Sector Report for Wednesday, 23 November 2011: Disasters & Emergencies

This report contains the following stories.

Plus 1 additional story.

Better hospital responses to terrorist attacks

Terrorist attacks are less likely to occur than other disasters, but they can have greater impact on hospital operations; until the 9/11 and anthrax attacks, hospital emergency preparedness programs had not included provisions for terrorism events; those attacks changed that, but there is still much that should be done

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Detergent suicides on the rise

The incidence of chemical suicides has been steadily increasing in the United States since its first appearance in 2008; it is believed the statistics are incorrect because of underreporting; most such suicides provide warning of the toxicity of the environment they will be found in, but not all do, making responding to these calls a hazard for all concerned

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"The Dragon" makes life difficult for first responders

For emergency personnel in Tennessee, responding to calls on “The Dragon,” an unforgiving 11.1 mile stretch of highway, is no easy task; the Dragon consists of 318 sharp curves through hilly terrain making it treacherous for drivers and a nightmare for first responders; each year there are several fatal crashes and since 2005 the desolate road has been the scene of at least forty injury crashes a year

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Kenyan police arrest bombing suspect

Late Tuesday night, Kenyan police arrested a suspected terrorist involved in Monday’s grenade attacks; on Monday unknown attackers threw hand grenades at a bus stop and a downtown bar in Nairobi killing one and injuring twenty; the arrested man was captured along with a stockpile of weapons that included thirteen hand grenades, two submachine guns and four pistols; so far no group has claimed responsibility, but the terrorist organization al Shabaab in Somalia had sworn that it would retaliate for Kenya’s cross-border military actions; Kenyan forces have crossed into southern Somalia and are carrying out airstrikes and are advancing on al Shabaab held towns

Secretary Clinton demands Libya return Lockerbie bomber to prison

Now that the fighting in Libya has drawn to a close with the death of Muammar Qaddafi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is pressing the new Libyan government to return the only individual convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103; Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al Megrahi, was convicted and jailed in Scotland for the Lockerbie bombing which killed 259 people, mostly Americans; in 2009 Scotland released him on the grounds that he had been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer and only had three months to live; al Megrahi returned to Libya where he has been living since; over the weekend Clinton said, “We want to see him returned to prison, preferably in Scotland, where he was serving the sentence”