their origins, peacetime disasters are of two main types:
natural and man-made.
There is no official military definition for military
or naval disasters. However, any definition of peacetime
naval disasters would only differ from those previously
listed in the application of terms to naval personnel,
equipment or installations. In terms of this chapter,
remember that naval disasters differ in the scope of
public interest and concern. A naval disaster in any
locale provokes the interest of the entire country since
Navy personnel come from all corners of the United
States. A Navy ship involved in a collision, for instance,
may very well have representatives from all 50 states in
its crew.
DESCRIPTIVE DIFFERENCES
In addition to the two general classes of disasters,
natural and man-made, there are other descriptive
differences that are helpful to consider.
Disasters differ in the following ways:
l Degree of predictability
. Degree of probability
. Degree of controllability
. Nature of the precipitating agent
l Origin
. Speed of onset
. Scope
l Destructive effects on people and physical
objects
CATEGORIZING DISASTERS
There is no commonly accepted way of categorizing
disasters beyond the two previously mentioned
divisions. For operational purposes, however, the Red
Cross
l
l
l
l
l
recognizes the following types:
Hurricanes
Tornadoes
Other windstorms
Floods
All other storms (hailstorms, snowstorms, etc.)
. Explosions
. Fires
l Wrecks (train, ship, airplane, etc.)
LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST
DISASTERS
Learning Objective: Analyze the public affairs lessons
learned from specific past naval/natural disasters.
It is helpful to detail successes in the handling of
public affairs in past naval/natural disasters. It is
probably more important, however, to scrutinize the
things that could have been done better. This section
does both.
The gauge of success or failure is difficult to
measure. In the Navy, success is competence in carrying
out the assigned mission, performing according to rank
or rate and responsibility, reflecting one’s own personal
experience and upholding and maintaining the traditions
of the naval service.
Contemplating a major disaster is not a pleasant
task. The Navy’s operational forces have learned that
constant training to meet a national emergency,
peace-keeping action or disaster situation have paid
handsome dividends when the real event occurred. The
public affairs staff must be ready when a disaster strikes.
A disaster plan is meaningless if the public affairs staff
is unfamiliar with it or cannot put it into operation. All
concerned should have a thorough knowledge of the
disaster plan and be able to put it into effect. Each
individual should know his duties and responsibilities,
such as where he goes, what he may be expected to do,
and his own particular part in the overall public affairs
operation. It would be useful for the public affairs staff
to run drills during off-duty hours to determine how long
it would take to man the office fully in a disaster
situation. You should periodically put the disaster plan
in full operation to find out how long it takes to get out
a news release, radio tape or videotape.
The following disaster cases were originally
published in the Public Affairs Communicator. More
detailed case studies on these and other disasters are
available from the CHINFO Plans and Policy Division.
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