The purpose of addressing environmental risk
management is to assess the primary risks of major,
single-cause environmental damage to the City, and to suggest a
strategy for minimizing them. These disasters have the potential to
affect the City's long-term sustainability by causing loss of life;
poisoning the air, water, and land; and destroying buildings which
would otherwise serve succeeding generations.
Earthquakes, that may, if sufficiently powerful, have the broadest
impact on the most people. Furthermore, earthquakes may trigger
other events that pose acute risks, such as fires or toxic releases.
Therefore, a major earthquake is the most likely disaster that could
have a long-term impact on the city.
Separate from earthquakes, other acute risks may occur in isolated
incidents. Although these are less likely to affect long-term
sustainability, they are addressed as integral to earthquake
response. A list of the more probable acute risks includes:
Toxic releases from facilities and vehicles (rail, truck);
Fires and explosions;
Oil spills in the Bay; and
Inundation and soil structure failures.
Preparedness is the key response to these risks. Preparedness
will by reducing personal, environmental and property damage
protect sustainability in the wake of these events. Being
prepared is more than accumulating sufficient supplies; it extends
to the training, resources, and emotional preparedness needed to
move people to action and coalesce them into effective action teams.
Sustainability depends upon the health and well-being of the
City's population, as well as protection of the environment in which
we live. Urban disasters produce environmental impacts that will
permanently affect the environment.
Source: http://www.sustainable-city.org/ |
