Predicting social impacts can allow emergency managers to create strategies that can help protect groups facing social vulnerabilities and reduce the degree of the social impact caused by a disaster. Social vulnerability refers to the groups that are at the highest risk within a community during a disaster, these groups will need special assistance in order to effectively prepare, respond, and recover from a disaster (Lindell, Prater, & Perry, 2006). Therefore, it is important that emergency managers take social vulnerabilities into consideration when they develop the different phases of their Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) in order to minimize the casualty toll, property damage, and prevent or reduce the degree of the social impact, which could have long term negative consequences for the community. …show more content…
al, 2006). Understanding pre-impact conditions and event-specific conditions will not only help identify factors such as groups in social vulnerability, but they will also help predict the social impacts that a particular disaster could cause within a community. Although predicting social impacts is a very difficult process, it is very important that the local government and the emergency manager takes time to conduct this process because if not, the community could face a major economic, demographics, or political changes in the future that could affect in a negative way a large portion of the community (Lindell et. al,
They found that various socio-demographic predictors of flood risk impact the difference across flood zone categories. The main residents in inland flood zones are non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic, while coastal flood zones have more higher median income and housing value residents. I considered the study a valuable reference for future flood hazard research and comprehensive public policy making. Social groups with higher vulnerability also tends to stay instead of moving away, for they do not have the affordability for moving to other neighborhood, giving up what they have and almost start from scratch. Thus, they are actually the group of people that suffers the most and paying the most towards natural events. It is also important for the government to create a official help system to improve their resilience.
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.
Haddow, G. D., Bullock, J. A., & Coppola, D. P. (2014). The disciplines of emergency management: Preparedness. Introduction to emergency management (Fifth ed., ). Waltham: Elsevier.
In summary, the events of Hurricane Katrina had left a lasting and devastating impact on not only the general public, but also those within public safety including local, state and federal agencies. The storm had affected nearly hundreds of square miles resulting in thousands of casualties, and people misplaced with no homes to go to as well. In addition, there were many contributing factors that had resulted in major life, including the geography of New Orleans, how the levees around New Orleans were built, as well as the lack of coordination between local, state and federal officials.
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.
Exploring Why Some Hazards Are Easier to Predict Than Others For my essay I will looking at different case studies and reasons why it appears that some hazards are easier to predict then others. There were 497 reported natural hazards that took a significant human toll - between 1974 and 1978. The last five years have seen 1,897 of them, a nearly three fold increase. Between 1974 and 1978, 195 million people were killed by such disasters or needed emergency aid; there were 1.5 billion such victims in the past five years. Natural hazards are happening more often, and having an ever more dramatic impact on the world in terms of both their human and economic costs.
Communities must come together in order to be aware of the steps that must be taken to reduce or prevent risk. “The guidance, programs, processes, and systems that support each component of the National Preparedness System enable a collaborative, whole community approach to national preparedness that engages individuals, families, communities, private and nonprofit sectors, faith based organizations and all levels of government.” (FEMA, 2011). Resources within a community are prioritized and customized based on community-based issues and local security programs. The resources used as the front line of defense are first responders, such as police officers, firefighters and medical personnel. The resources are provided and prioritized based on the priority of threat and risks to a specific community. Therefore, the threats and risks targeted towards a community must be analyzed and acknowledged in order to apply the correct resources to the opposing prioritized threats. Disasters and emergencies typically begin at the local level and eventually require resources from state and federal
Introduction “The Pressure and Release Model understands a disaster as the intersection between socio-economic pressure and physical exposure. Risk is explicitly defined as a function of the perturbation, stressor or stress and the vulnerability of the exposed unit” (Coll, 2017). The disaster I have chosen to apply the Pressure and Release model to is Hurricane Harvey, Texas. I will discuss this disaster in relation to the pressure and release model which includes vulnerability and physical exposure. Inequalities and root causes lead to unequal social conditions, this makes a certain area more vulnerable to natural hazards (Tapsell et al., 2017).
Veterinarians implant computer chips into pets and farm animals if they get lost, so some people suggest doing so for children. Though the concept of making things traceable is not new, as we have known chips being implanted in animals for various research and study purposes about thirty years ago. Well, a human getting chipped definitely should be out of his or her own choice especially when the need to get chip implanted is not for a disability reason. It is alright for people who are disabled, in a way not able to function on their own due to some kind of psychological or physical disability. Implanting chips to individuals infringes their privacy, their right to go and do whatever they wish to do without being tracked.
In 2011 FEMA published the Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management document to re-emphasize the importance of involving the entire community in the execution of emergency management related activities. FEMA’s was trying push the focus of emergency past that of a strictly governmental function. Noting the importance of public-private partnerships, especially in the service sector, FEMA urged a wider a net to be cast not just in the response phase, but all phases of emergency. Additionally, with expanding diversity in the County, FEMA stressed the importance of forging strong connections with community leaders to enable a better understand and appreciation of the type of peoples that make up the community.
Emergency management is often described in terms of “phases,” using terms such as mitigate, prepare, respond and recover. The main purpose of this assignment is to examine the origins, underlying concepts, variations, limitations, and implications of the “phases of emergency management.” In this paper we will look at definitions and descriptions of each phase or component of emergency management, the importance of understanding interrelationships and responsibilities for each phase, some newer language and associated concepts (e.g., disaster resistance, sustainability, resilience, business continuity, risk management), and the diversity of research perspectives.
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).
INTRODUCTION: A disaster is a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes human, material, and economic or environmental losses that exceed the community’s or society’s ability to cope using its own resources (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies). For the facts that it will impossible to eliminate the risk emanating from disasters, it will be more feasible to develop comprehensive actions needed to improve response capability or anticipative actions needed to reduce the vulnerabilities to the disaster (Suryanto, & Kuncoro, 2012). Effective and efficient response from a disaster is rooted in the proper planning for disaster response before the actual disaster
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.
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).