Effective Coordination in Disaster Management: A Study on Hurricane Sandy

A Federal Approach to Hurricane Sandy

Threats from catastrophic natural and manmade disasters during the 21st century have unfortunately become a reoccurring reality among communities in the United States. Managing the various stages of any disaster requires responding entities to become familiar with each other’s roles and capabilities to facilitate successful interfacing and cooperation. Physical and web based emergency operations centers (WebEOCs), emergency response entities, and private and non-profit organizations are essential providers of operational emergency management information, all-hazardous intelligence, and other subject matter expertise. To ensure effective coordination takes place, emergency management leaders at all levels

Following Katrina, the wait-and-see approach was no longer an acceptable approach to responding to significant disasters. The new approach adopted by the federal government involved a proactive posture, stronger collaboration, and engaged partnerships between the public and private sectors. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Private Sector Division launched the NBEOC after being widely criticized for the federal government’s lack of preparation and response during Hurricane Katrina. In the days leading up to Sandy, the federal government activated the NBEOC to assist impacted local governments and private sector organizations (Homeland Security, 2013). After identifying and planning for vulnerable areas, the NBEOC rapidly deployed 30 private sector liaisons to support New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut (FEMA, 2013). Moreover, the NBEOC kept in constant communication with the business community and senior FEMA, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and White House staff by constantly gathering and sharing critical information, and relaying the impact and needs of impacted communities and

The region’s unique and severe vulnerability to the storm, and the other weather related impacts associated with it, was not exactly unexpected. With the help of the NBEOC and government leaders, residents in impacted areas received ample warnings to monitor the path and beware of the magnitude of the storm. Vulnerability mapping helped the NBEOC better understand who the most vulnerable populations were and where they were located. The storm exposed a variety of vulnerabilities of the communities along the coast, but it particularly revealed the functional needs of the elderly, financially unstable populations, minorities, children, individuals with medical conditions, and those living in high-rise buildings (Abid et al., 2013). Moreover, data collected after the storm showed that those with a weak social network and many neighborhoods in New Jersey and New York City with high poverty levels had relatively high vulnerability