Tragedy in Asia

We’ve only been back for about ten days when the disastrous 7.7 earthquake swept through countries such as Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and to a lesser extent nations such as Bangladesh, India, and China. Needless to say, the world has almost immediately begun to send aid in the form of specialized search and rescue teams to assist in the grueling and painstaking task of recovering victims as I write this.

The latest number of casualties exceeded 2,000 and continues to climb. The United States Geological Service fears that the total number of deaths could come close to 10,000, with many more suffering serious injuries before the final numbers are in. 

It appears as the war-torn nation of Myanmar will take the brunt of those numbers, but search and rescue operations are ongoing in other areas that have also received damage from the quake.

Thailand has confirmed eighteen deaths with another eighty missing from the collapse of a high-rise in Bangkok. The U.S. military is onsite in both Thailand and Myanmar, assisting with recovery efforts.

It is amazing that it was just over a week ago that Janet and I stayed in one of the most beautiful hotels in downtown Bangkok while on our Middle East/Asian trip last month. The hotel is known as the Lebua at State Tower and is well known for its magnificent panoramic vertical views from its world-renowned Sky Bar located on the 64th floor. It is unknown at this time what type of damage those facilities may have sustained, if any.

Although we rarely feel the ground shake beneath us, we have had to deal with a number of our own close calls in the last several years. Of course, ours are known as hurricanes and on occasions the tornadoes which may at times accompany them.

Thirty-three years ago, come August of this year, we will be able to look back on the wrath of Hurricane Andrew. Before doing $250 million in damage to the Bahamas, the storm slammed into Dade County as a rapidly intensifying Category Five Hurricane, doing another $26.5 billion in damage to the State of Florida, destroying 25,000 homes and damaging another 100,000 homes.

If there could be a positive impact from that disastrous storm, it could be seen in the advancements in the modeling of tracking these storms, giving residents and first responders a better window to prepare their homes and businesses for the arrival of the storm and potential surges and make plans for finding safe evacuation routes. 

The South Florida Building Codes were enhanced in 1994, and the Florida Building Codes were substantially upgraded in 2002, requiring hurricane-resistant construction for all new buildings.

Many of those buildings built since then have demonstrated the success of those building code changes during and after some of the storms of the last half dozen years here in Collier County and on Marco Island. Structures have withstood storms that may have destroyed older buildings that did not meet those enhanced codes.

FEMA has also improved its grant process by concentrating on preparing for potential storms instead of reacting after the fact. The hardening of buildings providing emergency power generation for public safety facilities to allow first responders to have safe housing until storms subside and allow public safety officials to respond to residents in need.

FEMA has also provided grants to communities to enhance their communication capabilities, particularly in communicating with the general public to keep them informed about changing circumstances. We here on Marco took advantage of this change in direction when then Fire Chief Mike Murphy and the City Manager had the foresight to appoint retired former Deputy Chief Chris Byrne to take on the role of dealing with FEMA, which paid off in dividends as we prepared for any future incidents.

Our buildings are stronger, our communication networks have been enhanced, our equipment is vastly improved, and our personnel on the ground are better trained and educated on how to deal with the ever-changing scope of natural and man-made disasters.

Our prayers go out to those men and women in Asia as they deal with the challenges brought on by this latest disaster, and we wish them well as they take on the physical and emotional strain of what they will encounter over these next weeks.