Master Planning of Zoos - Central Zoo Authority

Crisis/Disaster
Management Plan
Proceedings of
Training Programme
Master Planning
of Zoos
What is a crisis?
• “A time of great difficulty or danger or when an important decision must be
made”
• Synonyms of crisis are disaster and calamity and all of them are events that
cause suffering or unfortunate consequences that cause great damage or loss of
life
• They are not necessarily natural or inevitable and therefore an analysis of such
situations over a period of time, say several decades, will help develop a profile
of the kinds of crisis one could expect. They can be compiled from newspaper
archives; zoo records and through interviews with old timers.
Types of Crisis
• An acute crisis is a potentially damaging natural event and results in disruption
of the functioning of the system causing widespread material losses (Both biotic
and abiotic) that exceeds the systems ability to cope without external relief and
often termed as disaster or calamity
• Chronic crisis - ones that are expected and management is somewhat prepared to
deal with them.
• Large number of visitors in some seasons
• Vandalism by unruly visitors
• Sudden change in climate
• Strike by staff
• Failure in essential supplies - food, water, power etc.
Examples of acute crisis
Flood, earthquake, cyclone, landslide, war, epidemic disease, animal escape
Various kinds of chronic crisis encountered in zoos (related to visitors)
Vandalism, Injury to animals and visitors, Recreation related wildfires
Vindictive crisis
Planned vandalism by in house personnel, Outside visitors/community, Terrorism
Degree of susceptiblicity
If they are located
• In and adjacent to earthquake prone areas
• Adjacent to the coast and other windstorm prone regions
• An unstable slope susceptible to landslides
• In flood plains
• Along wilderness areas susceptible to wildfires
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