Lawsuits against God have occurred in real life and in fiction. Issues debated in the actions include the problem of evil and harmful "acts of God".
Actual suits
Betty Penrose
In
1970, Arizonan lawyer Russel T. Tansie filed a suit against God on
behalf of his secretary, Betty Penrose, seeking $100,000 in damages.
Penrose blamed God for his "negligence", allowing a lightning bolt to
strike her house. When God "failed to turn up in court", Penrose won the
case by default.
Ernie Chambers
In the U.S. state of Nebraska, State SenatorErnie Chambers
filed a suit in 2008 against God, seeking a permanent injunction
against God's harmful activities, as an effort to publicize the issue of
public access to the court system.
The suit was dismissed because God could not be properly notified, not
having a fixed address. The Judge stated, "Given that this court finds
that there can never be service effectuated on the named defendant this
action will be dismissed with prejudice". The senator, assuming God to be singular and all-knowing,
responded "The court itself acknowledges the existence of God. A
consequence of that acknowledgement is a recognition of God's
omniscience ... Since God knows everything, God has notice of this
lawsuit." Chambers filed the lawsuit in response to another lawsuit that he considered to be frivolous and inappropriate.
In response to Chambers' case, two responses were filed. The first was from a Corpus Christi lawyer, Eric Perkins, who wanted to answer the question "what would God say". The second was filed in Douglas County, Nebraska District Court. The source of the second response, claiming to be from God, is unclear as no contact information was given.
On July 30, 2008, local media sources reported the Douglas County District Court was going to deny Chambers' lawsuit because Chambers had failed to notify the defendant.
However, on August 1, Chambers was granted a court date of August 5 in
order to proceed with his lawsuit. "The scheduling hearing will give me a
chance to lay out the facts that would justify the granting of the
motion," Chambers was quoted as saying. He added, "Once the court enters
the injunction, that's as much as I can do ... That's as much as I
would ask the court. I wouldn't expect them to enforce it."
However, a judge finally did throw out the case, saying the Almighty was not properly served due to his unlisted home address. As of November 5, 2008, Chambers filed an appeal to the Nebraska Supreme Court. The former state senator John DeCamp and E. O. Augustsson in Sweden, asked to represent God. Augustsson's letters, mentioning the Bjorn (cf. the Bjorn Socialist Republic)
were stricken as "frivolous". The Appeals Court gave Chambers until
February 24 to show that he notified DeCamp and Augustsson of his brief,
which he did. The case was finally closed on February 25 when the
Nebraska Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal and vacated the order of
the district court. The court quoted cases according to which "[a] court
decides real controversies and determines rights actually controverted,
and does not address or dispose of abstract questions or issues that
might arise in hypothetical or fictitious situation or setting".
Pavel M
In 2005, a Romanian prisoner identified as Pavel M, serving 20 years after being convicted of murder, filed a lawsuit against the Romanian Orthodox Church, as God's representatives in Romania, for failing to keep him from the Devil, essentially stating that his baptism had been a binding contract.
The suit was dismissed because the defendant, God, was neither an
individual nor a company, and was therefore not subject to the civil court of law's jurisdiction.
Chandan Kumar Singh
Chandan Kumar Singh, a lawyer from Bihar, India, sued the Hindu god Rama for mistreating his wife, the goddess Sita. The court dismissed his case, calling it "impractical".
Fictional suits
In the comedy film The Man Who Sued God (2001), a fisherman played by Billy Connolly
successfully challenges the right of insurance companies to refuse
payment for a destroyed boat on the common legal exemption clause of an act of God.
In a suit against the world's religious institutions as God's
representatives on Earth, the religious institutions face the dilemma of
either having to state God does not exist to uphold the legal
principle, or being held liable for damages caused by acts of God.
Frank vs God is a 2014 independent film with the same basic principle.
Similarly, in an Indian film, OMG – Oh My God! (2012), the protagonist Kanji Mehta (played by Paresh Rawal)
files a lawsuit against God when his shop is destroyed in an earthquake
and the insurance company refuses to take his claim, stating that "act of God" is not covered under his insurance policy. The Telugu film Gopala Gopala is a remake of this, as is the 2016 Kannada-language Mukunda Murari.
In the "Angels And Blimps" (1998) episode of the television legal drama Ally McBeal, a boy with leukaemia attempts to sue God. In the episode "The Nutcrackers" (2006–2007) of the television legal drama comedy Boston Legal, a woman sues God for the death of her husband. "God in the Dock", a 1980 episode of Christian TV series Insight, features Richard Beymer as God put on trial by humanity.
Former Auschwitz concentration camp inmate Elie Wiesel is said to have witnessed three Jewish prisoners try God in absentia for abandoning the Jewish people during the Holocaust. From this experience, Wiesel wrote the play and novel The Trial of God (1979). It is set in a Ukrainian village during 1649 after a massacre of the Jewish inhabitants, possibly as part of the Khmelnytsky Uprising. In the play, three traveling minstrels
arrive in the village, having intended to perform a play. Instead they
perform a mock trial of God for allowing the massacre. The verdict is
innocent, after a stirring lone defence by a stranger who, in a twist,
is revealed to be the Devil.
The television play God on Trial (2008), written by Frank Cottrell Boyce, depicts a scene similar to that attributed to Elie Wiesel, but is also described by Boyce as "apocryphal". In it, three Auschwitz prisoners sue God. The trial returns a guilty verdict, although with likely reasons for appeal.
In the Touched by an Angel (1998) episode "Jones vs God",
a town is dying from a drought while other towns around it have
received rain. Mr. Jones therefore sues God for unfair treatment. Tess
represents God in the matter.
In a satirical news piece, The Onion parody newspaper published an article stating that New York attorneys had filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of the Children of Israel (the Israelites). The suit alleged a breach of the religious covenant between God and his chosen people, and sought $4.2 trillion in punitive and compensatory damages.
Christ on Trial is a book written by Roger Dixon describing a TV program trying Jesus Christ in a US court.
In the play Angels in America: Perestroika by Tony
Kushner, the prophet Prior recommends to a council of angels known as
the Continental Principalities that they sue God "for walking out" on
them and on humanity.
A disaster is a serious disruption occurring over a short or
long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or
environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community
or society to cope using its own resources.
Developing countries suffer the greatest costs when a disaster hits –
more than 95 percent of all deaths caused by hazards occur in developing
countries, and losses due to natural hazards are 20 times greater (as a
percentage of GDP) in developing countries than in industrialized countries.
No matter what society disasters occur in, they tend to induce change
in government and social life. They may even alter the course of history
by broadly affecting entire populations and exposing mismanagement or
corruption regardless of how tightly information is controlled in a
society.
Etymology
The word disaster is derived from Middle Frenchdésastre and that from Old Italiandisastro, which in turn comes from the Ancient Greekpejorative prefix δυσ-, (dus-) "bad" and ἀστήρ (aster), "star". The root of the word disaster ("bad star" in Greek) comes from an astrological sense of a calamity blamed on the position of planets.
Classification
Disasters are routinely divided into natural or human-made, although complex disasters, where there is no single root cause, are more common in developing countries. A specific disaster may spawn a secondary disaster that increases the impact. A classic example is an earthquake that causes a tsunami, resulting in coastal flooding. Some manufactured disasters have been ascribed to nature.
Some researchers also differentiate between recurring events such as seasonal flooding, and those considered unpredictable.
Natural disasters
A natural disaster is a natural process or phenomenon that may cause
loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of
livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or
environmental damage.
Various phenomena like earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, tsunamis, cyclones and pandemics
are all natural hazards that kill thousands of people and destroy
billions of dollars of habitat and property each year. However, the
rapid growth of the world's population and its increased concentration
often in hazardous environments has escalated both the frequency and
severity of disasters. With the tropical climate and unstable landforms,
coupled with deforestation, unplanned growth proliferation,
non-engineered constructions make the disaster-prone areas more
vulnerable. Developing countries suffer more or less chronically from
natural disasters due to ineffective communication combined with
insufficient budgetary allocation for disaster prevention and management.
Airplane crashes and terrorist attacks are examples of man-made disasters: they cause pollution, kill people, and damage property. This example is of the September 11 attacks in 2001 at the World Trade Center in New York.
The sudden, drastic flow of snow down a slope, occurring when either
natural triggers, such as loading from new snow or rain, or artificial
triggers, such as explosives or backcountry skiers, overload the
snowpack
Shut off utilities; Evacuate building if necessary; Determine impact on the equipment and facilities and any disruption
Fires that originate in uninhabited areas and which pose the risk to spread to inhabited areas
Attempt to suppress fire in early stages; Evacuate personnel on
alarm, as necessary; Notify fire department; Shut off utilities; Monitor
weather advisories
A prolonged period of excessively hot weather relative to the usual
weather pattern of an area and relative to normal temperatures for the
season
Listen to weather advisories; Power-off all servers after a graceful
shutdown if there is imminent potential of power failure; Shut down
main electric circuit usually located in the basement or the first floor
Power off all equipment; listen to hurricane advisories; Evacuate
area, if flooding is possible; Check gas, water and electrical lines for
damage; Do not use telephones, in the event of severe lightning; Assess
damage
An electrical discharge caused by lightning, typically during thunderstorms
Power off all equipment; listen to hurricane advisories; Evacuate
area, if flooding is possible; Check gas, water and electrical lines for
damage; Do not use telephones, in the event of severe lightning; Assess
damage
A series of waves hitting shores strongly, mainly caused by the
displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or
a large lake, usually caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
underwater explosions, landslides, glacier calvings, meteorite impacts
and other disturbances above or below water
Power off all equipment; listen to tsunami advisories; Evacuate
area, if flooding is possible; Check gas, water and electrical lines for
damage; Assess damage
The intentional release or dissemination of biological agents as a means of coercion
Get information immediately from public health
officials via the news media as to the right course of action; If you
think you have been exposed, quickly remove your clothing and wash off
your skin; put on a HEPA to help prevent inhalation of the agent
A disturbance caused by a group of people that may include sit-ins
and other forms of obstructions, riots, sabotage and other forms of
crime, and which is intended to be a demonstration to the public and the
government, but can escalate into general chaos
Even with strict building fire codes, people still perish needlessly in fires
Attempt to suppress fire in early stages; Evacuate personnel on
alarm, as necessary; Notify fire department; Shut off utilities; Monitor
weather advisories
The escape of solids, liquids, or gases that can harm people, other
living organisms, property or the environment, from their intended
controlled environment such as a container.
Leave the area and call the local fire department for help. If anyone was affected by the spill, call the your local Emergency Medical Services line
An event involving significant release of radioactivity to the
environment or a reactor core meltdown and which leads to major
undesirable consequences to people, the environment, or the facility
Recognize that a CBRN incident has or may occur. Gather, assess and
disseminate all available information to first responders. Establish an
overview of the affected area. Provide and obtain regular updates to and
from first responders.
Caused by summer or winter storms, lightning or construction equipment digging in the wrong location
Wait 5–10 minutes; power off all servers after a graceful shutdown;
do not use telephones, in the event of severe lightning; shut down main
electric circuit usually located in the basement or the first floor
Mine rescue or mines rescue is the specialised job of rescuing miners and others who have become trapped or injured in underground mines because of mining accidents, roof falls or floods and disasters such as explosions caused by firedamp.
Background
Mining laws in developed countries require trained, equipped mine rescue personnel to be available at all mining operations at surface and underground mining
operations. Mine rescue teams must know the procedures used to rescue
miners trapped by various hazards, including fire, explosions, cave-ins,
toxic gas, smoke inhalation,
and water entering the mine. Most mine rescue teams are composed of
miners who know the mine and are familiar with the mine machinery they
may encounter during the rescue, the layout of workings and geological conditions and working practices. Local and state governments may have teams on call ready to respond to mine accidents.
Rescuers and equipment
U.S. mine rescuer, c. 1912
The first mines rescuers were the colliery managers and volunteer
colleagues of the victims of the explosions, roof-falls and other
accidents underground. They looked for signs of life, rescued the
injured, sealed off underground fires so it would be possible to reopen
the pit, and recovered bodies while working in dangerous conditions
sometimes at great cost to themselves. Apart from safety lamps to detect gases, they had no special equipment. Most deaths in coal mines were caused by the poisonous gases caused by explosions, particularly afterdamp or carbon monoxide.
Survivors of explosions were rare and most apparatus taken underground
was used to fight fires or recover bodies. Early breathing apparatus
derived from under-sea diving was developed and a crude nose and
mouthpiece and breathing tubes was tried in France before 1800. Gas masks
of various types were tried in the early-19th century: some had
chemical filters, others goat skin reservoirs or metal canisters, but
none eliminated carbon dioxide rendering them of limited use.
Theodore Schwann, a German professor working in Belgium, designed
breathing apparatus based on the regenerative process in 1854 and it was
exhibited in Paris in the 1870s but may never have been used.
Henry Fleuss developed Schwann's apparatus into a form of self-contained breathing apparatus in the 1880s and it was used after an explosion at Seaham Colliery in 1881. The apparatus was further developed by Siebe Gorman into the Protorebreather.
In 1908 the Proto apparatus was chosen in a trial of equipment from
several manufacturers to select the most efficient apparatus for use
underground at Howe Bridge Mines Rescue Station and became the standard in rescue stations set up after the Coal Mines Act of 1911. An early use of the breathing apparatus was in the aftermath of an explosion at the Maypole Colliery in Abram
in August 1908. Six trained rescuers at Howe Bridge trained men at
individual collieries in the use of the equipment and at the time of the
Pretoria Pit Disaster in 1910 several hundred trained men participated in the operation.
Mine rescue teams are trained in first aid, the use of a variety of tools, and the operation of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) to work in passages filled with mine gases such as firedamp, afterdamp, chokedamp, and sometimes shallow submersion.
From 1989 to 2004, the SEFAbackpack SCBA was made. Rescuers used it and its successors the Draegerrebreather and Biomarine. Narrow spaces in mines are often too constricted for bulky open circuit sets with big compressed-air cylinders.
The
Grade 2 listed building housing Houghton Le Spring Mines Rescue Station
opened in 1913 and is still part of the British Mines Rescue Service
Altofts Colliery
manager, W.E. Garforth suggested using a "gallery" to test rescue
apparatus and train rescuers in 1899 and one was built at his pit in Altofts West Yorkshire. It cost £13,000. He also suggested the idea of a network of rescue stations. The first British mines rescue station opened at Tankersley in 1902. It was commissioned by the West Yorkshire Coal Mine Owners Association. Its building is grade II listed.
In the United Kingdom a series of disasters in the 19th century brought about Royal Commissions which developed the idea of improving mine safety. The commissions influenced the Coal Mines Act of 1911 which made the provision of rescue stations compulsory.
By 1919 there were 43 stations in the UK but as the coal industry
declined from the last quarter of the 20th century many were closed,
leaving six as of 2013, at Crossgates in Fife, Houghton-le-Spring in Tyne and Wear, Kellingley at Beal in North Yorkshire, Rawdon in Derbyshire, Dinas at Tonypandy in Glamorgan and at Mansfield Woodhouse in Nottinghamshire.
The MRS Training centre at Houghton-le-Spring opened in 1913 is one of
the six surviving British rescue stations which are operated by MRS
Training and Rescue. It is a Grade II listed building.
Mines rescue featured in the 1952 film The Brave Don't Cry which was a testimony to the Knockshinnoch disaster. Mine rescuers have often been recognised in Britain by the award of gallantry medals.
In Britain, mines rescue teams may be called to investigate holes in the ground that have appeared because of land surface subsidence into old mineshafts and mine workings.
First World War
During World War I the British army mined
underneath enemy lines in occupied France, and mine rescue training was
required for the soldiers, often skilled coal-miners who undertook the
work as part of the Tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers. Much documentation on military mining activities was classified information until 1961.
Cave rescue is a highly specialized field of wildernessrescue in which injured, trapped or lost cave explorers are medically treated and extracted from various cave environments.
Cave rescue borrows elements from firefighting, confined space rescue, rope rescue and mountaineering
techniques but has also developed its own special techniques and skills
for performing work in conditions that are almost always difficult and
demanding. Since cave accidents, on an absolute scale, are a very
limited form of incident, and cave rescue is a very specialized skill,
normal emergency staff are rarely employed in the underground elements
of the rescue. Instead, this is usually undertaken by other experienced
cavers who undergo regular training through their organizations and are
called up at need.
Cave rescues are slow, deliberate operations that require both a
high level of organized teamwork and good communication. The extremes of
the cave environment (air temperature, water, vertical depth) dictate
every aspect of a cave rescue. Therefore, the rescuers must adapt skills
and techniques that are as dynamic as the environment they must operate
in.
Overview
A network of international cave rescue units is organised under the banner of the Union Internationale de Spéléologie (UIS). Most international cave rescue units such as the New South Wales Cave Rescue Squad based in Sydney, Australia, are listed with contacts for use in the event of a cave incident.
The world's first cave rescue team, the Cave Rescue Organisation (CRO), was founded in 1935 in Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Like all UK cave rescue groups, it is composed of volunteer cavers and funded entirely by donations.
In the UK, regional groups have 'callout lists' containing the details
of over 1,000 cavers around the country who can be contacted in case of
an emergency. Since 1967, the British Cave Rescue Council (BCRC) has coordinated cave rescue organizations in the United Kingdom.
Organized cave rescue units in the United States
are generally city/county funded volunteer squads, composed mainly of
seasoned, local cavers. A pioneer organization in cave rescue in the
1960s was the CRCN (Cave Rescue Communications Network). Although it was
not, itself, a rescue unit, it served to organize communications and
coordinate contacting experienced cavers in the area to facilitate a
rescue. The CRCN nominally operated out of Washington, DC, and covered
the mid-Atlantic area. The typical Southeastern US
cave rescue team averages between 15 and 20 active members. Due to the
excessive amount of manpower required for a large-scale cave rescue, it
is not uncommon for multiple cave rescue units from various regions to
assist another in extensive underground operations. Because organized
cave rescue teams are quite rare, it is also quite common for local
units to cover regions that extend far beyond the area they are
nominally responsible for. The number of cave rescues in North America
are relatively small compared to other common wilderness rescues. The
average number of reported cave related incidents is usually 40 to 50
per year. In most years, approximately 10 percent of reported accidents
result in death.
In the US, the leading cave rescue training curriculum is developed and deployed by the National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC), which operates as part of the National Speleological Society (NSS). The NCRC is not an operational cave rescue unit, but the organization is composed of members of regional rescue squads. The NCRC offers training
across the country in the form of two-day orientation classes as well
as longer regional and national week-long training classes. The
National Cave Rescue Operations and Management Seminar is a week-long
class offering 4 different levels of training and is held in different
locations around the country every year.
Historical examples
Floyd Collins from Sand Cave, Kentucky
in 1925. Likely the first high-profile cave rescue in history. Collins'
desperate situation in the depths of Sand Cave made headlines across
America. Over 10,000 spectators flocked to Sand Cave in the week
following the news of Floyd's predicament. The National Guard
was called in to control the carnival-like atmosphere surrounding the
cave. Despite the heroic efforts of volunteers who attempted to dig a
parallel shaft to free Collins, he was found dead, buried to his
shoulders in debris. One 25-pound rock had jammed Collin's foot,
preventing his escape. Collins remained trapped in Sand Cave for another
2 months until a crew of German engineers finished the digging of the
shaft and extracted his body.
Marcel Loubens from Gouffre de la Pierre-Saint-Martin in the French Pyrenees
in August 1952. Loubens died from a fatal plunge down the 1,135-foot
(346 m) entrance shaft after a clasp on his harness broke on ascent.
Members of Loubens' expedition spent over 24 hours attempting
unsuccessfully to haul their friend back to the surface. Despite the
efforts of the team doctor, Loubens died 36 hours into his ill-fated
rescue attempt. After his passing the remaining members aborted their
recovery attempt. Louben's body remained in the cave for two more years
before cavers returned him to the surface in 1954. The blood transfusion given to Loubens by the team doctor was likely the first subterranean care of its kind.
Neil Moss in Peak Cavern, England in 1959. Trapped in a narrow tunnel, he was eventually suffocated by carbon dioxide
after prolonged efforts to free him. Rescuers were unable to free Moss
and eventually the family asked that his body remain in the cave.
James G. Mitchell from Schroeder's Pants Cave in Manheim, New York in 1965. Mitchell was a 23-year-old chemist whose death made national headlines in February 1965 when he died of hypothermia
after becoming stranded on rope in a 75-foot (23 m) pit with a frigid
waterfall. Initial efforts to recover Mitchell's body failed. A rescue
team was flown from Washington, D.C. on Air Force 2.
A subsequent three-day effort to retrieve Mitchell was aborted after
repeated failures and a collapse. The cave was abandoned and blasted
shut, essentially making the cave a tomb. Mitchell's death made
headlines again forty-one years later when a group returned to the cave
and successfully recovered his remains.
In 1967, six cavers were in Mossdale Caverns in North Yorkshire
when a flash flood inundated the system. A major rescue attempt was
made, but the men were discovered to have perished in the flood. It
remains the worst caving disaster in the UK. Their remains were retrieved and buried further in the system four years later.
Eight amateur cavers were found alive by divers after two days trapped in a Kentucky cave after flooding in 1983.
Emily Davis Mobley from Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico
in 1991. More than 200 people worked over four days to bring her to the
surface after her leg was broken. This was the deepest and most remote
cave rescue in American history.
A diving instructor was trapped in a cave air pocket in Venulzela in 1992 and later rescued by two American divers.
Gerald Moni from McBrides Cave in Alabama in 1997. Moni and his group entered McBrides Cave in flood stage attempting a pull-down trip to the cave's lower entrance. A flash flood
caused the situation in the cave to become extremely hazardous. While
attempting to negotiate a pit being inundated with a high flow of water,
Gerald mistakenly grabbed only one of two ropes necessary to descend
the pit. The resultant fall to a ledge part way down the drop resulted
in a broken femur.
A few members of the group managed to negotiate the lower stream
passage before it sumped and reached the surface. The others remained
with Moni until local rescue agencies could mobilize and attempt a
rescue. Rescue teams spent hours waiting for the water levels in the
cave to recede enough to attempt an extraction. When teams finally
reached Moni, he had been exposed to frigid water for over 12 hours.
Rescue teams risked drowning themselves and Moni while traversing the
flooded lower cave. 18 hours after his fall Gerald was returned to the
surface alive.
Alpazat cave rescue
in 2004. Several British military personnel on a recreational
expedition were trapped in a cave in Mexico after flooding. They were
rescued after nine days underground by Richard Stanton and Jason Mallinson from the British Cave Rescue Organisation.
John Edward Jones in Nutty Putty Cave in Utah
November 2009. John, an experienced caver, had become wedged in an
unmapped portion of Ed's Push at a 170-degree downward angle with his
feet over his head complicating rescue. After some 24+ hours they had
been able to move him two feet upward, and lower down food and water,
when a part of the rescue rope system failed dropping him fully back
into the wedge. It was after this that he became much too weak to help
the rescuers in their efforts and he died shortly thereafter. Following
this, it was decided by the family and landowner to leave his body in
place and seal the cave permanently.
In February 2014 two Finnish divers died in Jordbrugrotta, Norway. Norwegian authorities summoned an international team of cave divers including Britons Richard Stanton, John Volanthen
and Jason Mallinson to recover the bodies. After diving to the site,
they deemed the operation too difficult. A diving ban was later given
for the cave. However, the involved Finnish divers returned later
without official authorisation and recovered the bodies. Their recovery expedition was filmed as the documentary Diving Into The Unknown. The diving ban was overturned on 31 March 2014.
Riesending cave rescue in 2014. Johann Westhauser was hit on the head by a boulder 1,148 metres (3,766 ft) below the entrance of Riesending Cave, in Germany. 728 people were involved in his evacuation which took 11 days.
Tham Luang cave rescue in 2018. Twelve members of the Moo Pa (Wild Boar) soccer team, aged 11–17, and one coach were trapped in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Thailand. A search was immediately commenced when a ranger of the National Park in Chiang Rai
province alerted authorities of the missing boys after seeing their
unclaimed belongings at the entrance to the cave. The team was located,
alive, on 2 July 2018 by British divers Richard Stanton and John Volanthen;
they were assisted later by Jason Mallinson. More than 1,000 people
were involved in the rescue operation, including teams from China, Myanmar, Laos, Australia, the UK, and the United States.
In the United States
Organized Cave Rescue Teams generally utilize the Incident Command System
(ICS). Originally devised for wildland fire teams, today the ICS is
used by a variety of agencies throughout North America. The ICS can be
modified by each agency depending on the nature of their emergencies.
Below is an example of a typical cave rescue Incident Command System.
Members of the Chattanooga/Hamilton County Cave Team haul a critically injured patient from a 50-foot pit using a guiding line.
is responsible for all activities, including the development and
implementation of strategic decisions during the course of an incident.
The IC monitors all aspects of an operation including planning,
logistics, communications and information.
Underground manager
usually responsible for implementation of the plan provided by the
incident commander. The underground manager assigns and monitors vital
tasks including rigging, medical, patient packaging and transport, and
communications with the IC on the surface. The underground manager is
also usually responsible for the safety of the entire underground team.
Initial response team
a small unit of first responders. The task of the IRT is to travel
through the cave to the patient and evaluate the situation with the
purpose of reporting back to the appropriate manager. The IRT usually
includes the medical personnel so medical intervention can begin early
if necessary.
Medical team
varies in size and level of the medics ability from agency to
agency. The medical team rarely participates in any other rescue
function other than managing patient care.
Communications team
responsible for creating and maintaining communications between the
teams in the cave and the Incident Commander. A common means of
communications on a cave rescue are military field phones. Military
phones are reliable but heavy, and the need for abundant amounts of
com-line can make running communications deep into a cave difficult.
Another, more advanced type of communication, are low frequency radios,
which eliminate the need for thousands of feet of com line in a cave.
Low frequency radios can communicate through thousands of feet of solid
rock, making them ideal for use deep into caves.
Rigging team
responsible for one or more stations in a cave that require the
rigging of ropes or systems to safely transport the patient and
emergency personnel through the cave. In a large scale rescue, many
rigging teams could be scattered throughout a cave, assigned with
multiple tasks.
Litter team
made up of rescue personnel that are not already assigned to
rigging, communications, medical or management positions. The
responsibility of the Litter Team is the packaging and safe transport of the patient through the cave.
Entrance control
responsible for the logging of all personnel entering and leaving a
cave. In some cases the Entrance Control could also be assigned the duty
of logging all gear entering and leaving the cave. This is an important
task on any cave rescue.
Caving – also known as spelunking in the United States and Canada and potholing in the United Kingdom and Ireland – is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems (as distinguished from show caves). In contrast, speleology is the scientific study of caves and the cave environment.
The challenges involved in caving vary according to the cave
being visited; in addition to the total absence of light beyond the
entrance, negotiating pitches, squeezes, and water hazards can be difficult. Cave diving is a distinct, and more hazardous, sub-speciality undertaken by a small minority of technically proficient cavers.
In an area of overlap between recreational pursuit and scientific
study, the most devoted and serious-minded cavers become accomplished at
the surveying and mapping of caves
and the formal publication of their efforts. These are usually
published freely and publicly, especially in the UK and other European
countries, although in the US, these are generally private.
Sometimes categorized as an "extreme sport",
it is not commonly considered as such by longtime enthusiasts, who may
dislike the term for its connotation of disregard for safety.
Caving is often undertaken for the enjoyment of the outdoor activity or for physical exercise, as well as original exploration, similar to mountaineering or diving. Physical or biological science is also an important goal for some cavers, while others are engaged in cave photography. Virgin cave systems comprise some of the last unexplored regions on Earth
and much effort is put into trying to locate, enter and survey them. In
well-explored regions (such as most developed nations), the most
accessible caves have already been explored, and gaining access to new
caves often requires cave digging or cave diving.
Caving, in certain areas, has also been utilized as a form of eco and adventure tourism, for example in New Zealand.
Tour companies have established an industry leading and guiding tours
into and through caves. Depending on the type of cave and the type of
tour, the experience could be adventure-based or ecological-based. There
are tours led through lava tubes by a guiding service (e.g. Lava River Cave, the oceanic islands of Tenerife, Iceland and Hawaii).
Caving has also been described as an "individualist's team sport" by some,
as cavers can often make a trip without direct physical assistance from
others but will generally go in a group for companionship or to provide
emergency help if needed. Some however consider the assistance cavers
give each other as a typical team sport activity.
Etymology
The base term caving comes from the Latin cavea or caverna, meaning simply, a cave.
Potholing refers to the act of exploring potholes, a word originating in the north of England for predominantly vertical caves.
Clay Perry, an American caver of the 1940s, wrote about a group of men and boys who explored and studied caves throughout New England. This group referred to themselves as spelunkers, a term derived from the Latinspēlunca ("cave, cavern, den"), itself from the Greekσπῆλυγξspēlynks ("cave"). This is regarded as the first use of the word in the Americas. Throughout the 1950s, spelunking was the general term used for exploring caves in US English. It was used freely, without any positive or negative connotations, although only rarely outside the US.
In the 1960s, the terms spelunking and spelunker began to be considered déclassé among experienced enthusiasts. In 1985, Steve Knutson – editor of the National Speleological Society (NSS) publication American Caving Accidents – made the following distinction:
…Note that I use the term
'spelunker' to denote someone untrained and unknowledgeable in current
exploration techniques, and 'caver' for those who are.
This sentiment is exemplified by bumper stickers
and T-shirts displayed by some cavers: "Cavers rescue spelunkers".
Nevertheless, outside the caving community, "spelunking" and
"spelunkers" predominately remain neutral terms referring to the
practice and practitioners, without any respect to skill level.
Caving as a specialized pursuit was pioneered by Édouard-Alfred Martel (1859–1938), who first achieved the descent and exploration of the Gouffre de Padirac,
in France, as early as 1889 and the first complete descent of a
110-metre wet vertical shaft at Gaping Gill in 1895. He developed his
own techniques based on ropes and metallic ladders. Martel visited Kentucky and notably Mammoth Cave National Park in October 1912. In the 1920s famous US caver Floyd Collins
made important explorations in the area and in the 1930s, as caving
became increasingly popular, small exploration teams both in the Alps and in the karstic high plateaus of southwest France (Causses and Pyrenees) transformed cave exploration into both a scientific and recreational activity. Robert de Joly, Guy de Lavaur and Norbert Casteret were prominent figures of that time, surveying mostly caves in Southwest France. During World War II, an alpine team composed of Pierre Chevalier, Fernand Petzl, Charles Petit-Didier and others explored the Dent de Crolles cave system near Grenoble,
which became the deepest explored system in the world (-658m) at that
time. The lack of available equipment during the war forced Pierre
Chevalier and the rest of the team to develop their own equipment,
leading to technical innovation. The scaling-pole (1940), nylon ropes
(1942), use of explosives in caves (1947) and mechanical rope-ascenders
(Henri Brenot's "monkeys", first used by Chevalier and Brenot in a cave
in 1934) can be directly associated to the exploration of the Dent de
Crolles cave system.
In 1941, American cavers organized themselves into the National Speleological Society (NSS) to advance the exploration, conservation, study and understanding of caves in the United States. American caver Bill Cuddington, known as "Vertical Bill", further developed the single-rope technique
(SRT) in the late 1950s. In 1958, two Swiss alpinists, Juesi and Marti
teamed together, creating the first rope ascender known as the Jumar.
In 1968 Bruno Dressler asked Fernand Petzl, who worked as a metals
machinist, to build a rope-ascending tool, today known as the Petzl Croll,
that he had developed by adapting the Jumar to vertical caving.
Pursuing these developments, Petzl started in the 1970s a caving
equipment manufacturing company named Petzl. The development of the rappel rack
and the evolution of mechanical ascension systems extended the practice
and safety of vertical exploration to a wider range of cavers.
Practice and equipment
Caver in an Alabama cave showing common caving wear: coveralls, helmet-mounted lights, heavy boots and gloves.
Hard hats
are worn to protect the head from bumps and falling rocks. The caver's
primary light source is usually mounted on the helmet in order to keep
the hands free. Electric LED
lights are most common. Many cavers carry two or more sources of light –
one as primary and the others as backup in case the first fails. More
often than not, a second light will be mounted to the helmet for quick
transition if the primary fails. Carbide lamp
systems are an older form of illumination, inspired by miner's
equipment, and are still used by some cavers, particularly on remote
expeditions where electric charging facilities are not available.
The type of clothes
worn underground varies according to the environment of the cave being
explored, and the local culture. In cold caves, the caver may wear a
warm base layer that retains its insulating properties when wet, such as
a fleece ("furry") suit or polypropylene underwear, and an oversuit of hard-wearing (e.g., cordura) or waterproof (e.g., PVC)
material. Lighter clothing may be worn in warm caves, particularly if
the cave is dry, and in tropical caves thin polypropylene clothing is
used, to provide some abrasion protection while remaining as cool as
possible. Wetsuits may be worn if the cave is particularly wet or involves stream passages. On the feet boots are worn – hiking-style boots in drier caves, or rubber boots (such as wellies) often with neoprene socks ("wetsocks") in wetter caves. Knee-pads (and sometimes elbow-pads)
are popular for protecting joints during crawls. Depending on the
nature of the cave, gloves are sometimes worn to protect the hands
against abrasion or cold. In pristine areas and for restoration, clean
oversuits and powder-free, non-latex surgical gloves are used to protect the cave itself from contaminants.
Ropes are used for descending or ascending pitches (single rope technique or SRT) or for protection. Knots commonly used in caving are the figure-of-eight- (or figure-of-nine-) loop, bowline, alpine butterfly, and Italian hitch. Ropes are usually rigged using bolts, slings, and carabiners. In some cases cavers may choose to bring and use a flexible metal ladder.
In addition to the equipment already described, cavers frequently carry packs containing first-aid kits, emergency equipment, and food. Containers for securely transporting urine are also commonly carried. On longer trips, containers for securely transporting feces out of the cave are carried.
During very long trips, it may be necessary to camp in the cave –
some cavers have stayed underground for many days, or in particularly
extreme cases, for weeks at a time. This is particularly the case when
exploring or mapping very extended cave systems, where it would be
impractical to retrace the route back to the surface regularly. Such
long trips necessitate the cavers carrying provisions, sleeping and
cooking equipment.
Safety
A caver begins rope descent of a vertical shaft using an abseil rack.
Caves can be dangerous places; hypothermia, falling, flooding, falling rocks and physical exhaustion
are the main risks. Rescuing people from underground is difficult and
time-consuming, and requires special skills, training, and equipment.
Full-scale cave rescues often involve the efforts of dozens of rescue
workers (often other long-time cavers who have participated in
specialized courses, as normal rescue staff are not sufficiently
experienced in cave environments), who may themselves be put in jeopardy
in effecting the rescue. This said, caving is not necessarily a
high-risk sport (especially if it does not involve difficult climbs or
diving). As in all physical sports, knowing one's limitations is key.
Caving in warmer climates carries the risk of contracting histoplasmosis, a fungal infection that is contracted from bird or bat droppings. It can cause pneumonia and can disseminate in the body to cause continued infections.
In many parts of the world, leptospirosis ("a type of bacterial infection spread by animals" including rats)
is a distinct threat due to the presence of rat urine in rainwater or
precipitation that enters the caves water system. Complications are
uncommon, but can be serious.
Safety risks while caving can be minimized by using a number of
techniques:
Checking that there is no danger of flooding during the
expedition. Rainwater funneled underground can flood a cave very
quickly, trapping people in cut-off passages and drowning them. In the UK, drowning accounts for almost half of all caving fatalities (see List of UK caving fatalities).
Using teams of several cavers, preferably at least four. If an
injury occurs, one caver stays with the injured person while the other
two go out for help, providing assistance to each other on their way
out.
Notifying people outside the cave as to the intended return time.
After an appropriate delay without a return, these will then organize a
search party (usually made up by other cavers trained in cave rescues, as even professional emergency personnel are unlikely to have the skills to effect a rescue in difficult conditions).
Use of helmet-mounted lights (hands-free) with extra batteries.
American cavers recommend a minimum of three independent sources of
light per person, but two lights is common practice among European cavers.
Sturdy clothing and footwear, as well as a helmet,
are necessary to reduce the impact of abrasions, falls, and falling
objects. Synthetic fibers and woolens, which dry quickly, shed water,
and are warm when wet, are vastly preferred to cotton materials, which
retain water and increase the risk of hypothermia. It is also helpful to
have several layers of clothing, which can be shed (and stored in the
pack) or added as needed. In watery cave passages, polypropylene thermal underwear or wetsuits may be required to avoid hypothermia.
Cave passages look different from different directions. In long or
complex caves, even experienced cavers can become lost. To reduce the
risk of becoming lost, it is necessary to memorize the appearance of key
navigational points in the cave as they are passed by the exploring
party. Each member of a cave party shares responsibility for being able
to remember the route out of the cave. In some caves it may be
acceptable to mark a small number of key junctions with small stacks or
"cairns" of rocks, or to leave a non-permanent mark such as
high-visibility flagging tape tied to a projection.
Vertical caving
uses ladders or single rope technique (SRT) to avoid the need for
climbing passages that are too difficult. SRT however is a complex skill
and requires proper training before use underground and needs
well-maintained equipment. Some drops that are abseiled down may be as deep as several hundred meters (for example Harwood Hole).
Cave conservation
Many cave environments are very fragile. Many speleothems
can be damaged by even the slightest touch and some by impacts as
slight as a breath. Research suggests that increased carbon dioxide
levels can lead to "a higher equilibrium concentration of calcium within
the drip waters feeding the speleothems, and hence causes dissolution
of existing features."
In 2008, researchers found evidence that respiration from cave
visitors may generate elevated carbon dioxide concentrations in caves,
leading to increased temperatures of up to 3 °C and a dissolution of
existing features.
Pollution is also of concern. Since water that flows through a
cave eventually comes out in streams and rivers, any pollution may
ultimately end up in someone's drinking water, and can even seriously
affect the surface environment, as well. Even minor pollution such as
dropping organic material can have a dramatic effect on the cave biota.
Cave-dwelling species are also very fragile, and often, a
particular species found in a cave may live within that cave alone, and
be found nowhere else in the world, such as Alabama cave shrimp.
Cave-dwelling species are accustomed to a near-constant climate of
temperature and humidity, and any disturbance can be disruptive to the
species' life cycles. Though cave wildlife may not always be immediately
visible, it is typically nonetheless present in most caves.
Bats are one such fragile species of cave-dwelling animal. Bats which hibernate
are most vulnerable during the winter season, when no food supply
exists on the surface to replenish the bat's store of energy should it
be awakened from hibernation. Bats which migrate
are most sensitive during the summer months when they are raising their
young. For these reasons, visiting caves inhabited by hibernating bats
is discouraged during cold months; and visiting caves inhabited by
migratory bats is discouraged during the warmer months when they are
most sensitive and vulnerable. Due to an affliction affecting bats in
the northeastern US known as white nose syndrome (WNS), the US Fish & Wildlife Service has called for a moratorium
effective March 26, 2009, on caving activity in states known to have
hibernacula (MD, NY, VT, NH, MA, CT, NJ, PA, VA, and WV) affected by
WNS, as well as adjoining states.
Some cave passages may be marked with flagging tape or other
indicators to show biologically, aesthetically, or archaeologically
sensitive areas. Marked paths may show ways around notably fragile areas
such as a pristine floor of sand or silt
which may be thousands of years old, dating from the last time water
flowed through the cave. Such deposits may easily be spoiled forever by a
single misplaced step. Active formations such as flowstone
can be similarly marred with a muddy footprint or handprint, and
ancient human artifacts, such as fiber products, may even crumble to
dust under all but the most gentle touch.
In 1988, concerned that cave resources were becoming increasingly damaged through unregulated use, Congress enacted the Federal Cave Resources Protection Act, giving land management agencies in the United States expanded authority to manage cave conservation on public land.
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