Is the priority placed on preventing terrorist attacks justified?
The answer to this depends on your perspective. Below are selected indicators from a human life, economic and social perspective.
From a human life perspective, the probability of dying last year as a result of a:
• terrorist incident was one in 9.7 million.
• commercial airliner accident was one in 4.8 million.
• lightning strike was one in 1.4 million.
• car accident was one in 18,800
From an economic perspective, the direct financial cost of terrorism or loss of critical infrastructure includes:
• the 2002 Bali terrorist attack cost the Indonesian economy about 1% of its GDP
• the 2001 New York and Pentagon terrorist attacks cost about $100 billion (1% of the US Gross Domestic Product).
• the 1998 Longford gas explosion to Victoria cost $1.3 billion (1% of Victoria’s Gross State Product)
• the 1998 electricity blackout to Auckland, New Zealand, reduced the nation’s GDP by about 0.3%
From a social perspective, indicators of interest are:
• The Australian newspaper ran 630 articles in 2002 mentioning terrorism, compared with 33 on road
accidents and death tolls.
• The Commonwealth’s National Security Hotline took 2600 calls during its first week of operation, and
18,000 calls between 27 December 2002 and 26 May, 2003.10
Risk evaluation is a product of the social, political, and economic environment. Therefore, no single indicator is
able to capture the reactions of individuals to different threats. The concept that any risk should be defined
solely by supposedly objective criteria, such as probability, ignores the way events are perceived and responded
to. Strategic malicious acts like terrorism are designed to create fear and uncertainty in the community.
Consequently their social aspects must be recognised if the risk is to be effectively managed, and the
community’s confidence restored.
http://www.engineersaustralia.org.a...B-D6C2-07BB-854A-E0AB622149FE&siteName=ieaust
The answer to this depends on your perspective. Below are selected indicators from a human life, economic and social perspective.
From a human life perspective, the probability of dying last year as a result of a:
• terrorist incident was one in 9.7 million.
• commercial airliner accident was one in 4.8 million.
• lightning strike was one in 1.4 million.
• car accident was one in 18,800
From an economic perspective, the direct financial cost of terrorism or loss of critical infrastructure includes:
• the 2002 Bali terrorist attack cost the Indonesian economy about 1% of its GDP
• the 2001 New York and Pentagon terrorist attacks cost about $100 billion (1% of the US Gross Domestic Product).
• the 1998 Longford gas explosion to Victoria cost $1.3 billion (1% of Victoria’s Gross State Product)
• the 1998 electricity blackout to Auckland, New Zealand, reduced the nation’s GDP by about 0.3%
From a social perspective, indicators of interest are:
• The Australian newspaper ran 630 articles in 2002 mentioning terrorism, compared with 33 on road
accidents and death tolls.
• The Commonwealth’s National Security Hotline took 2600 calls during its first week of operation, and
18,000 calls between 27 December 2002 and 26 May, 2003.10
Risk evaluation is a product of the social, political, and economic environment. Therefore, no single indicator is
able to capture the reactions of individuals to different threats. The concept that any risk should be defined
solely by supposedly objective criteria, such as probability, ignores the way events are perceived and responded
to. Strategic malicious acts like terrorism are designed to create fear and uncertainty in the community.
Consequently their social aspects must be recognised if the risk is to be effectively managed, and the
community’s confidence restored.
http://www.engineersaustralia.org.a...B-D6C2-07BB-854A-E0AB622149FE&siteName=ieaust
;)
