Mk. Lindell et Rw. Perry, IDENTIFYING AND MANAGING CONJOINT THREATS - EARTHQUAKE-INDUCED HAZARDOUS MATERIALS RELEASES IN THE US, Journal of hazardous materials, 50(1), 1996, pp. 31-46
Hazardous materials (hazmat), in many forms, are ubiquitous in modem s
ociety, Not only are they present in manufacturing and commercial esta
blishments, but also in homes, medical facilities, laboratories and sc
hools. Further, hazmat is transported by truck and rail and pipeline a
nd stored in large tanks. Indeed, these materials are both integrated
into communities in fixed facilities and circulate through neighborhoo
ds in the transportation process. In areas that are vulnerable to eart
hquakes, the presence of hazmat poses special problems, This article e
xamines the nature of earthquake-induced hazmat releases, their likeli
hood and their impact on emergency response systems, It is argued that
hazmat incidents become an additional disaster agent that must be int
egrated into the management framework for earthquakes, Under specified
conditions, an earthquake could initiate releases from many sources s
imultaneously, severely taxing the emergency management system, Furthe
r, earthquake-related obstacles to emergency response severely hamper
the management of hazmat releases. These obstacles include loss of com
munication capacity,overload of the emergency medical system, loss of
warning systems for the public, and impediments to incident access cau
sed by road buckling, fires, rubble, structural collapse and flooding
from damaged water mains, A case review of the hazmat problems that ar
ose during the Northridge earthquake is reported to identify challenge
s posed for emergency managers. The article closes with a series of re
commendations for mitigation, preparedness and emergency response.