EnRiCH Meeting (in Ottawa)

I had the opportunity to listen via telephone conference to a presentation about a disaster that is very different from the natural disasters that I am more accustomed to learning about. The talk was given by Dr. Mélissa Généreux on the long-term public health consequences of the Lac Megantic Crash – a train wreck disaster and explosion – that occurred in Canada on July 2013.

From her talk and my further review of her publication, some of the identified causes that exacerbated the consequences of the disaster include the lack of a national framework for disaster management. Issues included a lack of data on toxic chemical levels for officials to refer to when determining evacuation of the local at risk community. There was also inadequate communication between different rescue parties and an apparent lack of information sharing that led to delay in evacuation.

Despite the differing nature of these events, the issues relating to natural disasters disaster management and their consequences seem to me to be very similar. In particular the longer term mental health impacts such as PTSD amongst the population at risk remains a common problem in my view.

Using this Canadian incident study to reflect on possible similar incidents that might occur In Hong Kong, I remember the impact of the 2012 Lamma Island ferry collision, where albeit a sufficiency of life jackets, the incident happened too rapidly for passengers to act. Despite the rapid response of rescue parties and abundance of rescue workers, casualty of the accident amounted to 39. A similar accident happened three years later at a similar area of shore, but luckily there was no casualty this time. However some passengers on-board admitted that there was distrust in the crew’s ability due to the previous incident.

If there had been a rescue plan that covers a comprehensive range of accidents, and publicly familiarized by the general population, perhaps the anxiety felt by victims and those affected can be minimized, and consequences of any future disasters can be curtailed.