Any natural disaster triggers secondary/ environmental risks posed by large infrastructure and establishments likely to hold hazardous materials. Nevertheless these risks are too often neglected with the result of unnecessary death and injuries among the affected population and emergency responders. To avoid this, secondary risks require full consideration in the acute response phase. Therefore there is a need to identify these risks at the earliest possible stage.
For that reason, the Joint Environment Unit has started a project, called the Hazard Identification Tool, in short HIT (formerly called the Environmental Risk Identification - ERI).
The goal of the HIT is to limit the consequences of natural disasters and technological accidents on man, hence to reduce the number of victims. The HIT builds on the idea that the identification of hazardous installations contributes to this goal.
The objective of the Hazard Identification Tool (HIT) is to alert the UN Country Team after the natural disaster to potential secondary risks posed by large infrastructure and industrial facilities containing hazardous materials located in the affected area. This information can be shared with local and national authorities. Any actual secondary risk should be addressed at the earliest possible stage.
Also, the HIT can be used at different levels in the disaster management cycle: from response to response preparedness and disaster risk reduction activities.
The HIT provides the user with the (expected) location of hazards in the affected area. In addition, the type of facilities and the according substances that are expected to be present in these facilities are listed, as also the hazard type for the whole of the substances. The last column gives the estimated impact type of the hazard, namely:
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Direct impact on Human Health
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Direct impact on life-support functions and nature
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Humans are impacted through effects on their life-support functions e.g. direct impacts on crops, fish resources, agricultural land, water supply
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The same direct impacts that affect life support functions can also threaten biodiversity and specific species or ecosystems
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Long-term impact on life-support functions, nature and humans (toxic persistent substances entering the food chain and natural ecosystems and effects of carcinogenic substances
The methodology of the HIT is based on the Flash Environmental Assessment Tool (FEAT), a scientific assessment methodology to detect the most acute hazards to human health and the environment after natural disasters. The HIT does not replace the FEAT, on the contrary, both tools are complementary. The HIT can be seen as a (simplified) country-application of the FEAT.
HITs/ERIs are also published at the GDACS website.
