Damage Assessment - Hurricane Harvey. Nature Essay

Damage Assessment - Hurricane Harvey
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Damage Assessment - Hurricane Harvey
Hurricane Harvey started on August 25, 2017 and it is considered as the second-most costly hurricane in U.S. history. Evidence indicates that the hurricane caused a damage of $125 billion, and more than 68 people were killed by the immense strength of the hurricane storms (Walters, 2018). The final cost of the hurricane, both financial and human, are regarded as some of the most severe. In Texas, the hurricane was the deadliest disaster in a century, with two regions enduring rainfall of five feet, and the entire downtown Houston was flooded. Harvey was an enormous hurricane with some of the greatest strengths to have ever been recorded in the recent past. Over 57 tornadoes were spawned by Hurricane Harvey inland, and 18 different areas in Texas were deluged with rainfall of more than 4ft. The maximum speed of winds was 133mph on landfall, and this made the hurricane a category five storm.
Damage assessment is regarded as a preliminary evaluation to determine the loss or damage that has been caused by a disaster. Damage assessment can be classified into four major categories. First, Initial Situation Overview (ISO) is conducted to quickly gather information concerning the extent of the damage caused by the disaster. Data is collected and submitted within a span of eight hours, and this information includes displacement, casualties, and damage to critical infrastructure (odpm.gov, 2013). The second type is Initial Damage Assessment (IDA), and it focuses on determining the extent of the damage caused by the disaster. IDA is relatively similar to ISO since it evaluates and assesses the impact of the disaster. The third type is Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis (DANA), where analysts gather data and then determine the kind of assistance that should be implemented. The fourth type is Damage and Loss Assessment, and it involves determining the level of destruction and the loss which the society has sustained.
When conducting a damage assessment, a number of factors need to be considered to ensure that comprehensive information is collected and efficient strategies are developed to respond to the disasters (odpm.gov, 2013). These factors include the formation of assessment teams, developing standards of operations, determining information needs, designing survey tools, assembling team equipment, establishing methods of collecting data, developing briefing instructions, and collection of baseline information. These and other methods can be applied to ensure that the assessment team is able to collect enough information when a disaster strike.
Damage Assessment of Hurrican...