Thesis Statement: It is dangerous to have an aging, non-integrated and linked emergency alert broadcast system even though an integrated alert network would be expensive, it could save countless lives.
1. What is the goal in this paper? The goal of my essay is to identify the various weaknesses of the current Emergency Alert System (EAS). Thus, after identifying the weaknesses, solutions to create a modern, multi-tiered comprehensive alerting network system can be proposed.
2. What is personally known about the topic? Having lived in a number of states during emergency and disaster events, I have first-hand experience from those regions. My admitted weakness of personal knowledge is the alert networks in rural areas of the mid-west.
3. What do potential readers already know? I expect students in Emergency and Disaster Management as well as Homeland Security will have an understanding of the concept and function of the current EAS, but may not grasp that the current system is ad hoc. Other students may not understand the functionality, alerting authority, or the segments involved within the current EAS nor the short comings of that system.
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What do readers need to know to understand the main point? The readers, first, need to know the methods and means for alert broadcasting currently utilized by the local and federal officials. Thus, understanding the methods and means, weaknesses in those systems and the lack of uniformity, integration and modern communication platforms can be highlighted. Once this information is provided to the readers, it will be easier to understand the concerns that have brought me to my thesis statement. I am currently undecided if an image of US cellular phone coverage in the US will further assist readers in visualizing gaps in coverage
The National response plan outlines four key actions the disaster coordinator should take. They are gaining and maintaining situational awareness, activate and deploy key resources and capabilities, coordinating response actions and demobilizing. Throughout the response it is essential that responders have access to critical information. During the initial response effort the situation is will change rapidly. Situational awareness starts at the incident site. For this reason it is essential that decision makers have access to the right information at the right time. By establishing an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) all key responders are brought ...
Haddow, G. D., Bullock, J. A., & Coppola, D. P. (2014). The disciplines of emergency management: Preparedness. Introduction to emergency management (Fifth ed., ). Waltham: Elsevier.
Due to the horrendous events of terrorist attacks that have taken place over the last ten or so years, emergency management now, not only prepares and trains for natural events, but includes planning for terrorist/weapons of mass destruction events in greater detail. New responsibilities are being placed on emergency management managers and responders. More communities, states, local governments and businesses are seeking assistance in planning for terrorist attacks.
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.
Local, State and Federal government have unique roles which would allow the flow of communication and resources to transition smoothly during each stage of progression. The local and state level (first responders) are the most important source as they can assess, coordinate and notify the next available resources of what is needed. State and local governments are the front runners of planning for and managing the consequences of a terrorist incident using available resources in the critical hours before Federal assistance can arrive (Managing the Emergency Consequences of Terrorist Incidents, July 2002). A Terrorist Incident Appendix (TIA) was designed to mirror an Emergency Operations Plan in relations to terrorist incidents. The TIA consists of six phases: Initiation, Concept Development, Plan Development, Plan Review Development of supporting plans, procedures and materials and Validation of plans using tabletop, functional, and full scale exercises. The TIA should be compared to those plans of existing Emergency Operation Plans (EOP) in place at the local and state level. Comparing plans before and incident allows time for comparison and revision of the various functions which will prevent disconnects to ensure coordination and
Haddow, G. D., Bullock, J. A., & Coppola, D. P. (2010).Introduction to emergency management. (4th ed., pp. 1-26). Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.
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
Over the past several years, there has been a rise in critical incidents on our college and university campuses, which has forced administrators to reevaluate the need to have effective campus safety. The National Incident Management System (NIMS) was developed by the Department of Homeland Security in March 2004 to “provide a systematic, proactive approach for all government agencies at all levels, nongovernment organizations, and private sector to work seamlessly to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of incidents- regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity- to reduce the loss of life, destruction of property, and harm to the environment” (Fazzini, 2009, p. 14). NIMS provides colleges and universities the aptitudes and ability to respond to critical incidents and offers campuses a considerable approach to protecting students.
The movie does take place in a very hot summer in Los Angeles. The Homeland Security has set the threat level of red, which is the highest level in the Homeland Security Advisory System, they're searching for several terrorists related to Islam. In the film, Mustafa is an Egyptian immigrant who runs a Habibi’s Café with his daughter and son, comes to the FBI's attention after a small misunderstanding at the airport and lead them to investigate him. At the same time, he also faced other problems: the first is his young teen son no longer wants to be a Muslim; the second is his sister - Salwah, is a nurse, objects to Mustafa arranging her marriage to a cousin from Egypt. However, she is not interested in him, instead, she interested in a doctor
The Response Framework take an all hazards approach to preparedness, highlights key areas across five mission areas (Mitigation, Response, Recovery, Protection and Prevention) and addresses the whole community to optimize resources, therefore assisting and protecting the responders who have in the past been forgotten (National Response Framework, 2013). Responders that now work disaster sites can now rest a little easier, as there are teams and processes in place to help the identify threats and hazards to make response safer and easier. With the help of Homeland Security and other agencies, responders can now spot the signs of terrorism: surveillance, elicitation, test of security, funding acquiring of supplies, impersonation, rehearsal and deployment (Recognizing 8 Signs of Terrorism, 2012). Educating the responders is the only way improvements can be made to enhance their response ability and save lives. Terrorism will always be a threat to the United States, but with the re-education of our responders, terrorism will not be as deadly to the courageous men and women that will
In such emergencies, communication is very critical in all phases of disaster management. Effective communication includes an array of measures to manage risks to both the community and the
Sometimes one phase of the emergency management tends to overlap of adjacent phase. The concept of “phases” has been used since the 1930’s to help describe, examine, and understand disasters and to help organize the practice of emergency management. In an article titled Reconsidering the Phases of Disaster, David Neal cites different examples of different researchers using five, six, seven, and up to eight phases long before the four phases became the standard. (Neal 1997) This acknowledges that critical activities frequently cover more than one phase, and the boundaries between phases are seldom precise. Most sources also emphasize that important interrelationships exist among all the ph...
The purpose of this paper is to discuss potential disasters that could affect a community and cause mass casualties. Further discussion will include who is responsible for the management preparedness, what barriers must be considered and finally this paper will discuss the health care facilities role in emergency supplies and care of the patient in a disaster situation. The Community 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 increased vulnerability.
We should know how everyday life is changing and how this relates to mobile telephony. Work Cited = == ==
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).