Monkeys Protecting Commonwealth Games

When rogue monkeys or snakes threaten the peace of the competators and spectators the Commonwealth Games organizers in India call in the Langur monkeys and their handlers. The Langur monkeys chase away other monkeys who may target people and their property, as well as snakes and stray dogs.

Photo: Reuters / Parivartan Sharma

Lockdown Play By Play on Facebook

Several times we have written about the impact of social media on emergency management, both in our blog and in our newsletters.

Today was a perfect example. A high speed chase following an armed robbery ended in the parking lot of my niece's high school in Michigan. The driver fled into the school which was immediately placed into a lockdown.

My niece was in the computer lab at the time and started to post on Facebook, giving a play by play of what she was experiencing. Friends, both in the school and outside the school posted their comments. Parents were posting their worries. And all of this was in real time while the event was occurring.

Two and a half hours after the lockdown was implemented my niece was posting how boring it was getting... then the lockdown was lifted.

Facebook, twitter and other social media are transforming emergency management, both how information is communicated to the public, but also how the public (in this case my niece and her friends) respond to the incident.

It was an interesting read. Times are changing.

Mega Bus Crash Kills Four

Earlier this year I travelled with the Training Officer of a professional fire department to the facilities of a coach line that operates the double decker "megabus". We spent a couple of hours learning about these buses, their safety features, and looking at the added complexities for emergency services in responding to a collision involving one of these buses.

The most obvious difference is that a standard bus will carry 50-54 passengers, while the mega bus has a capacity of 84 passengers. The lower deck is lower than the seating in a traditional coach, as there is not any luggage storage below the seating. The second level is accessed through two (one forward and one mid-frame) steep stairways similar to a mini spiral staircase creating extrication complications.

While I'm only aware of one Canadian carrier using these buses, running between Toronto, Montreal and New York City, the increased use of these buses will no doubt grow as more passengers can be carried for approximately the same operational costs.

Emergency services need to become familiar with the challenges and the potential for larger numbers of casualties involved in bus crashes.
On September 11, 2010 a megabus being driven into a low bridge killed 4 passengers and injured two dozen others in New York state.
The attached news article (link), references two other megabus crashes in New York state the last 12 months.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/859778--canadians-safe-after-n-y-bus-crash?bn=1

Risks All Around Us

This past week I had opportunity to spend 8 days in Coronado / San Diego on a business trip. A beautiful city with great weather year round. But while we were there the media was reporting three earthquakes in the area in the 4.0 and 4.1 range in a three day period.

While we didn't feel them, it was a stark reminder of the risks that we all face from one risk or another. It is not healthy to be paranoid, but it is important to be prepared.

Each person, family, organization and government should take time to identify the hazards in their area, evaluate the risks, determine if you can reduce or prevent risks, establish a plan and the resources to respond, and breath a little easier knowing that you will be better prepared.