Role of FEMA in the Event of a National Grid Outage
The objective of this study is to examine the role of FEMA in the event of a national grid outage. This will be accomplished through a review of literature in this area of inquiry.
A national grid outage could occur for various reasons including CME flares of the Sun, terrorists attack damaging the grid or weather events that shut the grid down for days, weeks, months, or even longer than a year's time. Should any of these events occur resulting in a national grid outage, FEMA has a critical role to play in responding to such a situation.
FEMA's Role
FEMA is reported to be charged with providing support to both first responders and U.S. citizens in the event of a disaster and to make sure that "as a nation we work together to build, sustain and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards." (Disaster Philanthropy, 2013, p.1) FEMA is reported to be rather than the sole provider of assistance in such events but instead is a public-private partnership that supports "best practices, established protocols, joint training and preparation, shared situational analysis and the full awareness of area resources." (Disaster Philanthropy, 2013, p.1) There is a great deal of dependence of FEMA, the Red Cross and National Grid on Smartphones and other mobile devices for use in communications between citizens, agencies and their responders, and FEMA's local partners in the event of a national grid outage. This is a great method as long as everyone still has battery charge left in their mobile devices but as time wears on during such a crisis, this method of communication and resource dissemination is likely to fail miserably.
II. FEMA's Role Yet Unknown in National Grid Outage
Perhaps the unknown is the reason that there is to be a drill in November of this year, which simulates a national grid outage. FEMA and its partnerships in local and city governments along with other agencies will have a drill in November that involves the scenario of responding to a national grid outage. This will provide FEMA and its partnership agencies with the opportunity to identify gaps in their plans and to optimize their potential to respond to the needs of the population during such a crisis.
Summary and Conclusion
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