Long Term Recovery and Environmental Remediation
Planning to Rebuild the Infrastructure:
After the occurrence of a tsunami, it becomes a major task
to reconstruct the physical infrastructure of the cities, towns, and
any other
disaster-stricken areas. The plan that
follows refers specifically to this aspect, specifically to the
clearing of debris
and the reconstruction of buildings, roads, and main utilities. Debris removal is prioritized simply because nothing
can get done with garbage lying all over the place.
As in tidying a room (a problem of much
smaller scale), one should first decide which objects are trash and
proceed to
make more room to work by eliminating those items.
This does not mean removing every little
piece of junk from the area, however.
Removing debris means clearing areas of high traffic first to
allow for
most major operations to proceed. The
removal
of debris from other, less traveled, areas comes at a later time.
Efficient
debris removal will take place in both public areas and individual
homes. While the government is clearing
out major
areas, citizens should be clearing their land of debris.
The government should instruct the populace
on how to dispose of their garbage. Ideally,
the citizens in one neighborhood would be able to drop their garbage in
one
designated area, which would be cleared periodically by public workers. In addition, the government should advise
citizens on how to dispose of hazardous materials such as car batteries. In this part of the plan, funding inhibits
the frequency of trash pickup and the amount of area cleared in any
given time. With more money, more area
would be able to
be cleared more quickly.
Somewhat
overlapping the first step is the clearing and reconstruction of major
transportation mediums. For similar
reasons, major roads and any important airports, seaports, and/or
railways
should be repaired immediately for four reasons. First,
it is necessary to free major
transportation lines to allow citizens to travel freely at least to
important
areas (which areas are “important” is to be decided by the agency). Second, major transportation lines should be
free to allow for free and easy transportation of natural resources in
and out
of the disaster area. Third, many other
aspects of reconstruction rely directly on the ability to move large
machinery
from one place to another. Again, as
with debris removal, this does not mean rebuilding every single
secondary road
and side street. Roads not immediately
necessary for reconstruction should be left until other, more pressing,
tasks
are accomplished.
With 72,900
km of roads in Peru
(Peru 2005), roads are the most important
means of transportation in Peru.The Peru railways should also be
prioritized,
as they can prove extremely useful. According to the Thailand
Development Research Institute
Quarterly Review, “In fuel efficiency, rail transport is much superior
to road
transport,” (Johnson 1993) which means it would allow for cheaper transport of materials throughout
the country. In addition, the railways
connect coastal Peru
to inner Peru,
providing an important route for the transportation of resources from
inner Peru
to the coast for use in the reconstruction as well as for export to get
the
economy back on track. Ports are also
extremely essential, as Peru
relies heavily on exports to fuel its economy.
In Micronesia,
prioritizing transportation is much more complicated.
Roads are the main form intra-island
travel. This presents more of a
challenge in Micronesia
than in Peru,
as there is not simply one large (or a limited number of) main
highway(s). Due to the small size of the
islands, many of
the main roads on these islands are on the scale of secondary roads in Peru
regarding traffic, but are extremely important regarding their use. As a result, reconstructing the main roads of
Micronesia
would mean reconstructing more roads than in Peru. With inter-island transportation, seaports
are extremely important for their economic uses as well as transporting
extremely large loads. Airports,
however, are also extremely important, because it reduces transport
time
significantly, which is especially important in times of disaster. Furthermore, the different capabilities of
the islands make it even more impossible to prioritize one form of
transportation over another. Some
islands are much smaller in size and cannot accommodate any large
planes. Fixing the main mediums of
transportation in Micronesia
seemingly means fixing all means of transportation.
Buildings
are the next priority. Buildings that
are significantly damaged can lead to further deaths.
Buildings that are unsafe should be
barricaded until such a time that the building would be repaired. This specific phase will require the largest
number of skilled workers and will also take the most time. Each individual building will need to be
repaired or reconstructed. The most
feasible way to handle this would be for the agency to take bids from
various
construction companies and grant the repair/reconstruction contracts to
the
lowest bidder.
For
privately owned buildings and homes, the government should provide an
assistance program that would help people rebuild when they are
obviously in financial
straits. This assistance program would
grant tax benefits to hardware and construction companies that agree to
reduce
their prices so that more people could afford them.
Another aspect of this would be the
allocation of funds to individual families.
Any family could request financial assistance by filling out a
form that
lists the damages their property incurred.
Based on this damage report and financial status, families would
be
granted an amount of money to assist in the reconstruction of their
home (much
like determining financial aid to attend college).
Once buildings
are repaired, Power and water should be restored to citizens. The most sensible form of power to be used in
Peru and Micronesia is hydroelectricity.
Both countries currently employ hydroelectric systems, but each
would
face different problems in the face of a tsunami occurrence.
In Peru,
hydroelectric power is available through the tributaries of the Amazon. Because of this, the power plants are located
inland and would not be damaged by a tsunami.
The only power sources that would be damaged are those near the
coast,
which are not hydroelectric, but run on fossil fuels.
After a tsunami, it would be best to take advantage
of the situation and make the complete transition to hydroelectric
power,
rather than rebuild the fossil fuel power plants. The
power plants would be safe from future
tsunami damage, and would be much cheaper and cleaner
(nucleartourist.com).
In Micronesia,
hydroelectricity is harnessed through tidal variations.
These plants are located right on the shore
and would be significantly damaged by a tsunami. However,
due to the size of the islands,
there is no source of electricity that would be any safer or easier to
protect
from tsunami damage, which points to the continuation of the use of
hydroelectricity, which is cheaper and cleaner than the alternatives.
Secondary transportation
means are the last step of the process.
It is important that other roads and such are repaired to
restore the
damaged areas back to their original state (or better).
Possible building
materials:
In my research, I studied several
different types of
building materials and weighed their strengths and weaknesses. I arrived at the conclusion that there is not
simply one material that is best for rebuilding. Different
buildings call for different
materials. Below is a chart showing the
good and the bad of the materials I considered most usable.
**Note:
this data was taken from Gecko Stone, a
construction company in Hawaii
specializing in lightweight composite concrete,
and is most
likely biased toward LWC.
Sources:
Comparisons
of Various Energy
Sources. (2005). The Virtual Nuclear Tourist. Retrieved
2005 October
30 From http://www.nucleartourist.com/basics/why.htm.
Johnson,
A. (1993). Strengths
and weaknesses of Railway Transport. Thailand Development
Research
Institute Quarterly Review [Online Edition]. 2005 October 30.
http://www.info.tdri.or.th/library/quarterly/text/s93_4.htm.
Peru.
(2005).The CIA World Factbook. Retrieved 2005 October 30 From http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/pe.html#Trans.
