necessarily comprehensive and quite detailed, but it must retain an essen-
tial element of flexibility.
All stages of the response must be considered and documented, from
alerting those at risk and the timely mobilization and deployment of emer-
gency services through to an evacuation strategy, the latter including pro-
vision of support and shelter. The response must also have regard to the
capabilities and availability of key emergency services, e.g. police and, if
available, civil aid organizations. For incidents requiring very large-scale
evacuation of people from heavily populated urban areas it may be neces-
sary to plan for military aid in terms of vehicles and personnel. The prin-
ciples of emergency planning for major incidents are fully described in
Alexander (2002).
Emergency response plans are subject to periodic review, most
notably if extensive new developments take place on the downstream
floodplain. Live rehearsal of an emergency response plan is generally quite
impracticable, and proving of the plan must therefore effectively be con-
fined to desk exercises. The latter can be made quite testing if external
events or operational constraints, e.g. weather and incidental flooding
obstructing evacuation routes, or non-availability of personnel, etc., are
injected into the exercise narrative.
It will be appreciated that emergency planning in the context of dam
safety can be a highly sensitive and emotive issue. It is consequently essen-
tial that discretion is observed with regard to public disclosure, particularly
with respect to the identification of specific dams or locations.
References
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Beak, D.C. (1992) Implementation of the Reservoirs Act 1975 and monitoring of
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Engineering, British Dam Society, London, pp. 287–300.
Berti, G., Villa, F., Dovera, D., Genevois, R. and Brauns, J. (1988) The disaster of
Stava/Northern Italy, in Proceedings of Specialty Conference on Hydraulic
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Assessment, Report, Contract PECD 7/7/309, Department of the Environ-
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Brown, A.J. and Gosden, J.D. (2004) Interim guide to quantitative risk assessment
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Charles, J.A. (1986) The significance of problems and remedial works at British
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