With the Toronto Blue Jays returning home for the World Series on Friday, the city is preparing for an influx of fans and celebrations across the downtown core. Adding to the excitement, Game Six in Toronto will coincide with Halloween night 鈥� bringing together thousands of baseball fans and costumed revellers for one of the busiest nights of the year.

From crowd safety and emergency planning to consumer behaviour and the economics of major sporting events, 91亚色 experts are available to provide insight into how large-scale events impact Toronto's communities, businesses and public spaces.

is an associate professor of Disaster & Emergency Management. His research examines disaster response operations, hazard mitigation, and non-routine emergencies, including mass violence and terrorism, as well as representations of disaster in popular culture. Rozdilsky also provides media analysis on public safety and preparedness for mass gatherings, such as and major sporting events.

He is available to comment on:

• Public safety and emergency planning for the World Series in Toronto
• Crowd management, hazard mitigation, and response to potential fan unrest or riots

is a marketing instructor at the Schulich School of Business whose work focuses on the sport and tourism industries. He provides commentary on consumer behaviour, fan engagement, brand management,聽sponsorship marketing,聽event management,聽marketing communications, strategy, and the use of popular culture in sport marketing. In his course, Vijay has partnered with 159 leagues, teams, governing bodies,聽venues, media companies, and more on strategic partnerships that have聽enabled his students to work on marketing consulting projects that address challenging issues facing organizations.

He is available to comment on:

• Merchandising trends and brand management 鈥� for example, rising demand for Blue Jays merch and issues around unauthorized logo use
• Marketing and tourism opportunities surrounding the World Series in Toronto, including the impact of the club's success on the Blue Jays' brand and commercialization (ticket sales, sponsorship, merchandise) and the event's impact on the city's visitor economy and place brand

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Oct. 13 marks the United Nations鈥� International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, a global call to action to prevent and lessen the impact of disasters. This year鈥檚 theme, 鈥淔und Resilience, Not Disasters,鈥� highlights the urgent need to shift from costly crisis response to smarter investments in risk reduction. As Canada faces increased risks from wildfires, floods, extreme weather and other hazards, experts from 91亚色鈥檚 Disaster & Emergency Management (DEM) program are available to provide insight on disaster preparedness, risk mitigation, climate resilience, and how evidence-based planning can strengthen communities and reduce disaster impacts.

is an associate professor of DEM and director of 91亚色鈥檚 Emergency Mitigation, Engagement, Governance, Response Institute (Y-EMERGE). He is also editor-in-chief of the Canadian Journal of Emergency Management.

Kennedy鈥檚 research focuses on wildfire management and the human and social dimensions of fire, particularly the use of data and evidence in fire decision-making. His lab group focuses on a central question: how might we help people, communities, and agencies live in better relationship with wildland fire by integrating evidence and values?

Current projects include enhancing the use of predictive services in fire management, increasing the uptake of wildfire mitigation by local governments, and building linkages between research users and producers in fire.

Key areas of focus:

• Wildfire management in Canada and around the world
• Wildfire response
• Fire risk mitigation

is an associate professor of DEM, and the graduate program director handling the University鈥檚 master鈥檚 and doctoral programs in DEM.

Her areas of interest include social vulnerability and capability in the disaster context; hosting and resettlement; international responses to natural-hazard disasters; and risk assessment. Mamuji鈥檚 research aims to capture the lived experience of various priority groups facing disasters across Canada. She is currently researching international aid transfer and the provision of humanitarian assistance in the context of mass violence.

Key areas of focus:

• International response to natural-hazard disasters
• Risk assessment
• Social vulnerability

is a professor and a founding faculty member of 91亚色鈥檚 DEM program. She holds a PhD in Water Resources from Kyoto University and has over 35 years of professional experience in her field. Her textbook, Natural Disasters and Risk Management in Canada: An Introduction, published by Springer, is one of the most used textbooks in emergency management.

Her wide-ranging research includes: threat assessment from potential natural, intentional, and technological hazards; public safety; disaster resilience in a changing climate; and the use of geospatial technologies for decision-making.

Agrawal is an adjunct professor at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health and a co-director of the CDSN-MINDS project on domestic operations.

Key areas of focus:

• Climate change and natural hazards
• Flood risk mitigation and adaptation
• Disaster risk, risk perceptions and disaster resilience
• Early warning systems and response strategies

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On March 26, the container ship Dali in Baltimore鈥檚 industrial harbour , causing it to catastrophically collapse. Eight highway maintenance workers were . Two were , and two bodies . Four workers remain missing, and are now .

The ship-bridge collision was a technological disaster, defined as an event caused by  or human error in controlling or handling the technology.

In this case, the root cause of the disaster involved the interaction of two types of transportation technologies: a moving container ship and a fixed bridge.

A history of bridge collapses

The disaster is not unprecedented 鈥� between 1960 to 2015 there have been  due to collisions by ships or barges.

On Feb. 22, in Guangzhou, south China, a container ship rammed into a bridge pillar leading to the subsequent , and killing five people.

The collapse of  serves as another stark reminder that despite our technological prowess, accidents involving transportation technology will continue to occur when we least expect them.

The immediate response

The immediate response started with a mayday call from the troubled ship causing police to take action to prevent more cars from going onto the bridge. U.S. Coast Guard watchstanders received  of a container ship colliding with the bridge, and immediately deployed .

The first 24 hours after the collapse focused on saving more lives, to no avail. People who survived the  into the Patapsco River then faced .

If not immediately rescued, chances of survival in cold river water become difficult due to  setting in.

Tons of submerged bridge wreckage and tidal currents created  for rescue operations. After an extensive search and rescue effort until sunset on March 26, the next-day emergency response activity transitioned to the grim task of recovery of the dead.

About eight hours after the collapse, the mayor of Baltimore declared a . The governor then issued , declaring a state of emergency for Maryland.

A  allows officials to temporarily use extraordinary powers. Suspension of laws and regulations, quick redirection of funds, rapid deployment of personnel and the facilitation of federal aid are all reasons why a state of emergency would be declared.

The collision caused all maritime traffic to be stopped 鈥�  as a port of entry for foreign goods. Most of the Port of Baltimore鈥檚 shipping terminals are located within .

In this case, the emergency declarations  around competitive bidding to speed the eventual bridge rebuilding project.

Pollution and debris clean-up

Immediately after the collision, response operations include preventing environmental contamination. As the distressed cargo ship was departing to the Port of Colombo, Sri Lanka, it had on board about . Out of the thousands of containers being transported, .

Removing the damaged steel latticework of the bridge鈥檚 trusses off the bow of the ship will be a challenging feat.

Debris now blocks navigation along the Fort McHenry Channel. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has started  to assess what needs to be done for debris removal.

The debris removal effort will be especially complex as sensitivity is required. In and around the same area where the  is taking place, rescue officials were searching for bodies 鈥� the .

The  has responsibilities involving the recovery of the bodies of the missing highway workers.

Unified command response

Unified command is an emergency management technique applied when .

The Fort McHenry navigation channel and the I-695 bridge itself fall under multiple local, state and federal jurisdictional responsibilities. On March 27, a  was established to co-ordinate emergency responses.

Sadly, within the first 48 hours search and rescue transitioned to search and recovery. Operations will be moving in the direction of salvage and .

Going forward, the main priority is clearing the shipping channel to reopen the Port of Baltimore. True to form to the characteristics of a technological disaster, it will take a while to determine the scope of the impacts.

For the immediate future, timelines for when the Baltimore Harbour can return to normal will remain elusive.

By Associate Professor Jack Rozdilsky, Department of Disaster and Emergency Management, 91亚色.

This article is republished from .

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