Background
Emergency management, also known as EM, is the function of government charged with creating the framework to cope with disasters and reduce the vulnerability of hazards . To accomplish this mission, DHS has created an emergency management cycle – a series of pillars used as an outline to handle disaster scenarios. The cycle is as follows: preparation, prevention, response, recovery and mitigation.
Hypothetical Disaster
A strong, category five hurricane is headed toward the gulf coast of Alabama and Florida. Wind speeds are expected to reach about 160 mph and bring ‘catastrophic’ property damage to the region. The area should also expect extreme rainfall and should prepare for potential flash flooding. The governors of both Alabama
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While it is impossible to prevent a natural disaster from happening, it is necessary for government agencies and first responders to eliminate the potential for human error that could make the situation worse. For example, before the hypothetical hurricane hits, government agencies should have a clear and well-defined chain of command to prevent confusion during rescue operations. Another action governments could do to prevent further destruction is reinforce existing infrastructures, such as dams and …show more content…
The Department of Homeland Security and its entities, specifically FEMA, specialize with providing relief to individuals and the region once a threat is eliminated. In terms of the major hurricane previously discussed, these efforts would be seen when federal authorities provide local and state governments with money to help rebuild the affected areas.
The last phase of the EM cycle is to mitigate the threat of a similar disaster in the future. A key concept of this step is that there are things to learn from each disaster and how we handle them. After analyzing an emergency management scenario and the coinciding response, we are left with a set of takeaways to apply in the next catastrophe. For example, Hurricane Katrina provided all levels of government with valuable lessons that can be applied in the preparation, response and recovery to the hypothetical hurricane barreling towards the Panhandle.
Citizen Role in EM
In 2003, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was rolled into the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. FEMA’s responsibilities are to prepare, protect, respond, and recover from diminish all hazards. There was a mass coverage about the failure for FEMA to act immediately to Katrina, but once they were able to get things organized such as giving food and water, and setting up the tent and shelters communities can be strong and move on.
Hurricane Hugo was a catastrophe that caused widespread residential damage, extensive lifeline destruction, and enormous timber destruction in South Carolina and was one of the most costly disasters ever experienced in the US in terms of damage to homes, infrastructure and local economies. The media reported accounts of incidents that were serious problems in South Carolina’s response and early recovery efforts which further initiated an exploratory research to gather information about recovery experience in four badly impacted counties and about the state response and recovery actions undertaken. Post hurricane response problems were both organizational and functional. The research reveals significant state deficiencies with state and county emergency capabilities and serious problems in two national disaster response organizations, the Red Cross and FEMA. Another concern was that most emergency management knowledge came from direct experience rather than from existing educational and training programs along with serious mitigation planning problems were found with hurricane. Deepen concerns we...
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.
According the the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an emergency operations plan (EOP) dictates “who will do what, as well as when, with what resources, and by what authority--before, during, and immediately after an emergency” (FEMA, 1996). An effective EOP should contain a plan for all the potential disasters for a given region. These disasters would include natural disasters, man-man disasters including terrorist attacks, chemical weapon attacks and even nuclear war. The intent of the EOP is to publish a document intended to minimize the impact of the disaster, save lives while offering a path to recovery. In simple terms, an EOP “is the playbook by...
These hazards can range from hurricanes, to tornados, to mass shootings, and to terrorist attacks. FEMA is there to grant relief to those affected by these tragedies. FEMA makes funds for organizations to create dams, flood gates, and shelters. FEMA helps before a disaster strikes by evacuating homes, and warning people of the imminent danger. The agency works with the Red Cross to help the citizens who were injured in earthquakes, and other disasters. The agency also works with terrorist attacks. If an act of terror were to happen in the United States, FEMA would be there to help the citizens. The main job of FEMA is the welfare of the people. They will do everything in their power to prevent disasters from happening. They will limit the loss of life, and homes from
Emergency Management has always been an important role in government, communities, and some organizations when dealing with planning and response to emergencies and disasters. However, since the September 11th attacks and other terrorist attacks on United States soil such as the Oklahoma City bombing, or the Boston terror attack, emergency management now has a more active and upfront role. Planning for terrorist attacks is no longer if but when.
When a natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005 the shock of the destruction quickly became evident with the storm’s aftermath. There was the need for an organized response, however the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was not ready for the magnitude or the severity of damage to adequately and successfully react. FEMA was confronted with a series of events following the disaster in which the agency failed to take control and communicate in helping remedy the catastrophic situation. There was the lack of management in coordinating transportation evacuation measures, supplying needed materials and food as well as housing to the citizens, specifically in New Orleans. The failure of our nation’s Federal Emergency Management Agency to efficiently respond to Hurricane Katrina led to a serious of negative events caused by insufficient planning.
s, Louisiana. Works Cited Haddow, G. D., Bullock, J. A., & Coppola, D. P. (2010).Introduction to emergency management. (4th ed. , pp. 1-26).
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by the Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders on April 1, 1979 (FEMA.gov). FEMA’s mission is “to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain and and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from and mitigate all hazards” (Fema.gov). FEMA has ten regional offices in the United States each left in charge of a certain region of the country. Here, in New Jersey, we fall under Region II. This
The Federal Emergency Management was founded by Executive Order 12127 in 1979. FEMA later was part of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003(Waugh,2002).FEMA’s miss put in place to support the citizens and also the first responders to make sure the Nation was protected, build, endure, and improve the capability to prepare to protect against, respond to, improve from, and mitigate all dangers(Waugh,2002).
All of us are aware that law enforcement plays a big role in our society. During the natural disasters, law enforcement becomes even more important and many people begin to depend on them. It is obvious that natural disasters tend to create chaos, mess, disorganization and their role is to calm people down. They are the ones who are helping victims with their fears, concerns, and public safety and still keeping “law and order”. In my paper I want to take a deep look at how law enforcement dealt with natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, and at their positive and negative impacts on our society. By looking through the article, journals and books I came to know that during Hurricane Katrina, law enforcement agencies were not well prepared to handle it. During natural disasters the most important part of law enforcement agencies is to be aware of pre-disaster planning as well as have special training. According to Michael Smith, “Katrina clearly demonstrated, however, that the failure by local law enforcement agencies to imagine and plan for major hurricane exacerbated the public safety impacts of the storm and severely hampered their ability to provide much-needed public services” (2006: 05).
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is just one of the many agencies operating under the Department of Homeland Security. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s website, FEMA can trace its beginnings to the Congressional Act of 1803, as this Act is generally considered the first piece of disaster legislation which provided assistance to a New Hampshire town following an extensive fire. On April 1, 1979, President Jimmy Carter signed an executive order that created the Federal Emergency Management Agency. On March 1, 2003, FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Fagin (2014) said that FEMA is responsible for implementing the Federal Response Plan to manage and coordinate the federal consequence management response in support of state and local authorities (p. 349).
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is an organization of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially formed by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and applied by two Executive Orders on April 1, 1979. The initial first response to a disaster is the job of local emergency services with the nearby help of the surrounding sources. A major disaster can be a result of tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods. The event must be absolutely more than the state or local governments can handle alone. If confirmed, funding comes from the President's Disaster Relief Fund, managed by FEMA and the disaster aid programs of other joining federal agencies.
Emergency management has been described for the past three decades as a “four phase” process, involving:
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).