With the widespread, expensive, and life-threatening damage that can occur during natural disasters, including floods, wildfires, earthquakes, and other events, it is important that the responses to these events are quick and performed efficiently, with cost and resource optimization in mind. That way, resources are not wasted in areas that don’t need them. And, if this were to happen, other, high-demand areas would suffer. With the amount of damage and displacement of local populations that occur, the planning and deployment of nearby resources needs to address these concerns. If done poorly, poor planning can in fact work against its own goals and cause failures to occur that compromise millions in assets and endanger many people as well. Take, for example, the legendary failure of FEMA in its response to Hurricane Katrina. Yes, one of the main reasons that FEMA failed was its inability to gather resources and knowledge, but it also lacked the ability to mobilize its resources (whereas Walmart could do both of these things successfully) (Horwitz 1). Utilizing a dynamic programming approach to deploy resources in specific areas based on what is available could vastly improve the effectiveness of a response plan. It may seem simple; if a resource were needed in an area, then one should send it there. However, there are millions of ways to distribute a resource to obtain an optimal value, and the optimal value changes based on the series of decisions made. In a computer system, it will take too long to calculate all of the combinations in order to find the optimal combination of resource allocation that can both save lives/assets as well as lower costs. To begin with, it is important to explain the concept of a dynamic optimiz... ... middle of paper ... ...to coordinate their supplier networks with known information about the status of a disaster in some regions. Works Cited Horwitz, Steven. "FEMA Doesn't Have Local Knowledge Needed for Effective Relief." Mercatus Center: George Mason University. Mercatus Center, 01 Nov. 2013. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. . Su, Xiaohui et al. The Study on Optimal Model for Relief Resources Allocation Using Dynamic Programming and Spatial Analysis Methods. Rep. GiScience/People's Republic of China, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. giscience2012_paper_184.pdf>. Wiitala, Marc R. "A dynamic programming approach to determining optimal forest wildfire initial attack responses." Fire Economics, Planning, and Policy: Bottom Lines (1999): 115-123.
2) Maintain critical infrastructure centers (telegraph, bridges, hospitals) that provide a situational awareness capability, actionable information about emerging trends, imminent threats, and the status of any incidents that involve
The Coast Guard, for instance, rescued some 34,000 people in New Orleans alone, and many ordinary citizens commandeered boats, offered food and shelter, and did whatever else they could to help their neighbors. Yet the government–particularly the federal government–seemed unprepared for the disaster. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) took days to establish operations in New Orleans, and even then did not seem to have a sound plan of action. Officials, even including President George W. Bush, seemed unaware of just how bad things were in New Orleans and elsewhere: how many people were stranded or missing; how many homes and businesses had been damaged; how much food, water and aid was needed. Katrina had left in her wake what one reporter called a “total disaster zone” where people were “getting absolutely
Both man-made and natural disasters are often devastating, resource draining and disruptive. Having a basic plan ready for these types of disaster events is key to the success of executing and implementing, as well as assessing the aftermath. There are many different ways to create an emergency operations plan (EOP) to encompass a natural and/or man-made disaster, including following the six stage planning process, collection of information, and identification of threats and hazards. The most important aspect of the US emergency management system in preparing for, mitigating, and responding to man-made and natural disasters is the creation, implementation and assessment of a community’s EOP.
Federal intervention in the aftermath of natural disasters began after the San Francisco earthquake in 1906. This 8.3 magnitude earthquake killed 478, and left over 250,000 homeless. While the disaster itself was obviously unavoidable, the subsequent fires that burned throughout the city were a result of poor planning. (1, 17) In an effort to consolidate existing programs, and to improve the nation’s level of preparedness, President Carter created FEMA in 1979. Initially, FEMA was praised for improving communication between various levels of government, and multiple agencies during a crisis. (1,19)
Hazards pose risk to everyone. Our acceptance of the risks associated with hazards dictates where and how we live. As humans, we accept a certain amount of risk when choosing to live our daily lives. From time to time, a hazard becomes an emergent situation. Tornadoes in the Midwest, hurricanes along the Gulf Coast or earthquakes in California are all hazards that residents in those regions accept and live with. This paper will examine one hazard that caused a disaster requiring a response from emergency management personnel. Specifically, the hazard more closely examined here is an earthquake. With the recent twenty year anniversary covered by many media outlets, the January 17, 1994, Northridge, California earthquake to date is the most expensive earthquake in American history.
If a critical incident should occur, the response and recovery from emergency situation can expense a significant monetary incurrence. Establishments that have put NIMS into operation are eligible to recuperate any portion of their operative expense from the federal government. “Additionally, NIMS offers a predefined, yet flexible, organizational structure that can be altered, as necessary, to ensure maximum effectiveness during small operations or complex responses and extended in scope if an incident grows in size” (Fazzini, 2009, p. 15). The flexibility of NIMS can be adjusted to accommodate operational function of the incident, geographical boundaries, or a consolidation of
Analyzing and reducing the cyber threats is key to keeping the nation’s networks secure. By employing individuals who work directly in the information Technology industry, helps reduce the security breaches that could occur during a cyber attack to the nation’s networks. Disasters happen to the nation whether they are environmental, natural causes, or terroristic. Planning and preparing for potential disasters as well as having a good response and recovery strategy is a key factor. Making sure the strategies can have to correct amount of funding levitates the amount of help that can be given to answer a
The model of American governance is based on multiple levels authority that begin with local government, extend to state government, and finally expand to the federal government. Each level of government has different jurisdictions, responsibility, and spheres of influence. While they seemingly operate on different levels the servicers they are responsible for can often overlap creating an interdependence between them (Liesbet, 2003). This interdependence between the various tiers of government is especially critical when it comes to emergency management. A critical incident, such as natural disaster or terrorist event, requires a coordinated effort by local, state, and federal agencies to be effective. Additionally, governmental agencies rely on and need to work well with community, non-profit, and private entities to prepare and response to critical incidents (Sylves, R. (2015).
Their role is to ensure that those who help in the recovery are trained to respond to any such disaster.
NIMS provides a uniform nationwide basis and way for federal, state, tribal, and local governments, along with the public to work on preparedness, recovery, response and mitigation no matter what causes an event. With all organizations using the same application, effective and efficient responses are possible. Organizations will be able to arrive on the scene and be ready to assist and understand exactly what each group is doing and why. Protocols are set and it is known what equipment and personnel are available. With NIMS all groups are able to integrate und...
First, I think that most companies have to stop looking at disaster recovery plan as a cost and view it as an investment with a positive return. Companies should analyze their return on investment, by figuring out the cost of an unprotected system downtime versus a protected system downtime and then divide that by the hourly\recovery. Plus, you have to figure in the total personal hours lost and the cost of lost
Disaster Recovery Planning is the critical factor that can prevent headaches or nightmares experienced by an organization in times of disaster. Having a disaster recovery plan marks the difference between organizations that can successfully manage crises with minimal cost, effort and with maximum speed, and those organizations that cannot. By having back-up plans, not only for equipment and network recovery, but also detailed disaster recovery plans that precisely outline what steps each person involved in recovery efforts should undertake, an organization can improve their recovery time and minimize the disrupted time for their normal business functions. Thus it is essential that disaster recovery plans are carefully laid out and carefully updated regularly. Part of the plan should include a system where regular training occurs for network engineers and managers. In the disaster recovery process extra attention should also be paid to training any new employees who will have a critical role in this function. Also, the plan should require having the appropriate people actually practice what they would do to help recover business function should a disaster occur. Some organizations find it helpful to do this on a quarterly or semi-annual basis so that the plan stays current with the organization’s needs.
Communities throughout the country and the world are susceptible to disasters. The environment and location of a community often predisposes a greater susceptibility to the type of disaster. For example Central Pennsylvania would not be susceptible to an avalanche however communities in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado would have increase vulnerability. Understanding the types of disaster for which the community is susceptible is essential for emergency preparedness (Nies & McEwen, 2011). All communities are susceptible to man-made disasters; terrorism, fires, and mass transit accidents and emergency preparedness are essential. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) is responsible for disaster planning.
The increase in unpredictable natural disasters events for a decade has led to put the disaster preparedness as a central issue in disaster management. Disaster preparedness reduces the risk of loss lives and injuries and increases a capacity for coping when hazard occurs. Considering the value of the preparatory behavior, governments, local, national and international institutions and non-government organizations made some efforts in promoting disaster preparedness. However, although a number of resources have been expended in an effort to promote behavioural preparedness, a common finding in research on natural disaster is that people fail to take preparation for such disaster events (Paton, 2005; Shaw 2004; Spittal, et.al, 2005; Tierney, 1993; Kenny, 2009; Kapucu, 2008; Coppola and Maloney, 2009). For example, the fact that nearly 91% of Americans live in a moderate to high risk of natural disasters, only 16% take a preparation for natural disaster (Ripley, 2006).
Of the four phases of emergency management, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, perhaps the place that individuals can make the biggest difference in their own state of resiliency and survival of a disaster is in the preparedness phase. Being prepared before a disaster strikes makes sense yet many people fail to take even simple, precautionary steps to reduce the consequences of destruction and mayhem produced by natural events such as earthquakes, volcanos and tornados (see Paton et al, 2001, Mileti and Peek, 2002; Tierney, 1993, Tierney et al, 2001).