FEMA S Role in Haiti S Disaster Response

¶ … Earthquake Crisis in Haiti

A country such as Haiti is vulnerable to natural disasters. Following the 2010 earthquake, they have already instituted the necessary capabilities to plan and mitigate such disaster. For instance, they have already upgraded their seismic surveillance networks. Although it is impossible to predict earthquakes where identifiable precursor events precede very few, the networks could speed up emergency response and offer early warnings to the tsunami-prone region. This is achieved by providing the location and intensity of the tremors.

Following a major earthquake in 2010, various local and regional warning system centers have been established (Gursky et al. 2012). The UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission coordinates these centers by setting up regional coordinating teams for Haiti and the adjacent regions. This initiative has been hailed as the most effective warning capacity for the Haiti because the successful response to a disaster entails early warning and timely information of potential hazards. Haiti is constantly enhancing its early warning and national emergency capabilities. Moreover, the national government has often deferred to their territories and provinces for the choice of the systems to adopt. The newly acquired warning systems include phone messaging systems, cable override systems, sirens and radio broadcasts

Haiti has also adopted recent Information Communication Technologies (ICT) to improve weather forecasts (Gursky et al. 2012). Often, the National Meteorological Agency is responsible for the initial warning regarding weather-related disasters. In Haiti, they depend on ground-based radar networks, although nowadays they are also using satellite data that allows almost continuous monitoring of global weather. A satellite furnishes information for a vast geographical area covering oceans, enhancements in forecasting has made Haiti's warning system more efficient.

The idea of using telephone-based warnings for emergency warnings has increased in Haiti rapidly, particularly due to the explosive developments in mobile networks (Gursky et al. 2012). For instance, Haiti's emergency alerts enable territories to issue warnings to mobile and landline telephones connected to properties in locations identified as being at risk. Since it became operational in 2011, it has been used approximately 200 times for storm surge and flood incidents and has issued over two million messages (Rao et al. 2007). Moreover, Haiti has received supplemental aids in the form of loans and grants to develop a local hazard mitigation program. The aim of this program is hazard mitigation. Various stakeholders including non-profit organizations, volunteer groups, environmental, charitable bodies, and the business community have been incorporated as potential sources of financial support, particularly with an incentive to participate.

Currently, various U.S. tools can be applied to natural disasters such as the Haiti earthquake. FEMA formulated the National Disaster Recovery Framework, which serves as a complaint document that guides disaster-prone areas such as Haiti to promote successful recovery, especially for catastrophes or large incidents. In the case of Haiti, the NDRF offered an overarching inter-agency coordination framework for the recovery phase of the earthquakes. In addition, various components of the framework can be used for significant disaster incidents (Rao et al. 2007).