Contemporary Management - 53A

Case study # 2
Natural Disasters & the decisions that follow
Prepared by:
Mahmoud Nassef Ibrahim
1- Problem definition
Natural disaster is a major effect of a natural hazard that affects the environment and leads to
financial & human losses.
Types of natural disasters are: Floods, Tsunami, hurricanes, Volcanoes, earthquakes, Wild fires,
snowstorms.
2- Justification of the problem
Natural disasters negatively affect the human behavior and the whole community.
Individuals could be harmed physically, mentally or even emotionally; in addition to the properties
destruction, financial losses and injuries, which may led to significant population migrations, due to
the extreme negative impact on individuals.
Communities could be negatively affected by the destructions, population shifts and the loss of the
economic resources upon the disaster.
3- List of alternatives
Not all natural disasters could be prevented, but their negative impacts could be lessened and
reduced; mainly by increasing risk awareness and applying methods of prevention, mitigation and risk
reduction.
Most natural disasters cannot be predicted, and using some form of early warning system is the best
way to deal with them.
Many alternative solutions could help in reducing the negative impacts from natural disasters; which
are:
a) Improving the infra-structure to avoid natural disasters as possible based on the historical data.
b) Adoption of non-structural measures to reduce future disasters negative impacts.
c) Provide Natural disasters risks mitigation training to public.
4- Evaluation of alternatives

a) Improving the infra-structure to avoid natural disasters as possible based on the

historical data.
Governments should work towards infrastructure overhaul. Move all physical structures away from the
areas that may face any kind of natural disaster.
Improve road facilities, widen the bridges and roads and have good pavement. Provide vehicle parking
bays every 25kms distance.
Create and mark helicopter landing spots in mountains and keep fuelling option available every 100
km distance.
Provision of a simple telephone number for helpline and co-ordination center.
Keep provision of satellite phones on army posts. Ask telecom operators to provide more cellphone
towers in the mountains.
Medical facilities at every 100 km range or in major spots where there is helicopter landing or bay.

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b) Adoption of non-structural measures to reduce future disasters negative impacts.

Businesses and homes should incorporate nonstructural mitigation measures to minimize injuries and
property damage from natural disasters.
Furniture and equipment, for example, can be easily secured to reduce injuries and damage from
earthquakes. Other nonstructural measures are management of vegetation to reduce damage from
wildfires and location of structures away from high-hazard areas.
Nonstructural mitigation represents a major opportunity for immediate low-cost action to reduce the
impacts of natural hazards on the home and the workplace. The private sector can contribute
significantly to promoting nonstructural mitigation. Lending institutions are ideally positioned to
incorporate mitigation provisions as conditions for loans, and the insurance and reinsurance industries
can adjust underwriting rate structures as an incentive for mitigation.
c) Provide Natural disasters risks mitigation training to public.
Training programs that focus on contemporary challenges associated with implementing mitigation
should be developed and offered.
A national training program, supported by governments, should be developed for this purpose. Its
curriculum would include land-use planning, zoning, building codes and regulations and trainings on
how to apply the nonstructural mitigation measures.
The risk mitigation training should be highly interactive, reflecting real problems and issues that may
occur in every country.

5- Recommendations
I recommend applying the first two alternatives in all countries which may face such disasters, in order
to avoid the negative impacts on individuals and the whole communities.
a) Improving the infra-structure to avoid natural disasters as possible based on the historical data.
b) Adoption of non-structural measures to reduce future disasters negative impacts.

References:
http://www2.deloitte.com/jo/en/pages/risk/articles/overcoming-natural-disasters.html
https://www.nap.edu/read/1840/chapter/6
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/nepal-earthquake-what-can-be-done-to-prevent-similar-disasters-inthe-future-10207748.html
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/volcano-safety-tips/
http://oklaw.org/resource/securing-your-home-for-natural-disasters

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