Damage and loss from Natech disasters
and possible interventions in Asia
Mr. Shane Wright, Executive Director,
Asian Disaster Preparedness Center
Towards disaster resilience: reducing risks from technological accidents triggered by natural hazards (Natech)
WCDRR Public Forum event, Sendai, Japan, 16 March 2015
Content
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Trends in disasters - Asia
Chemical industrial presence in Asia
Natech incidents - damage and loss
Nuclear industries in Asia - exposure and
vulnerability
• Regional interventions
• Future needs
• Future cooperation
Asian region - most disaster-prone region in the world
Increased vulnerability to natural disasters:
• increased aggregation of people in urban centers;
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environmental degradation;
lack of planning and preparedness.
Disaster types and impact in Asia
• In Asia, most common disasters are hydro-meteorological (e.g., floods,
storms) rather than the geophysical (e.g., earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions).
• In year 2011 - estimated direct global economic loss due to natural
disasters - US$363 billion; the worst year in the recorded history.
– Asia and the Pacific region - US$351 billion
(e.g. Japan earthquake and tsunami, Thailand floods)
• In general, Disaster Risk Reduction is a national and regional priority for
all Asian countries. But the focus is mainly on natural disasters. There is a
need for better recognition and understanding about complex/compound
disasters, in particular natech disasters.
Chemical Industrial presence in Asia
Geographic breakdown of world chemical sales in 2013 (Total value of €3156 Billion)
Asian chemical
production outpaces
other regions
*Rest of Europe including Switzerland, Norway, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine
**North American Free Trade Agreement
***Asia excluding China, India, Japan and South Korea
Source: CEFIC Chemdata International, 2014
Flooding - industrial parks
Thailand Floods, 2011
Photos: BBC
Flooded cement
factory
Flooded factories in a industrial estate
in Ayutthaya province; nearly 200
factories had to temporarily close.
Thailand is the world's largest producer of hard-disk drives and a big supplier of electronic
components and car parts.
Direct economic loss from the floods (June - Dec 2011) was an estimate of US$45.5 billion;
(over 13% of GDP) in losses and damages – this has shaken regional and as well as global
economies (supply chains and production networks).
Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004
Damage to oil storage tanks – Indonesia
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ƒDestruction to oil storage
tanks, oil filled barrels and
pesticide depots in Banda
Aceh, Meulaboh and
Krueng Raya areas were
detected. Throughout the
whole facility area, oil was
mixed in with mud and
water. ƒ
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Limited data regarding
damage and loss on
industrial locations from
Indian Ocean Tsunami is
available.
Photo: Joint UNEP/OCHA unit report
A displaced fuel storage tank in Kreung
Raya
Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004
Sri Lanka – Rail disaster
Photo: Sunday Times, Sri Lanka
• Tsunami waves suddenly hit a highly crowded train on the
Peraliya coastal railway line. More than 1700 people died. The
town of Peraliya was also completely destroyed. It had the
highest count of deaths in rail accident history.
Dam Failure – environmental consequence
Photo: BBC
July 28th, 2010, Jilin, China - Heavy rain caused an upstream dam to rupture and flash
floods rushed into warehouses of two chemical factories The floods washed away about
7000 chemical barrels into Songhua River. The river was Jilin city’s main water supply to
its inhabitants.
Consequence – Public hysteria; authorities were finding it difficult to retrieve barrels and
were blamed for irrational layout of chemical industries downstream of Songhua river.
Lightning strikes on petrochemical operations
Lightening strikes are indicated as
one of the main causes for
storage tank accidents
(Chang and Lin, 2006).
East Malaysia, 2012 - Petronas
subsidiary, MISC Berhard, lost at
least US$40 million when one of
its oil tankers was struck by
lightning and caught fire.
Oil tanker ablaze in East Malaysia
Photo: gCAPTAIN
Thailand/Map Ta Phut Industrial Park, 2012 – Bangkok Synthetics Co (BSC):
Lightning Strike at a toluene vessel –
12 dead, 129 injured,
environmental damages, fines and plant closure of several manufacturers.
Reported Losses exceed US$1 Billion
Top seven nuclear reactors in the world
with population living within 30km of
its industrial site are in Asia (in
comparison to Fukushima Daiichi)
India
Canada
China (2)
South
Korea
Taiwan
Karachi,
Pakistan
USA
Taiwan
Seismic hazard data and operational nuclear reactors in Asia
* Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors appear
to have withstood the earthquake,
but the damage to the electric grid
contributed to station blackout
conditions.
Historical tsunami event
locations and operational
nuclear reactors
The majority of tsunami
events for wave heights
greater than 10 meters in
Asia have occurred in
Indonesia and Japan.
Considering earthquake
and tsunami hazards,
and population data,
Taiwan’s six reactors are
in
high
risk
and
consequences from a
nuclear reactor accident.
Best Practices Guidance
• Effective land use planning
• Legislative frameworks for HZ material
– Storage and handling (bulk & packaging)
– Transportation – Shipping, Air, Road, Rail
• Environmental risk sensitive analysis
• Scenario mapping
• Tragedy of the commons
– Legal processes that do not allow risk transfer
– Ownership accountability
– Plans for the management of emergencies
Best practices for emergency response
(useful for natech scenarios)
• Legislative frameworks that imbed Emergency
Response agencies in planning and approval process
• Legislative frameworks that clearly articulate
accountability mechanisms of response agencies
– Command, Control, Co ordination, ICS systems
• Capacity building of response agencies
– Skills, Knowledge, Equipment, Scientific Support
Current regional interventions
Most of the interventions are for technological hazards. Not much on
natech disasters.
UNEP’s Flexible Framework for Chemical Accident Prevention and
Preparedness – Philippines and Cambodia (2009/2010) and Sri Lanka
(2013)
ADPC was a technical support partner for all of the above 3 country
projects.
UNEP’s Awareness and Preparedness of Emergencies at Local
Level (APELL) – First APELL Center was established in India by
National Safety Council. India has already adopted APELL principles in
national legislation. APELL concept has also been applied in certain
industrial zones in China and Thailand.
Current regional interventions
• Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation’s Chemical Dialogue (CD) serves as a
forum for regulatory officials and industry representatives : Australia,
Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan,
Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru,
Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States and
Vietnam
• ASEAN Oil Spill Response Action Plan – considers trans-boundary
pollution; support by IMO and IPIECA
• Asian Nuclear Safety Network - A regional nuclear safety network to
improve safety of nuclear installations in the South East Asia, Pacific and
Far East Countries. Also includes international partners and countries:
IAEA, European Commission, EDF (private sector) and several nuclear
safety authorities from USA and European countries.
Why there is less attention to technological/natech
accidents in Asia?
• Technological disasters are not considered important, in
comparison to other regional priorities like hunger and food
security, healthcare, basic infrastructure, climate change and
natural DRR.
• Developing countries do not realise the significant damage and loss
(direct and indirect) that can be caused; especially less awareness
on natural hazards triggering technological disasters.
• Countries and donors have been addressing mainly HFA priorities;
in which not much recognition for technological/na-tech. Therefore
it is important that post-2015 DRR framework includes emerging
risks such as natech. Natech definition need to be included in
UNISDR’s terminology for DRR (2009).
Future needs for effective technological and
natech risk reduction in Asia
• Better understanding of the combined impacts of natural and
technological hazards in the short, medium and long term;
• Knowledge transfer on natech (International – regional –
national).
• Inter-disciplinary platform and effective multi-stakeholder
cooperation and coordination e.g. disaster management and
environmental authorities, industries, academia etc.
• Need to gain political commitment; need to determine or
quantify overall (economic) value in investing in safety/risk
management and governance for the long term.
Future cooperation in Asia for technological/natech
disaster risk reduction
North-South-South Cooperation
(Regional corporation strengthened with the expertise of international experts)
Scientific and technical awareness and capacity building which leads towards
policies and national programmes; fostering a culture that supports
government regulation.
Regional knowledge networks
between centres of excellence
(universities, research centres, and
industry associations) and
competent authorities on technical
aspects of technological and
Natech.
Policy dialogue forums or
working groups to support in
formulation of national legislation
and public administration
practices.
Thank you. Any questions?
Key references
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Slides 3-4: A Joint Study of the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank
Institute, Disaster Risk Management in Asia and the Pacific: Issues Paper, April 2013
Slide 4 http://www.asiapathways-adbi.org/2013/02/natural-disasters-and-productionnetworks-in-the-asia-and-pacific-region/
Slide 5 – CEFIC data – http://www.cefic.org/Facts-and-Figures/
Slide 6 - Thai floods, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15398566
Slide 7 - Indian Ocean Tsunami Disaster of December 2004, UNDAC Rapid Environmental
Assessment of Aceh, Indonesia - Joint UNEP/OCHA unit, Feb 2005
Slide 9 - http://reliefweb.int/report/china/irrational-layouts-chemical-factories-blamed-lifethreatening-accidents-china
Slide 10 - Changa I. J., Lin C., 2006, A study of storage tank accidents, Journal of Loss
Prevention in the Process Industries 19, pp 51–59
Slide 10 - The 100 Largest Losses (1972-2001) Large Property Damage Losses in the
Hydrocarbon-Chemical Industries, Marsh, 2003
Slides 11 – 14: Cochran. T. B., Mackinzie M. G., Global Implications of the Fukushima Disaster
for Nuclear Power, World Federation of Scientists’ International Seminar on Planetary
Emergencies, Erice, Sicily, August 19-25, 2011