Emergency Management Essays (Examples)

Emergency Management Program for a Business:

Businesses are among organizations that are vulnerable to disasters or emergencies though the degree of vulnerability is dependent on the kind of operations within the business. In addition to the kind of business operations, the other likely factor that contributes to an emergency or disaster is today's world that is characterized by natural hazards such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and tornadoes. Businesses are also susceptible to widespread serious illnesses, workplace accidents, human-caused hazards like terrorism, and technology-related incidents. As a result of the vulnerability, businesses need an emergency plan that promotes preparedness for any emergency. The emergency or disaster management program requires an effectively developed preparedness program that offers tools that help in lessening the impact of these hazards.

The Hotel Business:

As this article seeks to establish a disaster/emergency management program for an organization, the type of organization to be covered by the…

Emergency Management (Mitigation) Policy analysis and assessment

Emergency management policy has undergone change historically and these changes have been disaster driven and administration dependent.

Early History of Emergency Management

A Congressional Act was passed in 1803 to make the provision of financial assistance to a town in New Hampshire that had been devastated by fire. This is the first involvement of the Federal government in a local disaster. In the 1930s the Reconstruction Finance Corporation along with the ureau of Public Roads were granted authority to provide loans following disaster for repair and reconstruction of specific public facilities after disasters occurred. The Tennessee Valley Authority commonly known as TVA was created at this juncture to provide hydroelectric power and to bring about a reduction of flooding in the region. The Flood Control Act was passed in 1934 giving the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers an increased level of authority for…

According to the Congressman, there is a basic lack of interoperability across more than 80% of the United States' first responders. They are not able to communicate with each other, and are therefore also not able to launch adequate rescue operations, particularly during times of large-scale emergencies.

According to the report, it was found that at least 121 of the 343 fire fighters who died could have been saved had adequate communication systems been in place. For this reason, the Congressman said that grants were needed in order to ensure adequate long-term plans to prevent the large-scale loss of life.

Marsh cites the release of communications data on the day of the attacks in order to substantiate these points. In addition to 12,000 pages of oral testimony from firefighters, the 15 hours of radio transmissions show a state of disorientation and panic among rescue professionals and agencies. Inadequate communication systems…

The way communication can be improved, is by interconnecting the various ways each agency / level of government will gather intelligence. Then, this information must be shared with the relevant departments / agencies. One way that this can be accomplished is by forming a task force that composes of all of the different entities. Their job is to look at the different pieces of information and then distribute it to the relevant agencies / departments. Over the course of time, this could increase cooperation as the intelligence task force will have the power to over ride the rivalries and the divisiveness. A second avenue to increase communication would be: to have an intelligence liaison from a particular department / agency work with rival departments. This would help improve cooperation by establishing policies and procedures of intelligence sharing. Over the course of time, this will reduce the rivalries by creating a…

287).

Communications during Emergencies

The Stephens & Grant article on p. 286 notes that emergency management coordinators often find it difficult to communicate their goals and needs to major groups working with, in part because their priorities are not the same of those local executives have. I believe this to be true; emergency managers are trained specialists whose expertise lies in providing comprehensive care in an emergent situation; local executives often are not equipped to consider the comprehensive needs of multiple forces in an emergent situation. This is not to say the input of local coordinators does not have utility; local officials can provide emergency coordinators with valuable information about local resources, so that emergency managers may carry out their functions as efficiently as possible during an emergency. However, local representatives often aspire to manage emergency situations on their own, when it is critical they collaborate with federal agents to…

Much of this legal business should have been clearly worked out and explained in any emergency plan, Alexander explained.

In fact in most cases the first responders and frontline emergency workers should have fully filled out a "valid release document" that "absolves their superiors from liability" (Alexander, p. 127). And what happens when an emergency management team fails? For example, when rescue workers are injured in the process of rescuing people from a disaster, because there can be issues and questions of "negligence, willfulness, risk taking and causality," Alexander goes on; hence release documents must have been signed and a valid emergency management plan needs to have been put in place.

Also the use of doctors and nurses, and engineers and others that will participate in an emergency management situation must have "bona fide status" as participants and be fully certified to protect them and the agency from litigation when…

Emergency Management Plan

City's Fire Department

Do you concur with the opinion that the city's Fire Department should be the lead organization for disaster management and a typical city in the United States?

Within nay city in the U.S.A. there are extensive needs for having a disaster response team that has the capacity to handle various kinds of disasters especially the disasters that can be of large magnitudes. The handling of such disasters will require large deployment of manpower and skills in order to effectively handle the situations and rescue the maximum possible number of victims

The fire brigade has the legal authority and even the professional authority to implement the rescue process. These are people who operate in a legally constituted body by law that is situated in every city. They are sufficiently trained and regularly drilled to ensure they have the capacity to do the disaster management activities…

Emergency Management

When disaster strikes, a government must be ready to mobilize any resources necessary and remedy the situation, whether it is damage from a tornado, a hurricane, an earthquake or any other manmade or natural happening. Emergency management is thus vital to a government's policy of quick action. Sometimes, emergency management is undertaken by local authorities, who are the first responders to the scene, but these people cannot have the kinds of resources that a national government or a national or international agency could have. Since local authorities are not capable of providing the best resources for undertaking critical disaster relief, this paper will propose utilizing federal and state entities and will thus examine emergency management from a national government point-of-view to show the superiority of such management over local emergency responses.

First, I will analyze the federal government agency in charge of emergency management and response. This agency…

ecovery, remediation, and reconstruction finish the process of emergency response and if done properly it helps the society and people to get back to normalcy. emediation and recovery are normally treated as operating budgets while reconstruction budgets are just about always are 100% capital in nature. The budgetary and other responses to any disaster or emergencies should be the best effort by any government as it involves the welfare and safety of the people living in the country.

An important aspect of the emergency management when government fails is response from public and helps considerably when all budgetary planning and actions do not work. "Hurricane Katrina revealed poverty and desperation -- but also the natural generosity and kindness of Americans who have never been willing to let others suffer needlessly. It also revealed the inherent weakness of centralization and, alarmingly, it revealed also an administration eager to justify the assumption…

Emergency Management Please writer 5-3-5 SLP Preparation the purpose session long project provide opportunity extend understanding education emergency. For SLP project develop groundwork preparing write a grant external funding a school district improve emergency preparedness.

ecovery phase

The final stage in the emergency management program developed and implemented by the Los Angeles Unified School District is represented by the recovery. This phase occurs in the aftermath of the crisis situation and it is focused on helping the community to be restored to the standards that were existent before the emergency, or even higher standards, if this is a possibility.

As the recovery phase is onset, the next logical step is that mitigating to avoid the occurrence of another crisis. In other words, there is no clear delimitation as to where the recovery phase ends and where the mitigation phase starts. In such a setting, it is safe to argue that…

Emergency Management Please writer 5-5-5 SLP Preparation the purpose session long project provide opportunity extend understanding education emergency. For SLP project develop groundwork preparing write a grant external funding a school district improve emergency preparedness.

Preparedness

The Los Angeles Unified School District implements the traditional four stages of emergency management, yet in a different order. Specifically, while in the traditional approach, the phases would be: (1) preparedness, (2) response; (3) recovery and (4) mitigation, the assessed district places the mitigation stage as their first level of its emergency management program.

The preparedness stage, alongside with the response phase, is one of the phases on which the Los Angeles Unified School District most emphasizes upon. The district is as such focused on the creation of plans and programs which would be implemented in the case of an emergency situation.

"The preparedness phase involves activities taken in advance of an emergency. These…

Emergency Management Cycle Involves Four Main Phases as Illustrated Below:

Mitigation - this phase entails all activities that seek to reduce or prevent the likelihood of an occurrence. This also entails any efforts in reducing the adverse impacts of unavoidable occurrence. Mitigation plans must be implemented prior to an emergency. For instance, for us to mitigate fire in our homes, we must consider the safety standards when purchasing building materials, appliances, and wiring. However, it is likely that an accident would occur resulting in fire. For us to protect ourselves from the huge burden of incurring the reconstruction costs, we might consider fire insurance (Nicoletti, Spencer-Thomas & Bollinger, 2010).

Figure 1: The four phases of emergency management cycle

Preparedness: this phase entails developing plans of who to involve and where to move in case of a disastrous event. These actions will enhance the chances of being successful in overcoming the…

Emergency Management

Disasters are political occurrences; they can either destroy or glorify politicians. The spectacular temperament of disasters calls for the involvement of these chief executives and they test their leadership merits. How politicians control these rare occurrences can frame how their whole term in office receive judgments. During his last White House Press Conference, President George W. Bush was asked about the mistake he made during his reign, and among his regrets was the federal response to Hurricane Katrina (eeves, 2011). Even though he never campaigned on his capacities to control natural disasters, Hurricane Katrina formed part of his legacy. To an impacted voter, the policy of disaster is potential even more significant than choices regarding the economy, education or war. As a result, disaster management holds a great impact on politicians because people judge them from the manner in which they respond and mitigate disasters. This paper therefore…

Emergency Management

Evaluate the CIMS program as a means for implementing the NIMS

It was on May 14, 2004 when Major Bloomberg and the Office of the Emergency Management -- OEM came with the declaration of the City's introduction of the Citywide Incident Management System -- CIMS as the City's proposal for dealing with emergency recovery plans and also for managing the planned events. From that time onwards, the City's first responder agencies have carefully worked in order to develop and give the final shape to the CIMS protocol document. Mayor Bloomberg recently on April 11, 2005 approved an executive order to give operational effect to the implementation. OEM is associated closely with the City agencies to help in the assistance in the preparation of the training curricula so as to reproduce the CIMS Protocol in the training for the personnel connected with the City's incident command and emergency response…

Emergency Management

Disaster Planning. Unesco.

Disasters are unexpected events that put people at risks. No one is absolutely free or immune from disasters. Therefore, disaster planning is an aspect that is important in the day-to-day lives of people in all spheres of life. Planning for disaster is a matter of great security .The article talks of need for disaster planning in libraries, archives the staff and collections. It is therefore important for any library or archive to have a disaster management plan which can be implemented incase of disasters. The article talks of the types of disasters, the effects of disaster and what is entailed in a disaster plan. A plan written formally is important as it helps any institution respond quickly, and in the most effective way in case of emergencies. The plan also helps organizations minimize the damage on a building, and what is contained in the buildings.…

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) has required that the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) meet NIMS requirements. In 2005, the EMI department of Homeland Security created the Incident Command System (ICS) and, on January 1, 2006, instituted new courses designed specifically for training Law Enforcement, Public Works and ICS disciplines.

For schools, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools is offering training sessions to provide schools and school districts with information and resources on emergency management. The Emergency Management for Schools training programs are designed to provide an opportunity for school personnel to receive critical training in emergency management issues, resources and practices (Emergency, 2007).

In business-related emergencies, the National Institute of Safety and Health "comprehensive plan for dealing with terrorism-related events also includes specific instructions to building occupants, actions to be taken by the facility management, and first responder notification procedures" (NIOSH, 2007).

The Center…

VII. CONCLUSION

Hurricane Katrina has been used extensively as an example regarding emergency response and its four phases because it is one of the natural disasters that could not have been prevented, but could have been mitigated, prepared, responded to and recovered from much more efficiently than it was. ecause the four phases of emergency management were not carried out properly, we must live with the tragedies that happened as a result of improper planning.

It is important to point out that all levels of government: local, state and federal must work together on emergency plans for any type of disaster that may occur. There may not be a need for all levels of government, but through careful mitigation and preparedness, the response to the disaster will not come as a surprise and the recovery efforts can begin immediately. Emergency management should not be confined to natural disasters. It should…

A technological hazard facing the country is flammable liquids, such as gasoline. The liquid can explode due to a spark or an accident involving a tanker or vehicle, and the material can spread as it flows away from the accident. The effect on the population can be devastating if a large amount explodes or it spreads over a wide area. Emergency management can help control and prevent flammable liquid emergencies by educating the public on the dangers of flammable liquids, responding with evacuation procedures during an event, and clean up of the toxic material after the fire and debris have been removed. Flammable liquids are so prevalent in our society that they can pose a very important threat that must be understood by all emergency management personnel. A gasoline or other flammable liquid explosion could wreak havoc on a heavily populated area, and prevention could include transportation routes that avoid…

If experiences like these are shared through media, it can help to educate others so that they will be more prepared hen a similar situation occurs, it may even possibly given them the opportunity (depending on the situation) to avoid a dangerous situation or prepare themselves more efficiently.(Col & Chu, 2001, p.592)

Especially now it is important for education to take place to prepare people for all of the things that can happen in the world. I agree with Col and Chu's views on the importance of being prepared and sharing vital information through as many mediums as possible e.g. television, newspapers etc. This is the only way to learn and gather vital information that could one day be responsible for saving hundreds of thousands or, millions of lives. This reading truly gives meaning to the saying that "knowledge is power." Without it, one can be defenseless.

eference

Col, &…

But other models, such as the proactive decision model view the process of decision-making as beginning with predecisional processes, which selects the correct channels to communicate the risk. If the population at risk does not trust the channel, however seemingly authoritative it may be, then the communication will not be effective or obeyed. For example, community advocates may more accurately explain the need to evacuate to select populations from a flood-prone area before a storm than a warning from the highest authority, if there is tension between the government and the affected neighborhood. Also, having a coherent predecisional process allows the risk to be more completely defined and convincingly communicated to the individuals in question in a way that is comprehensible, and also reasonable (89). Hysteria about the risks of smoking, or solemnly informing teens that one puff will cause inevitable addiction and lung cancer, will merely cause this population…

They could injure themselves, and they can get in the way of professional rescuers.

Another immediate concern after an earthquake is fire. In addition to managing the heavy rescue teams, you need to make sure that the issue of fire is addressed. Fire crews need to be on high alert, and they need to be ready to respond as soon as possible. You need to make sure you have trained citizen volunteers to manage fires in the event of an emergency. One Web site notes, "Citizen volunteers trained as Community Emergency esponse Team (CET) members will be vital, because they can catch tiny fires early and assist the lightly trapped to safety" (Chiles). You need to make sure you have a competent incident commander in each rescue area that can coordinate rescue efforts and make sure they understand how many people could potentially be trapped.

As the emergency manager, you…

The Federal Emergency Management Agency institutionalized Emergency Management in 1979 (Lindsay, 2012). Since then, various local and state organizations have included emergency management in their practices. It shifted from specialized preparedness to narrowly defined or single categories of hazard to an all-hazard approach including potential threats to property and life through technological and environmental dangers and local and foreign risks. The whole idea of emergency management does not include a reduction in security but an increased emphasis on making the country’s emergency management capacity responsive to any significant emergency.
From the Second World War, emergency management has mostly focused on preparedness against a potential attack (Edwards, Goodrich, & Griffith, 2016). Community preparedness for all disasters needs establishing expertise and resources beforehand, and arranging how they can be utilized in the event an accident happens. However, preparation is merely a single phase of managing emergencies. The entire process has four stages…

Emergency Management
Earthquakes, even minor ones, can be traumatic for all who experience them. Engaging in swift efforts for complete recovery need to include both long-term and short-term actions to transform the school to its normal operating conditions as rapidly as humanly possible. Hence, effective emergency management means addressing a host of factors to ensure that there is a sense of balance and normalcy so that both students and teachers alike can engage in recovery. Medical, psychological, infrastructure, record keeping are all of the numerous issues that the school will need to correct with the help of others. As a professional in charge of the recovery management movement, this report will outline some of the more major steps that will need to occur in order to return to a state of normalcy.
Determining the structural safety of the school building is the first step. According to the case study, an…

iverbend City - Incident Mission

iverbend City: Incident Mission

Professional education in emergency management is not just something that takes place at the beginning of a person's training. It is something that is ongoing. The FEMA Higher Education Partnership can help make that possible. iverbend City can use both higher education and professional education to become a more disaster-resistant and resilient community, overall. There are two main ways in which it can do this. First, it needs to work with the Emergency Management Institute, which is a part of FEMA. Additionally, iverbend City should also take information from FEMA's Center for Domestic Preparedness. Both of those resources are designed to help first responders and other emergency management professionals become and remain as successful as possible. The training can be difficult, but it is worthwhile and valuable for the professionals and the community.

At the FEMA CPD program (FEMA-CDP, 2012), emergency…

Environmental esponsibilities

In today's business world, there have been many rules and regulations imparted upon the corporate environment that are enforced by specialized institutions that oversee the environmental obligations that our society has established. Throughout the generations, as science and technology have produced new capabilities for understanding the natural world, as well as with a considerable amount of trial and error, science has been able to establish an understanding of the extent of damages that pollution can cause. There are many forms of pollution; soil, water, air, radioactive, and even noise to name a few.

These pollutants can not only be damaging to the local ecology, but many of these substances are now understood to effect natural systems on a global scale as is the case with greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. The changing environment is already becoming associated with extreme weather events but the worst effects will be…

Relationship Between Disaster Science and Emergency ManagementEmergency 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…

IntroductionThe natural disaster selected for this discussion happens to be earthquake. Like many other disasters, earthquakes happen to be not only destruction to property, but also detrimental to the health and wellbeing of those who live in affected areas. Routinely, they also result in multiple fatalities. In the subsequent sections of this text, various natural disaster and emergency management concepts will be addressed from the perspective of earthquakes.Discussion1. Fundamental PrinciplesFrom the onset, it would be prudent to note that in efforts to manage disasters in an effective manner, the relevance of taking into consideration and incorporating the various healthcare incident management principles cannot be overstated. Some of the fundamental principles that would come in handy in the context of an earthquake disaster are inclusive of, but they are not limited to; mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. In as far as mitigation is concerned, there would be need for stakeholders at…

Introduction
Hurricane Maria was the strongest hurricane to strike Puerto Rico in nearly a hundred years when it made landfall on the tiny island state in September of 2017 (Amnesty International, 2018). Maria followed upon the heels of Hurricane Irma, which had struck the island only a mere matter of weeks before. Nearly 3000 died as a result, according to Puerto Rico’s Governor and tens of thousands of people were displaced and forced to take up temporary shelter that gradually took on a character of permanence as the island struggled to cope with the devastation of the Category 4 hurricane (Amnesty International, 2018). Losses were estimated at some $90 billion. The fact that Puerto Rico was still reeling from the damages caused by Irma, which hit on September 6th, meant that local organizations were ill-prepared to cope with a second larger hurricane on September 20th. Irma had already “caused the…

Abstract
Countries all over the world are prone to face a broad range of emergencies that result from hazards of varying degree and scale, international consequences, and other complexities. Through experiencing these emergencies, a country’s political, social, economic, and public health are hugely impacted and can even lead to long-term consequences that can persist for years even after the occurrence of the emergency. The cause of the emergencies can be from natural disasters, disease outbreaks, radio-nuclear or chemical spills, and conflict, among other hazards. The emergencies undermine the social development of a country by hitting the people’s hard-earned health gains. Moreover, health facilities and their infrastructure can also be damaged bringing about the weakening of health systems, which means that attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be slowed. When such emergencies occur, the international community faces pressing challenges when preparing for, responding to, and recovering. The following purpose of…

The identification of general hazards and specific hazards that can occur in a particular region or area is the first step in development of a suitable emergency management plan. According to Shaw (2016), community-based disaster risk reduction commences with identification of these general and specific hazards that the community may be vulnerable to. These probable disasters become the premise for policy and processes that are established to help in emergency management, which includes prevention, reduction, recovery and mitigation. While communities could be vulnerable to certain kinds of general and specific hazards depending on their location, hazards can change for a community. Maier, Riddell & van Delden (2017) attribute changes in hazards for a community to risks that are being built today. Human activity in today’s world generate numerous environmental risks that enhances the likelihood of change in hazards for a community.

Decisions made today are likely to increase or decrease…

Second, Iowa City had quick connections with State level disaster response crews that allowed for quick clean-up and rebuilding. They also coordinated with outside communities to provide shelter and other basic needs through local Red Cross organizations.

On the other hand the small, rural community of Holy Cross, also hit by a severe storm, was not as well prepared to respond. The main reason for this lack of efficient response was because of a lack of a centralized network. Due to the small size of the city, there is no permanent emergency relief plan. The community's response was reactionary and thus took longer and was very unorganized. Much of the response came from the State.

ibliography

Stehr, Steven D. (2002): "Community Recover and Reconstruction Following Disasters," Handbook of Crisis and Emergency Management. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc.

The United States is a large, complex nation and requires a sophisticated and multifaceted response The National Response Framework (2016) is a guide, released by the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) that offer direction in responding to national disasters to state, county, and local agencies as well as to individuals and non-government organizations which strive to assist in disaster relief. Scalability and flexibility is a critical concern of the model. Either part or all of its structures can be implemented, depending upon the nature of the event. For example, some areas of the nation are more likely to be impacted by natural disasters such as hurricanes or tornadoes, and concentrating resources and planning with knowledge of the specific circumstances of such likely areas of impact are ideal.
Even regarding human-generated disasters like terrorism requires advance planning to some degree, and areas of likely targets may be more apt to be…

Schneider Case Study #3Hurricane Katrina in LouisianaOne of the most devastating catastrophes to strike America was Hurricane Katrina that hit Louisianas shore on 29th August 2005. This hurricane led to significant havoc and claimed over 1,800 lives (Schneider, 2011). One especially vulnerable city was New Orleans, since it already lies below sea level, although it did have protective measures in levees and floodwalls. But after the storm struck land, the above protective measures were unable to endure its impact, resulting in deadly flooding that swept the entire city. Before this massive hurricanes arrival, domestic officials urged the city residents to evacuate their homes while simultaneously establishing shelters to accommodate residents who dwelt in high-risk places where the hazard was to be expected. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) moved its human and material resources into the city for effective, timely response in affected regions (Schneider, 2011). Federal, state, and local…

Emergency Management:

There is no doubt that the U.S. is a super-power in the world of sports, development, technology, governance, name them; however, there also is no doubt that with regard to disaster management, ours is a picture that is far from the ideal. The catastrophic events of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina showed only too well why we need to start giving the topic of disaster management the attention it deserves. With the oil spill in the gulf threatening to pose a bigger problem than we all thought originally, the nation's leaders will have to act fast to ensure that, at least this time, we get things right. The fact that we have somehow been able to predict this particular one should not get us chest-thumping and closing our eyes to the reality that disasters are most times non-predictable. How well we can deal with terrorist threats, floods, hurricanes, or…

Emergency Readiness Annotated Bibliography

Biochemical terrorism, nuclear or other terrorism is everyone's nightmare since the anthrax scares in Washington D.C. In September of 2001 and the Al-Qaeda attacks on September 11, 2001. The purpose of this annotated bibliography is to document the effectiveness of emergency management and readiness in Connecticut. It has been more than 5 years since the TOPOFF 3 emergency exercises in 2006 and literature published since then needs to be annotated and review for homeland security studies.

Annotated Bibliography

Petersen, R.E., Lindsay, B.R., Kapp, L., Liu, E.C., & Peterman, D.R. Congressional Reporting

Service, United States Congress. (2008). Homeland emergency preparedness and the national exercise program: Background, policy implications, and issues for congress. Washington, D.C.:

Government Printing Office.

In the CRS report, the series of ongoing TOPOFF exercises is documented in detail, including the 2006 exercise in Connecticut as well as other exercises are documented in detail. The…

Function #1: Mitigation

At this stage, gradual and long-term steps are taken to ensure that disasters do not occur, or that, when they do, they cause minimal damage. Actions at this stage include the identification of hazards, the research of the causes which generate the disaster, the creation of means in which to modify the causes of the disasters, the development of means which reduce the community's vulnerability to the disaster, the efforts to better consolidate old buildings, the construction of disaster-resistant buildings, the education of the population or the provision of insurance.

At this stage, the responsibilities of the central government include:

The identification of hazards and the research of their causes

The research as to how the causes of the disaster can be modified

The offering of research and development grants to local projects

The promulgation of buildings safety standards

elative to the competencies of the local governments…

Slide 9: Technological innovations in emergency management

The starting point in the creation of a plan on how to improve our program from a technological standpoint has been constituted by the review of the it industry. The scope of this research has been that of identifying the innovations in the field and their relevance for our agency and its mission. The results of the research endeavor are briefly presented below:

GIS is an important tool to use in the collection of data necessary and its usage is credited with overall successful emergency operations as it allows the intervention teams to gather data pivotal at all stages of the emergency management process.

emote sensing technology is enhancing the quality of the emergency management act at the stages of mitigation and preparedness and it has proven efficient in the management of both natural hazards as well as man made disasters.

The NOAAPort…

Emergency Management: Hurricane Katrina and Lessons Learned

In late August, 2005, Hurricane Katrina became the 11th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season and was its most deadly and destructive. The federal and state governments' responses to this natural disaster have been heavily criticized in the mainstream media as well as by the hundreds of thousands of victims of this disaster in the years that followed. Although it is far too late for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, there were some valuable lessons learned from the disaster that have been used to help formulate improved responses in the future. This paper provides a review of the relevant peer-reviewed and scholarly literature concerning the emergency management of Hurricane Katrina, followed by an assessment of the various lessons that were learned. A summary of the research and important findings concerning these lesson learned are provided in the conclusion.

eview and Discussion

Background…

Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA is primarily charged with ensuring that the Americans are all safe in case of any emergency. This is the basis of all their engagements and departments that exist therein. The range of emergencies that are included in the FEMA field of operation are natural disasters like floods, hurricanes, wild fires, earthquakes and man made (both internal and external aggression) disasters that can adversely affect the lives of the Americans.

The roles of FEMA in a situation of emergency are conventionally grouped into the following categories as indicated by FEMA (2010a);

Life safety: this is usually the first and most important priority of FEMA since it is the sole reason for the existence of the agency and the agenda for their response to any emergency situation.

ecovery and restoration; this involves ensuring that the businesses run normally and that the population is employed once again after…

This service is offered on a twenty four hours / seven days basis and is ready to answer people's calls asking for support. Taking action is the second pillar on which the organization relies having four important action subcategories: the mitigation - limiting the causes that may produce a natural catastrophe (for example, the pollution reduction actions), getting prepared - preparing the population in case of an imminent danger, taking action - actively intervene during and shortly after the incident in order to reduce the damages, as well as in order to save human life; the final step is the recovery - correcting the negative effect of the catastrophe - for example, in case of floods helping people to rebuild their houses.

For example, in 2006 the hurricanes produced important damages for the Americans living on the Costal side of the continent. For those people, the MDCEM offered information about…

As Nielsen and Lidstone (1998) note,

It is ironic that the public demands safety yet a number of cost-effective and feasible measures to mitigate disasters are not adopted by many... Such a failure of the public to adopt disaster mitigation measures has a long record in Australia

(Nielsen and Lidstone 1998)

This attitude is one of the reasons given for the greater emphasis on public education. In theoretical terms, the view is put forward that an educated public will be able to deal with emergencies and disasters more effectively and that this should form an integral part of emergency and disaster management and planning. This in turn has resulted in a "...renewal of focus, at both a national and global level, upon public education as a means to disaster mitigation" (Nielsen and Lidstone 1998). To this end the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the United States (FEMA) has collected data…

Safety

Effectiveness of Emergency Management and the eadiness of Trauma Centers

Emergency Management and the eadiness of Trauma Centers are fundamental facilities in any given State and country. These facilities come in handy in times of disasters and traumatic events. Most traumatic centers are health care facilities or departments, which offer immediate response in such times of emergency. Emergency management and trauma centers handle mitigation, response, preparedness, and recovery. Emergency management includes activities such as evacuation, decontamination, disaster recovery, and integration with other community emergency groups. These facilities play a key role in providing care to both natural and man-made disasters (Premier, 2012).

The phenomenon, issue, or condition to be researched

In order to create a safe surrounding in the community, emergency management and traumatic centers have to be established (Trunkey & Potter, 2006). Often, disastrous situations call for urgent and high demand for patient care. For instance, the traumatic…

National Preparedness Goal

National Preparedness, the Presidential Policy Directive #8 (PPD-8), gives a description of the approach of the United States (U.S.) in the area of being prepared for threats and hazards posing the highest risk to American security. The whole national community shares the responsibility of national preparedness. Contribution and participation is required from every person including communities, individuals, faith-based organizations, and local, state and federal governments. The society will be described based on the core capabilities required in dealing with great risk. An integrated and layered approach shall be the foundation of the description. Success is used to mean a resilient and secure nation having the capabilities needed to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and ensure recovery from the most devastating of hazards.

The National Preparedness Goals shall be achieved by use of core capabilities in the following ways:

Prevention, avoidance, and halting threats or real terrorism…

Political, management plans are important for several reasons, firstly, the residents in any given county or state, want legislation in place in case of an emergency, they will vote in or keep current political figures that make sure these needs are being met. Therefore, as long as plans like the Florida Emergency plan exist, there is a certain amount of job security for local political figures. On the other hand, it affects public policy directly, by giving rules and regulations in times of emergency, a guide to determine when, what, how and where. This allows the affected individual to be handled appropriately, and the official aiding them the proper guidelines to follow in the given situation, so no one gets lost in protocol or paper work, everyone knows their job and what is expected of them at all times.

eference

Florida Division of Emergency Management (2004, February). The State of…

Military Emergency Management/Terrorism Preparedness

It is reported in the work of Prelas, et al. (2009) entitled "Science and Technology of Terrorism and Counterterrorism" that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003, and is charged with the reduction of the "loss of life and property and protect the national from all hazards" including acts of terrorism. FEMA is to accomplish this through providing leadership and support to the national in a "risk-based, comprehensive emergency management system of preparedness, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation." (Prelas, et al., 2009, p.539) DHA/FEMA is reported to be under the leadership of the secretary and to coordinate "with the Commandment of the Coast Guard, the Commissioner of Customs, and Border Protection, the Assistant Secretary of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the NOC and other agencies and offices in the department to take full advantage of…

Perhaps this will always be an issue for the U.S. federal government because under the existing political system there are few substantial options for making policy decisions that can extend across political elections. Situations that represent a problem for one politician or political party will be ignored by the next, making consistent, proactive responses difficult if not outright impossible. From an emergency management position, this means that agencies will always have to be designed to react to the worst-case scenarios, instead of more reasonable, proactive affects that could control potential problems before they escalate out of control.

eferences

Farazmand, a. (2001). Crisis in the U.S. administrative state. Handbook of Crisis and Emergency Management. Ed. a. Farazmand. Fort Lauderdale, FL: Florida Atlantic University.

Nice, D.C. And Grosse, a. (2001). Crisis policy making: some implications for program management. Handbook of Crisis and Emergency Management. Ed. a. Farazmand. Fort Lauderdale, FL: Florida…

Teaching Disaster and Emergency Management

The whole world has turned into a place where people encounter experiences with diverse forms of disaster. Most of the disasters are usually extremely complicated and strike unexpectedly in any region causing massive damages and loss of lives. The complexities accompanying the catastrophes require the existence of well-trained personnel oftentimes ready to deal with disasters as they occur before causing irreparable harm to people and property. In some regions, many people have lost lives and properties destroyed because of the slow response by the people dependable for handling the emergencies. This calls for the training of new and many people who provide quick and efficient response to the disasters whilst saving lives. Various regions and countries have taken up the initiative of training people expected to play a critical role in the management of disasters. There has been an argument whether teachers handling disaster management…

M5D1: Federalism and Emergency Management Grant

Our proposed grant would be designed to support the education of up-and-coming law enforcement candidates in the field of homeland security. States would be able to apply for a grant to provide scholarships to students at their state universities in the field of criminal justice who specifically wished to study this area of enforcement and serve in a criminal justice agency within the state for a specific number of years after graduation. This would encourage more highly-trained personnel to enter the field of criminal justice and better infuse recent academic knowledge about fighting terrorism and other critical areas into the actual hands-on practice of law enforcement agents in the field.

The program would be mutually advantageous to students and the states. Students would gain support for their education and would also have assurance about finding a job after leaving school. States would be able…

Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

M7D1: Social Media and Risk Communications

According to Bullock (et al. 2013) the four methods of risk communication include mitigation or "to promote implementation of strategies, technologies, and actions that will reduce the loss of lives and property in future disasters; preparedness or "to communicate preparedness messages that encourage and educate the public in anticipation of disaster events;" response or "to provide to the public notification, warning, evacuation, and situation reports on an ongoing disaster and recovery or "to provide individuals and communities affected by a disaster with information on how to register for and receive disaster relief" (Bullock et al. 2013: 515). It is in the response phase which was critically lacking in the case of dealing with the threat posed by the D.C. sniper. There is always an element of fear in the case of spontaneous threats which emerge, as but a realistic…

Loss of local control in emergency management is a legitimate concern. Yet access to state and federal resources is critical for effective emergency response. The most effective emergency response involves carefully coordinated roles between local, state, and federal agencies. Local agencies are always first responders, and therefore have a great deal of authority and responsibility in emergency management. States may have significant resources and distinct responsibilities to work with local officials. Yet the primary role of state agencies is “to supplement local efforts before, during, and after incidents,” (United States Department of Homeland Security, 2008, p. 6). States in many ways play the least visible role in emergency management, often working as liaisons between local governments requesting additional support and the federal government needing more information about the situation. Not all incidents require state or federal intervention and assistance, and city councils should not be concerned about losing control. Compliance…

EMEGENCY MANAGEMENTEmergency Management: Training and Disaster PreparednessIntroductionFrom the onset, it would be prudent to note that human societies have become increasingly complex as well as vastly connected. It therefore follows disasters and emergencies that are human induced and those that happen to be natural could wreck more widespread havoc today than was the case a few decades ago. This is more so the case in relation to disease outbreaks. Towards this end, the relevance of disaster preparedness cannot be overstated. This text concerns itself with disaster preparedness and more specifically focuses on the relevance of a wide range of factors in preparedness efforts. It should be noted that disease outbreaks have in this case been selected as an ideal disaster in contemporary settings. This is more so the case given that at present, we are in the middle of a pandemic that has affected millions of people from across the…

Terrorist Attack

esponse and Prioritization

When one utilizes power or brutality against individuals or property disregarding the criminal laws of the U.S. For purposes of bringing about fear, compulsion, or ransom it is regarded as terrorism (Homeland Security Advisory System, n.d). Terrorists act this way in an attempt to show citizens that their nation is weak to counteract terrorism, get attention for their causes or just to create fear among the citizens. There are different kinds of acts that constitute terrorism such as including: bombings and bomb scares; executions; kidnappings; hijackings; cyber terrorism (PC based); and the utilization of atomic and radiological, biological and chemical weapons (Homeland Security Advisory System, n.d)

Educating the Citizens on How to Ensure Personal Security

The initial reaction to these kinds of terrorist acts ought to be swift and effective hence setting up precautionary measures would enable the government to fight terrorism proactively and not…

ASLP Planning Emergencies

Emergency management plan is the document that contains information on how the authorities, people and businesses can respond, prepare and mitigate the risks associated with hazards in the United States. The emergency plan also assists in identifying the magnitude of a disaster, and probability of its occurrence within a specific year. The information assists the government to put aside the adequate resource to manage the emergence. The paper identifies the Hail Storm, Tornadoes and Wildfire for the hazard and vulnerable analysis.

Hazard & Vulnerability Analysis Table

Hazard

Magnitude

Frequency

Seasonal Pattern

Duration

Speed of Onset

Priority

Hail Storm

50%

years

Likely to occur during the winter and spring

May last between one and two weeks

More than 24 hours' warning

Damage to properties. Shutdown of critical facilities

Tornadoes

50%

1-year

Likely to occur during the winter

May last for more than a week

More than 24 hours'…

Hurricane Harvey: Emergency Management
Billed as being one of the most costly tropical cyclones in recent times, Hurricane Harvey, according to the National Hurricane Center (2018) caused damage worth $125 billion. According to McGillivray (2017), both the federal and state governments were not prepared for the hurricane. This is more so the case with regard to long-term mitigation planning. The big-picture considerations both levels of government missed “include looking at the condition of green space and wetlands that could have aided in mitigating the impact of the storm, land-use planning and runaway development in such places as Houston, building codes in affected areas....” This is an assertion that is seconded by Kimmelman and Haner (2017), who are of the opinion that more mayhem in places like Houston was caused by issues on the ground, rather than those form the sky.
Hours before the disaster, FEMA issued the relevant information with…

Phases of Crisis and Emergency ManagementPreparedness is the process of making plans and having the needed equipment and supplies for saving lives when a disaster occurs. Preparedness takes the form of plans or procedures that have been put in place to save lives and to minimize damage when a disaster strikes (Kunz, einer, & Gold, 2014). This is usually a continuous cycle of organizing, planning, training, exercising, equipping, evaluating, and improving activities to ensure that there is effective coordination for mitigating the effects of a disaster. Mitigation is the process of preventing a disaster or taking steps to reduce the impact of unavoidable disasters. In the real sense, mitigation should take place before an emergency occurs. However, mitigation and preparedness mostly occur after a disaster has taken place and repairs are being made. Mitigation is aimed at preventing hazards from developing into disasters or to reduce the effects of disasters.esponse…

Natural disasters have the potential to dramatically alter life in local communities. The loss of human life reverberates through the generations, as does the loss of local businesses and the generalized economic and psychosocial strain. Yet there are also larger impacts from localized events, such as changes to public policy and political philosophies resulting from major natural disasters. One of the most impactful natural disasters in recent American history is undoubtedly Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina showed Americans the many shortcomings of federal disaster relief response programs like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which was restructured after the event (Zimmerman, 2015). In addition to the political ramifications from Katrina, the storm revealed weaknesses in local, state, and federal infrastructure: showing that public spending patterns need to change in order to make American communities more resilient in the future. Another reason why Katrina remains one of the most important and impactful…

Zombie Management Add on ichard

ichard, I appreciate your comments and strongly resonate with your ideas about the individual and his responsibility to save himself. I think others need to adopt the approach the we have taken on this idea and derive a new idea of the word community. To me community is should be more liberal and voluntary that what is presented in today's culture. This is unfortunate but allows us to learn and grow from these ideas.

aymond

ay, I enjoyed reading your comments on resilience and its relationship to emergency management and community itself. You seem to bring out the best qualities of the ideas of resilience in your comments, and I strongly agree with its importance in sustaining and eventually surviving in an emergency or disaster. I believe that the source of resilience is what makes us human and urges us to continue to grow and…

M1D1: Concept of Homeland Security Enterprise

HSE (Homeland Security Enterprise) was designed to better coordinate the resources of all law enforcement functions that fall under the auspices of the DHS. DHA strives to provide law enforcement agencies with "the tools to identify and combat threats in their communities," including access to its information (Strengthening the Homeland Security Enterprise: Progress Report 2011, 2011, DHS). "Because state and local law enforcement are often in the best position to notice the first signs of a planned attack, homeland security efforts must be integrated into the police work that they do every day, providing officers on the front lines with a clear understanding of the tactics, behaviors, and other indicators that could point to terrorist activity" (Strengthening the Homeland Security Enterprise: Progress Report 2011, 2011, DHS). DHS has created 'fusion' centers "to train state and local law enforcement to recognize behaviors and indicators related…

M8D1: HSE and Criminal Justice: Critical Issues

Communication and education are critical issues in the field of homeland security. hat is why we have identified inter-agency cooperation as one of our key issues of concern: namely, the need for different law enforcement agencies to share intelligence with one another. Related to communication are issues pertaining to education, including the education of communities and first responders about how best to respond to security issues and how to share information in digital formats. Another issue also related to education is the need to strike a balance between the civil liberties of suspects and the security of the community.

Coordination between civil and military agencies

Sylves, R.. (2009). Civil-military relations in emergency management. Public Manager, 38(3),

75-79.

According to this article, there has been increased coordination between civilian and military law enforcement agencies in recent years. "Few appreciate how dramatic the latest penetration…

Longest War

Homeland Security & Emergency Management

M6A1: Book Review

Bergen, Peter. (2011). The longest war: The enduring conflict between America and al-Qaeda.

New York: Free Press.

As its title suggests, Peter Bergen's book, The longest war: The enduring conflict between America and al-Qaeda, is a chronicle of a war that defies the traditional conventions and definitions of warfare. The war of terror has no clear beginning and no clear end and has challenged many of the assumptions of how warfare is viewed and waged within the United States. It is a long war, an unending war, and even though the book was written before the killing of Osama bin Laden, the orchestrator of the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, the war will continue to rage on so long as there are state and non-state enemies willing to attack the U.S. using the mechanisms of terrorism. The…