Pretty Good Enough Summary

Subject matter experts with extensive years of experience support the emergency management community. In addition, there are acts, organizations, and frameworks that have helped shape the emergency management profession and community, by establishing a foundation for emergency mangers and planners of the twenty-first century. In the article, “Is ‘Pretty Good’ Enough?” the author focuses on three areas that play a major role in emergency management. These areas are the Robert T. Stafford Act, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Incident Command System (ICS). Taking into consideration the highlighted proposals presented by emergency management directors and experts from across the country, this review discusses three key points

However, there are many emergency managers that believe that each of these areas have flaws, and could use some improvement to better support response and recovery preparedness efforts. The first issue that presented in the article was the misunderstanding of how the Stafford Act works, and state and local jurisdictions’ reliance on the federal government to provide assistance through this act before attempting to develop their own capabilities. Although emergency managers tend to support FEMA, another issue they want to see addressed is better communication between the agency and local authorities in regards to how to write mitigation grants. The third issue centers around the ICS. The problem presented in the article concerning ICS is that it is too rigid, and sets unreasonably high standards for smaller emergency management organizations to meet, which the majority of them do not have the realistic

Moreover, smaller communities and agencies that are not well versed in ICS, can use the constraints ICS to develop an alternative that is modified to fit those areas and agencies unique needs. In order to do this, emergency management agencies must develop a strong operational and communication plan and structure. As long as these organizations maintain their creativity and strong structure they will likely function properly in a disaster, and respond to any possible uncertainties creatively. “Leadership and employee training and development, play key roles in the sustainability of a balance and adaptive alternative to ICS”