My answer to How will climate change affect disaster preparedness?
Answer by Desmond Last:
If you do not believe that the extremes of weather we are experiencing are not man-made it is not relevant. You still have to deal with them.
I will use 2 recent examples. The U.K and last winter’s floods in Cumbria and Alberta and the Bush-fires.
The U.K is going to flood. The U.K is going to experience bigger floods every year. But Cameron did not react to the floods till 24 hours after they had began. He did not know how high they were going to be or when they were going to reach populated areas. He sent up 100 troop's. The U.K has 80,000 troops and none take part in Climate Change exercises.
Big Mac. Alberta. They were under-resourced and unprepared. In the build-up to the bush-fire approaching Big Mac they only had 200 fire-fighters on duty.
Why? Because they were not prepared.
Is there a predictable system globally or nationally in the U.K to
a) Tell you where when and by how much your street is going to flood in 2 years time?
b) Is there and International System in place to deal with Disaster Relief?
The answer is no to both.
We require an International Co-coordinating Body with National Representation. As the extremes of weather become worse we will need to pool resources and train our resources to work together.
When the Nepal Earthquake occurred the U.K sent 3 CH47 Chinooks to assist in the relief effort – they were not needed.
We are going to need to move 000’s of people away from disaster zones. They will need food, water, shelter and medical aid.
We will need troops to maintain order and stop looting.
The troops will have to be given civil Powers and be trained how to use them.
We will need to support those countries whose infrastructure will be destroyed.
We are not prepared. The senior Military and Governments of the U.K the U.S.A, the E.U and the U.N have failed to take the initiative.
Unless we take a Global approach many lives will be lost because people will be un-prepared and disaster support systems will be under-resourced.
I have written a new system for dealing with the effects of climate change it has been ignored by your Governments.
How will climate change affect disaster preparedness?
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