Hazard Identification Tool UNDAC Disaster Response Preparedness Mission: Papua New Guinea – April 2009

Hazard identification in disaster response preparedness

In case of a sudden-onset natural disaster, the Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit applies the Hazard Identification Tool (HIT) to alert the UN Country Team and emergency responders to potential secondary risks posed by large infrastructure and industrial facilities containing hazardous materials located in the affected area.

The present HIT has been prepared for the UNDAC Disaster Response Preparedness Mission to Papua New Guinea in April 2009 and can be shared with competent local and national authorities as appropriate (for reference, see the Generic Terms of Reference for environmental experts on UNDAC disaster response preparedness missions). It serves several purposes:

1. The list of facilities in this document may serve as a check list and provides a basis for in-country investigations and on-site assessments of actual risks. The information provided below should be verified and supplemented by giving exact locations and adding locations for further facilities and/or objects.

2. It should be assured that environmental emergency preparedness is included in the overall preparedness plans, systems and institutions. Useful in this regard may be UNEP’s APELL program which is designed to help communities in risk areas to deal with emergencies by giving them tools to put in place an overall effective emergency plan. (For more information on APELL: http://www.unep.fr/scp/sp/programme/about.htm)

Methodology of the HIT

The methodology of the HIT is based on the Flash Environmental Assessment Tool (FEAT), a rapid assessment methodology to identify the most acute hazards to human health and the environment after natural disasters. The HIT is compiled based on research using publicly available information sources and provides a list of “big and obvious” facilities and objects that may pose a risk to human health and life, as well as the natural environment. The list includes indications of the substances that are expected to be present in these facilities, as well as the hazard types associated with these substances and related estimated impact types. Wherever the (expected) location of a facility could be identified, this information has been filled into the first column of the HIT. If the facility is expected to be present, but no location could be identified, this has been indicated. Whenever the location field has been left blank, it is not expected that these facilities are present in the country.

The Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit

The Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit is the United Nations mechanism to mobilize and coordinate the international response to environmental emergencies caused by natural disaster, technological accidents and complex emergencies.