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.
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.
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
After the attack, the United States hastily constructed the Department of Homeland Security and downgraded FEMA, whose main duty was civil protection. This attracted criticism from some public administration experts that the U.S. government concentrated too much on terrorism…[After Hurricane Katrina] Critics… charged that too many government officials were not familiar with the “National Response Plan” which was implemented in December 2004 after 9/11 terrorist attack. Planning and training for large natural disasters were insufficient after the implementation of the plan. In short, too great a focus on counter-terrorism undermined capacities for natural disaster mitigation, response, and recovery in the post-9/11 United States (para. 7,
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.
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
FEMA mains and funds the Nation in a danger ample alternative management system of preparedness that includes prevention, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation (Waugh, 2002). A reestablished FEMA is expected to produce excitement, vitality, direction, and backing for an across the country duty to the assurance of U.S. natives
At 7:10 EDT on August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall, etching lasting memories of those living in and around the New Orleans, Louisiana. It was this day that Hurricane Katrina came ashore and caused what was to be thought as one of the “most destructive storm in terms of economic losses” ("Hurricane Katrina —," 2007) of all times. Who was to be blamed for the failure in emergence management response and preparation, no one seemed to know or understand. Those left in the wake of this disaster could only stand by and wonder who was at fault, what preparation were to be in place and why wasn’t there a quicker response to help the hundreds of thousands that needed immediate aid and disaster assistance.
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).
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...
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 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.
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).