1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Buffalo Creek Responses Several questions come to mind after reading the article, which include: a. Who were the people in charge of warning the residents of Buffalo Creek and why did they not have them evacuate before the incident? b. Which company oversaw the building and maintenance of the dams? c. Why werent the dams built to withstand the slurry of coal and dirt as well as the water levels brought on by the rain? d. How did this affect the survivors of the flood? e. What was done to prevent disasters such as this from happening? f. What was the public response to the disaster? g. What was the federal response to the disaster? From the article, I know the Appalachian region is isolated because mountains surround it. The people at that time feared the dams would break, but were not told about the possible breakage of the dam. They were innocently arrogant that the dam would hold and moving to higher ground was unnecessary. I define a disaster as an event where there is loss of human life, regardless of number. In my opinion, there are different kinds of disasters. There are avoidable disasters that can be prevented by those in charge or those taking the risk, and there are unavoidable disasters, where people are in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Buffalo Creek Flood is similar to the Three Gorges Dam incident in China with similar loss of life, homes, and buildings, in addition to a mass displacement of people. Another similarity between these two events is that measures to prevent the catastrophes existed but were ignored. Disasters like these are indeed avoidable when given an adequate response time. Monitoring dams is not an intensive process, as there are meters that can show the current level and warn of high levels at any point in time. Communicating these results to those that will be affected and making a decision should the worst-case scenario happen is imperative to preventing disasters like these. Assuming that anything that can go wrong will go wrong is the best decision when preventing loss of human life. The engineers role in disaster precaution is to make certain that the structure will be stable in the conditions specified. In the flood example, that would mean to calculate the highest level possible with every water source and putting the dams structural integrity and height well above these limits. In disaster management, the incident has occurred and the engineer must assess what failed and what can be learned from the failure. In addition, assisting in the rebuilding of damaged buildings, removing debris, and cleaning the area are important tasks given to the engineer. The most efficient method to accomplish these tasks must be implemented in order for the area affected to return to normal.