Disaster Plan in the Modern Era, it

Disaster Plan

In the modern era, it is important that government from the federal to the local level have risk management plans in place for natural disasters, man-made issues and of course, terrorism. Generally speaking, risk management helps identify, prioritize and put plans in place regarding areas of risk that can impact the community. The overall purpose of risk management is so that agencies can be proactive in their identification and implementing plans for disasters and risks since in the modern world these plans involve numerous agencies and complex coordination. Thankfully, standards have been developed that organize risk management by looking at six general paradigms: 1) Identifying risks in the context of the area (e.g. flood planning is less important in Arizona than in Louisiana); 2) Planning a process to mitigate the situation (who is in charge); 3) Mapping the objectives of stakeholders (who will be involved); 4) Developing a framework/map for different risks; 5) Assessing and putting into place analysis tools and communications protocols; and finally, 6) Putting a plan into place that uses the tools and personnel identified for specific types of disasters (Wan, 2009; Frenkel, et al., 2005).

In the United States, for instance, the two lead agencies for disaster planning and management are the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Since the United States is divided into regions, it is the task under FEMA, to help local agencies adequately manage plans and resources under the National Incident Management System. Very important to this system is local and citizen involvement and agencies from local to federal have been tasked to provide training through FEMA managed Community Response Teams. In fact, as part of its Charter, FEMA has provisions to encourage and develop dialog, coordination and networking between experts in certain types of disasters (floods, earthquakes, severe weather, bombings, etc.) and communities so that enough preplanning can occur to anticipate and prevent needless and wasted time should a disaster occur (Ruben, 2007).

For illustrative purposes, let us suppose our disaster was an earthquake in a medium sized town at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Immediately, once the earthquake was detected, the Governor of Colorado would contact FEMA and liaison through agencies for support from disaster relief and medical personnel. The National Guard for local areas would be called in for air rescue, emergency medical case, airlifts to nearby hospitals and crime control. The Colorado Division of Emergency Management would likely be the coordinating agency in charge and manage resources. FEMA would fly in personnel to help coordinate with citizen groups as necessary (FEMA, 2013, VOAD, 2013, Colorado Division of Emergency Management, 2013).

The Plan might look something like this:

Issue

Primary Agency

Considerations

Time of day and schoolchildren

Local Agencies; Sherriff, State Patrol, FEMA offices

Schools have disaster preparedness drills to exit children; Ensure children are well aware from buildings and potential falling objects; move to safe area to await evacuation.

Older or infirm adults

Use hospital and doctor registries; as well as pharmaceutical lists of patients with medical needs.

Use local police and volunteer agencies to move through neighborhoods and find distressed individuals.

Penal Population

Bring in extra staff from the U.S. Marshall's Office, the FBI, and other agencies from surrounding counties to ensure no rioting or disorderly conduct.

The seriousness of this issue is entirely depends on the level of earthquake preparedness in the architecture of the penal institutions. Being Federal, there should be mandates in place. Still, to keep order and ensure smooth transitions to normality.