Local Response Terrorism the City

Local Response Terrorism

The City of Hampton Virginia does have a very detailed and thorough plan for distribution of emergency services in the event of a disaster caused by a potential terrorist attack. By reviewing the City's "Emergency Operations Plan," it is clear that it is taking a multifaceted approach to emergency management, and thus incorporating detailed plans for a variety of agencies to split duties and responsibilities with.

The City's plans do correlate with some of the major standards outlined by the NIMS guidelines. For example, the City has an outlined strategy for it and the various emergency agencies within it to work towards strong provisional and preparedness operations (National Response Team, 2004). Hampton has a number of strategies and policies in place that require various emergency response agencies to routinely conduct in order to prepare for the event of an emergency, like that of a terrorist attack. The plans of the City also bundle responsibilities and resources based on what is known as Emergency Support Functions (City of Hampton, 2012). This essentially aligns with the NIMS concept of standardization.

Still, there are several issues with the current plan that may prove problematic in the event of a terrorist attack. For example, the plan outlines warning systems only on local TV and radio stations (City of Hampton, 2012). If a terrorist attack were to be the major emergency, the design of the attack might include a strategy of knocking out traditional warning systems to minimize knowledge of the attack. With the public not in tune to more complex emergency response communication systems, they might be vulnerable. This shows a clear problem in prevention methods. Setting up a system like that which is used in tsunami areas might help better prepare citizens who would then be in need of the emergency services. Moreover, the only emergency shelter locations outlined in the plan are public schools. This places a lot of responsibility and burden for these schools to design and implement their own emergency system. Working with other local government agencies and community centers, like churches as YMCAs might help take a load off of the public school system, which is already strained in this weakened economy and might not be able to provide efficient planning for 25% or more of a population that would be affected?

Question 2

One of the worst natural disasters in American history was Hurricane Katrina, which rocked the coast along the Gulf Coast. Unfortunately, there were a number of logistical mistakes that caused the emergency response teams and agencies on the local and federal levels to fail at appropriately conducting their logistics plans in order to bring the best relief to those desperately in need. A lack of local understanding by FEMA and & #8230;. Caused a clear inability for these agencies to exercise their logistics plan during such a catastrophic event.

The first clear weakness was experienced by FEMA, the national organization appointed to deal with supplementing local relief efforts and providing extended services to those in need in an event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack. FEMA is supposed to work as a supplement to local emergency service efforts, and as such it is supposed to be in tune with the capabilities and procedures of the local agencies that were on the front line of Katrina disaster relief. However, the research shows that "there was nobody that even knew FEMA's history, much less understood the profession and the dynamics and the roles and responsibilities of that states and local governments" (University Transportation Centers Program, 2007, p 22). Essentially, FEMA operatives were not familiar with local response strategies, a situation which caused a delay in major response services. Being better prepared and cooperative with local response plans could have increased FEMA's logistical ability tremendously.