Who’s Yoh Daddy ... EM for Dummies

Mornin’ kidlets.…

I think this is going to be a geeky, didactic post. Get over it.

In 2002 I hired a handful of students to work on a large multi-year project called, “A Climatology of Hurricanes for Canada: Awareness of the Threat.” Three of the “kids” were meteorology students and all did a very good job. The 4^th one was actually a geography student. I think a few people wondered, at first, why I hired her. It became clear to everyone pretty quickly why. Rebecca had a passion for storms and disasters (and as she would joke, “but without the math.”)

She was the one who taught me (in her job interview) that there is a simple equation that relates disasters to hazards. Actually, her passion wasn't on the disaster side of the equation at all, it was on the hazard side. You'll understand when you see the equation, which I've put here in all its glory:

D = H x V

Can you guess what the 3 variables are? The D and H I just mentioned … disaster and hazard. How about the V? Does any V-word come to mind? Any V-word that I might have talked a lot about last week?

Well done, you’re right. Vulnerability. As equations go, they don’t get much simpler.

Ponder this one. Soak it in. Let your mind bathe in the elegance of its message. 

Here’s the interpretation. If you want to make D small (technically speaking, the risk of D), then either you have to make H small or make V small. Pretty simple. Who said Rebecca didn't do math.

Here’s a simple diagram … I think people instinctively understand this … they just don’t live like they do.

If the vulnerability is large then the potential for disaster is also large.

First, let’s get something out of the way. Can we make the hazard smaller or even make it go away? I used to have people call me at the hurricane centre, telling me about their great ideas for making hurricanes disappear. At first it was crackpots, but then I started getting calls from reputable engineering firms with grandiose ideas. Apart from the hubris to think we could actually do that, most of them were ignorant of the fact that hurricanes actually serve a useful purpose to planet earth … they shunt warm air from the tropics towards the poles and even out the temperature differences that naturally build up. Some experts have speculated that if you take away hurricanes the poles would become uninhabitably cold while the tropics would become uninhabitably hot … and earth would become uninhabitable within two centuries.

There’s a better idea. Let’s try to reduce our vulnerability … let’s try to get out of the way of the hurricanes while they do their thing. Or if we can’t get out of the way then let’s build invulnerability into our lives so that despite hurricanes appearing on our doorstep, they can’t do any real damage to us because we’ve mitigated against that.

Have I lost you yet? Are you guys hanging in there? There’s a point to this … seriously, I’m not actually talking about hurricanes or natural disasters, but about life in general. Hang tough for a couple minutes more.

Emergency managers around the world function through a process called the Emergency 

Management Cycle. Here’s my version of that – EM for Dummies.

As you read the following definitions, please see this as a direct metaphor that can be applied to daily living.

Mitigation attempts to prevent hazards from developing into disasters altogether, or to reduce the effects of disasters when they occur. Mitigation focuses on long-term measures for reducing or eliminating risk. Mitigation builds invulnerability into the basic structures.

Preparedness includes the development of specific plans of action for when the hazard strikes. Mitigation may not have been able to create invulnerability so steps must be in        place to deal with the threat of an imminent (potential) disaster.

Response includes the mobilization of the necessary emergency services and first responders into the threat area as the hazard attempts to transform into a disaster. The carrying out of the preparedness plans are part of a successful response.

Recovery attempts to restore the affected area to its previous state. Recovery actions include rebuilding, re-employment, and the repair of other essential infrastructure. Recovery efforts can also look ahead to reduce or eliminate future risks; these can be powerful mitigation efforts towards future resiliency.

Back to me…

My crash ‘n burn left me reeling. It also left me with four burning questions: 1. What had happened to me? 2. Why did it happen?  3. What could I do to get back to the way I was (or better)? 4. What could I do to make sure it never happened again?

George, and his cottage story, helped me understand #1 and a bit of #2.
Rebecca and her EM-mindset, helped me understand the rest of #2, a lot about #3. God and my Christian training helped me immeasurably with #3 and a bit of #4. And most recently, your Mom, with her new training in applied psychology/counselling has come alongside me as a peer-mentor so that we can discuss and practice these things continually and get better, together. She’s helping me a lot with #4.

Let me sign off this week with four important connections that I’ve made.

1. Disaster  What constitutes a disaster in my life?  Actions that are self-limiting, self-defeating or self-destructive. Also, incongruent behaviour … where my beliefs and principles are not being demonstrated by my actions. Interestingly, the Bible already had a word for that: sin.

2. Hazard   What constitutes a hazard in my life? Well, anything that can lead to me living incongruently. Let me call them hijacking forces, or things that lead to self-sabotage. The Bible already had a word for that too: temptation (or evil desires).

3. Vulnerability   What does vulnerability look like in my life?  I think it is any part of my character that is too weak to resist the hijacking forces. And yes, the Bible even already had a word for that: sin-nature. But let’s just call it human weakness.

4. EM for THIS Dummy  I had been sitting on a personal EM-for-Dummies manual my entire adult life, and hadn’t seen it. The Bible. It even tells about this one guy who was just like us (ie: He had our human weakness) yet He was never found to be weak. He lived His life like a perfect Emergency Manager. He even told some great stories about the need to think about mitigation (you might remember the story … a wise man built his house on a rock while a dummy built his house on sand, and then the storm came).

I’m thankful that THAT Guy sent me George, Rebecca and Deb, and a host of others, and showed me how choice and process could turn my life around. So I did. Next week I’ll introduce the new Pete (version XR2.2), and then in April I’ll begin describing the choices and the processes.

I love you guys.

Dad.