Relationship Between Disaster Science and Emergency Management

Emergency management is essential in dealing with natural and man-made disasters. Over the past few years, the scale of national and man-made disasters has increased and attracted the attention of various stakeholders. Machlis (2019) notes that environmental and technological disasters have increased in number, intensity, scale, and impact. Consequently, relevant professionals in emergency management are increasingly looking for measures to respond to and manage emergencies. Emergency management initiatives are geared toward addressing challenges brought by natural and man-made disasters. Science plays an important role in addressing emergencies because it is at the core of these incidents. According to Machlis (2019), science plays an important role in responding to emergencies across various disciplines including biological, social, physical, cultural, medical, and engineering disciplines. The role of science in this process has contributed to the emergence of the concept of disaster science.

Disaster science refers to a discipline that focuses on examining the effect of catastrophic incidents on natural and man-made environments. This field deals with catastrophic events that are brought about by the natural processes and nature of the earth. Disaster science entails the classification of risks based on an essential understanding of natural catastrophic events and measures to lessen these risks. In this case, disaster science also involves acknowledgment of the causes of exposure and vulnerability to catastrophic events. Disaster...

Through disaster science, professionals in the field of emergency management develop measures to predict, anticipate, and lessen disaster risks.

Therefore, scientific literacy is an important core competency for emergency managers as it helps in the development of proactive approaches to predicting, anticipating, and lessening disaster risks. Science is essentially at the heart of emergency management processes and approaches (Schmid, 2006). Scientific literacy enables...

…of disasters. This field is likely to witness increased collaboration between diverse stakeholders. As a result of the increased collaboration, emergency management will primarily become an interdisciplinary field that focuses more on the prevention of all kinds of disasters, particularly man-made disasters.

For the field of emergency management to continue advancing, emergency managers need to innovate and enhance information sharing through networking. This is an essential change that will help enhance the involvement of various stakeholders and the creation of multi-disciplinary approaches to emergency management. Secondly, professionals in this field will need to increasingly adopt and utilize technology. In so doing, innovative ways for emergency management will be developed resulting in advancements to the profession. Third, emergency management will need to be integrated into peoples daily lives given the increase in the number, frequency, and impact of disasters. This would involve increased awareness and commitment to emergency mitigation efforts. This change will help advance the profession by improving the prediction and anticipation of…