Earthquake: People and Pets in Disasters Din Fowles Flinders - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Earthquake: People and Pets in Disasters Din Fowles Flinders - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Apr 05, 2023 367 likes •525 views

Fire, Flood, Hurricane, Earthquake: People and Pets in Disasters Din Fowles Flinders University Some basic stats Australia UK US NZ Households with dogs 36% 25% 40% 29% cats 23% 20% 33% 28% In Numbers: dogs 3.41

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Fire, Flood, Hurricane, Earthquake: People and Pets in Disasters

Diàn Fowles Flinders University

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Some basic stats

Australia UK US NZ Households with dogs 36% 25% 40% 29% “ cats 23% 20% 33% 28% In Numbers: dogs 3.41 million 8.5 million 69.93 million 700K cats 2.35 million 8.5 million 74 million 1.4 million Total H/holds with pets [all kinds] 68% 45% 62% 68% Australian Companion Animal Council [ACAC] 2010, RSPCA 2013, AVMA 2012, PFMA 2013, NZCAC 2011

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Disaster Types

  • Fire
  • Flooding
  • Hurricane
  • Earthquake

Each fall into category of rapid/sudden on-set disaster event type

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Queensland Floods 2011

Source: wiki commons - "Trapped woman on a car roof during flash flooding in Toowoomba 2" by Kingbob86 (Timothy) - http://www.flickr.com/photos/kingbob86/5341730273/. Licensed under Creative Commons

  • ¾ of the council areas in the state were declared

a disaster zone

  • Over 200 000 people affected
  • 15 000 properties flooded
  • 3 600 homes evacuated resulting in almost 12 000

people accommodated in evacuation shelters

  • 19 000km roads and 28% of rail network damaged
  • 24 deaths [23 in the Lockyer Valley]

Voices From a Disaster: “…our house … dragged off the concrete supports … we were moved almost a mile … water clocked at 83kms an hour! Our dog …on our floating dining table … my husband and I… in the water… also hanging on to it.” [Fowles, unpub]

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Queensland Floods cont.

Source: "Long and Mackenzie Streets in Toowoomba flooded" by Timothy - Flickr: Lake Annand 2. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - ; "Flooding in the Ipswich suburb of Gailes" by Martin Howard - Flickr: Brisbane Floods - Gailes Queensland. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons -

  • Thousands of stock animals impacted
  • Unknown numbers of wildlife
  • Unknown numbers of ‘pest’ species, including foxes, rabbits…
  • Marine flora and fauna impacted by run-off waters loaded with silt, chemicals etc.
  • Many companion animals left behind in evacuations
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Victorian Bushfires 2009

  • Around 450 000 hectares
  • Over 2 000 homes burned
  • More than 7.5k people

displaced

  • 3.5k agricultural properties
  • 70 national parks and reserves
  • 173 people died in around 78

communities [120 in Kinglake]

Sources: private; Wiki Commons: "2009 Victorian bushfires smoke plume over NZ" by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

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Victorian Bushfires 2009 cont.

Sources: candobetter.net – ‘Victorian Bushfires’, Tigerquoll 26/6/09; SMH Free Environment Photos

  • As for floods, thousands of stock affected
  • An estimated 1 million wildlife
  • Unknown numbers of ‘pest’ species
  • Many of those animals not actually burned in

the fires still died from breathing in the intensely hot air

  • Fire experts estimate temperature of fires

peaked at 1470°Kelvin [1197°C]

  • Two fires alone, the Kilmore East fire and the

Murrindindi fire, are estimated to have released the equivalent energy of 1500 Hiroshima bombs

  • Led to the creation of the ‘catastrophic’

classification level

Voices From a Disaster: “…in the midst of all that terror… as the fire was coming… and we were obviously terrified… our oldest dog… I can remember him vomiting… I don't remember how many times… but it was significant… he was obviously terrified”

[Fowles, unpub]

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Christchurch, NZ – EQ, 2011

Source: Wiki Commons: "80 Bealey Avenue" by Schwede66

  • Sept 2010, major EQ [7]
  • Feb 2011 another major EQ

[6.3]

  • 185 people died, 164 seriously

injured

  • Properties ‘stickered’ in zones
  • f damage:
  • 5 000 in red zone
  • 10 000 in orange zone
  • 100 000 in green zone
  • white zone – still being

mapped at June, 2014

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Christchurch, NZ – EQ, 2011

  • Over 3 000 animals perish
  • Many pet and dairy animals lost,

injured or distressed

Voices From a Disaster: “…there was a woman with a hearing dog… I had to fight to get the staff to let them in… then the

  • ther staff kept trying to remove her… they had

never heard of a hearing dog… woman spent hours in tears” [Glassey & Wilson, 2011] Voices From a Disaster: Relinquished - “…we had a last… sandwich together… me, George and Mildred… last meal… together… I gave them their bowls and leads… just said goodbye… really hurt… didn’t look when they were driven away… I just went in the house” [Evans, 2011]

Source: Wiki Commons; "Christchurch - 2011 earthquake damage 001" by New Zealand Defence Force - CHCH City - Streets1Uploaded by Mattinbgn.

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Hurricane Katrina, US - 2005

Wiki Commons: "Hurricane Katrina LA landfall radar" by Radar data from NWS New Orleans and processed by the National Climatic Data Center.

  • 2005 saw three of the six

most intense hurricanes recorded in US history [Wilma, Rita & Katrina]

  • Human deaths 1 833 [FEMA]
  • Non-human deaths not
  • fficially recorded but

estimated to be in the thousands

  • Estimated over 400 000

people displaced

  • Estimates of 200 000 – 250

000 companion animals displaced

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Hurricane Katrina cont.

Wiki Commons: "KatrinaNewOrleansFlooded edit2" by AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Kyle Niemi

  • Animal welfare orgs tended some 10 000

companion animals

  • Less than 5% reunited with their owners
  • Extensive media coverage, particularly of

dead, suffering and abandoned animals

  • Resulted in public outcry [esp. on social

media] and political reaction

  • Leading to the introduction of the PETS Act

2006

Voices From a Disaster: “... weary refugees… hopped on buses [leaving the ‘horrendous conditions of the Superdome’]… pets not allowed on the bus… … at the back of the line… a police officer confiscated a little boy’s dog… the child cried until he vomited… ‘Snowball, Snowball’, he cried” [Foster, 2005, AP]

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Some Common Issues

  • The growing recognition of the strength and value of the human/animal

bond and its importance to disaster resilience for individuals and communities

  • Trauma and grief reactions to breaks in the bond
  • Refusals to evacuate without animals or returning before it has been
  • fficially sanctioned
  • Increasing expectations of animal owners that their animals receive

reasonable standards of care, goods and services and inclusion in disaster planning

  • Fear aggression behaviour hampering animal rescues
  • Lack of identification hampering animal rescues and making reuniting

animals with owners a much lengthier, or even impossible, process

  • False claims on rescued animals
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Voices From a Disaster “…we went to a friend’s… got two horses out… three of them were on a levee… her two and a friend’s… only two had survived… one had washed away” [Fowles, unpub] “…water… up to my waist… I carried my dog

  • ver my head… to the end of the street…

People gathered around… with their phones taking video… not offering to help” [Fowles, unpub]

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Voices from a Disaster “…the dogs…well, they’re our little boys… they were a priority… as much as our daughters were

  • n that day…

…at the time… driving away… from the horses… that was the hardest… I’m not God… I shouldn’t be given the decision… who is given the right to continue to live or not” [Fowles, unpub]