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Crisis Management
Dilemmas of Crisis Management
Crisis management and Incident Command System (ICS):
New Orleans' Hurricane Katrina and the SARS (Severe Acute Respirator Syndrome) outbreak in Toronto
Hurricane Katrina was a natural, weather-related disaster; SARS (Severe Acute Respirator Syndrome) was an unexpected disease outbreak. Both presented logistical and biological challenges that challenged the existing disaster mitigation policies of the cities of New Orleans and Toronto respectively. While hindsight is always 20/20, according to the cliche, arguably both cities could have been much better prepared for the disasters which they suffered. New Orleans was notoriously flood-prone and had endured the challenges of poorly-coordinated disaster responses in the past; Toronto's public health system did not engage in effective disease mitigation efforts when confronted with a new pathogen.
Arguably, the extent to which Hurricane Katrina caused damage to the city of New Orleans was somewhat predictable, given the nature of its location. The city, however, although it did have a disaster mitigation plan was not fully prepared for the extent of the damage which included three significant breaches of the levees. The city filled up with water, leaving residents scrambling for their roofs (Scott 2006: 27). Despite the fact that the possibility of a horrific hurricane impacting the city had been long-predicted, almost inevitably some individuals will dismiss warnings as mere 'Chicken Little' worrying...
Prior to landfall, the city had 'felt' prepared, given its activation of emergency escape plans; readiness of shelters; and preparation of equipment (Scott 2006: 2). The city had also had 'preparation' in the form of Hurricane Ivan which posed many of these similar challenges (Scott 2006: 6). However, certain aspects of the needed crisis management for the event, including the fact that many were unable to evacuate using personal vehicles (as was originally assumed) and the long-term nature of the shelters needed, were unanticipated
The Katrina response has been called a failure partially due to a total breakdown of information sharing and communication between local, state, and federal authorities. Information-sharing is critical during a natural disaster during which the clock is ticking. The most effective means of communication were cellphones and the Internet (Garnett & Kouzmin 2007: 179). Between more formal channels of communication between responders, there was a great deal of mistrust and contempt, including state agencies which picked up a great deal of the 'slack' left by underfunded FEMA (Garnett & Kouzmin 2007: 181).
Although storms can be difficult to predict, arguably the severity of a storm like Katrina should have been better-anticipated: given the logistical nature of New Orleans' setup as…
References
Garnett, J. & Kouzmin, A. (2007). Communicating through Katrina: Competing and complementary conceptual lenses on crisis communication. Public Administration Review, 171-188.
Scott, E. (2006). Hurricane Katrina Preparing for the 'Big One' in New Orleans. Kennedy School of Government.
Varley, P. (2005). Emergency response system under duress: The public health fight to contain
SARS in Toronto. Kennedy School of Government.
Introduction to the Incident Command System (ICS) The Incident Command System (ICS) is a standardized organization model or method for incident response and management during disasters. The system is made up of standard management and leadership hierarchy procedures, including processes meant to support various types of incidents. It does not just respect jurisdictional and agency authority, but also supports synchronized efforts among different disaster response and management teams and agencies. ICS
(Jones, Kowalk and Miller, 2000) The following is an example of these classifications. Figure 1 Risk Assessment Matrix Source: Jones, Kowalk and Miller (2000) III. PUBLIC SECTOR'S RESPONSIBILITIES The critical incident management plan is important in the community response provided and this includes the response of emergency responders, police officers, the fire departments as well as others who are involved in such plans. The first duty of the public sector is to maintain community
Crisis Management ICS in New Orleans and Toronto In both the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the outbreak of SARS in Toronto, the Incident Command System (ICS) had to implemented, yet both instances presented challenges to its implementation. In the former, the convergence of disparate agencies fueled an already chaotic situation, as few of the agencies were ICS prepared. In the latter, the outbreak was fueled by intensive, fear-causing media coverage, which
National Incident Management System Theoretical Analysis of National Incident Management System (NIMS) The Federal Government established the National Incident Management System (NIMS) under the Homeland Security Presidential Directive number 5 in February 2003. The Secretary of Homeland Security played an important role of developing and administering national incident management system. NIMS provide a reliable and consistent approach to responding to all forms of incidents irrespective of size and scope (Walsh 2012). The
287). Communications during Emergencies The Stephens & Grant article on p. 286 notes that emergency management coordinators often find it difficult to communicate their goals and needs to major groups working with, in part because their priorities are not the same of those local executives have. I believe this to be true; emergency managers are trained specialists whose expertise lies in providing comprehensive care in an emergent situation; local executives often
Homeland Security, NIMS, and ICS Through initiatives designed to continually improve the procedures integral to the operations of state-level Homeland Security, the agency may review the fit between the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident Command System (ICS) models and the desired outcomes of its own operations. These reviews can result in closer alignment across the three organizations, an objective with the potential to substantively increase overall cross-agency operational effectiveness.