and be prepared to transmit their requirements. This can only be achieved effectively if they understand the criticality of their position and have the FRQÀ GHQFH DQG H[SHULHQFH WR WDNH FRPPDQG Another important area of new thinking should be an organisation’s wide assessment of how it approaches the need to scan for
Resources, links, pictures, videos and much more are available for subscribers in our digital and online editions
risks globally. I say ‘wide’ because often organisations do undertake comprehensive ULVN DVVHVVPHQWV EXW IUHTXHQWO\ FRQĂ€ QH their parameters to scan only for the risks they believe are relevant to their sector, without looking at the bigger picture. There are many critical things that they ignore and there are many tools that can help them. Examples include the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Global Alert and Response (GAR) to pandemics and CERT8.¡V DOHUW V\VWHP WKDW LGHQWLĂ€ HV DQG FLUFXODWHV viruses that attack electronic systems (there are many commercially accessible systems that can do this). Social media alert systems identify key words about issues that may affect your organisation or your suppliers and social media www.crisis-response.com
trending tools can identify responses to spontaneous incidents that you may wish your organisation to respond to. This last method is increasingly being used by organisations to monitor global chatter, whereby they identify when critical issues start to manifest themselves so that they can prepare for them, rather than just merely default to the recovery phase. There are many other time saving tools that can assist the forward-looking leader.
A culture of seeking untraditional partners is a good idea when seeking new solutions for what is probably a shared challenge. When networking, most people are attracted to people who work in a similar industry in the hope that they will understand ‘where they’re coming from’ more easily. Conversely, I consciously seek out people who are in industries that may be diametrically opposed to mine. When I have done that, I have always been amazed at how many new contacts have shared their vision with me, which has often been much better and more forward thinking. They are a new set of eyes that naturally see things differently, offering new thinking and solutions. The business case for change is clear. 7KH 5HFRYHULQJ /HDGHU points out how ‘too big to fail’ corporate thinking is being replaced by the realisation that they are too big and bulky to succeed in their current form. New, more agile and modular structures are demanding that leaders become leaner, more democratic and that they command technology that enables better collaboration without regard to location. Virtual workplaces will be the rule rather than the exception. Is the forward looking leader ready for this situation where people and assets have a wide, and therefore potentially more vulnerable geographic spread? Organisational changes and mergers can be painful for everyone and not fully supported by the workforce. Usually, the basic issue WKDW FUHDWHG WKH SDLQ LQ WKH Ă€ UVW SODFH ZDV
Business continuity professionals are already well practised in identifying those issues that will affect their sector and prioritising them for proposed action. Yet there is still so much we can do to try to get ahead of the curve instead of continually chasing the tail of the dragon
the leadership’s inability to communicate its vision beyond the horizon, leaving the impression that it was merely moving the corporate furniture around, but very noisily. The forward-looking leader not only sees how to capture the opportunities of change, he or VKH LV DEOH WR GHPRQVWUDWH WKH EHQHÀ WV WR WKH individual. They are also the very people that can usually identify the risks that fall out of that change and are best placed to be able to provide early solutions to any risks that appear. This forward-looking ability also has great commercial payoffs. If communicated well, it allows the organisation to plan for the succession of its current talent and recruit more effectively for the future challenges that it can see ahead. It engenders trust within the workforce because the organisation can share, and personally invest in, the wider picture and how they can play part in its success. Investors see the ultimate paybacks more clearly and (hopefully) will be prepared to invest more in a product that clearly has some planned longevity. Customers, as any market analyst will tell you, will be more likely to remain loyal to your brand if they know that resilience, forward thinking, innovation and agility are integral to your culture. And all of this will only work to the organisation’s internal and external advantage if the culture of forward thinking leadership is shouted from the rooftops. Don’t hold back. In this complex world, all of the stakeholders need to see, hear and feel this kind of grip consistently. They need to know that future investment in their own WLPH VNLOOV FDUHHU À QDQFHV LQQRYDWLRQ ideas, blood, sweat and tears are safe. And therein lies the difference between staff, investors, clients and customers either staying with you or moving to another organisation that can provide this. In this respect, the issue moves from being words on paper to critical activity. It sorts out the traditionalists from the futurists, from the complacent to the resilient. I know what CRJ style of leadership I will be investing in.
Author Brett Lovegrove is Head of Valentis Bridge Ltd, chairman of the Defence and Security Group at the London Chamber of Commerce, the former Head of Counter Terrorism in the City of London and Member of CRJ’s Editorial Advisory Panel
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