Emergency Management Thesis Statement

Thesis Statement

Catastrophic events come in all shapes and sizes, from natural disasters to pandemic emergencies as well as industrial and technological accidents. Furthermore, disasters can take the form of man-caused events like terrorism and civil disturbances. As researchers identified, “the preparedness for these catastrophic events, however, are influenced by several factors including some heightened hazards awareness and risk perception, normalization of risk and assumption that a disaster will not occur, complacency and inaction driven by previous disaster experience, and a false sense of confidence. Shortsightedly, “the local responders often assume that all disasters can be handled by simply expanding their steady state day-to-day

P 322). Sometimes, however, the domestic events or homeland security events (HLS events) are truly catastrophic, but they do not warrant or receive direct federal incident management. For example, the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, by Timothy McVeigh was not Presidentially declared under the Stafford Act, neither was it declared an Incident of National Significance. As a matter of public safety and protection, emergency managers must still coordinate these type of events as they have a large impact at the states and local

Although the FEMA NIMS and NRF are very resourceful, the emergency management profession is still uniquely challenging and complex while also being nonlinear. Additionally, the Emergency Management Programs and Standards (i.e., the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP), Voluntary Private Sector Preparedness Accreditation and Certification Program (PS-Prep), National Fire Protection Association, Chemical Manufacturer Association, and others do provide some direction and standards of corrective measures, and “communication and planning” for the Whole Community (FEMA IS 230.D). Conversely, can the state and local emergency management systems be perfected without dependency on DHS-FEMA responsibility for events that do not qualify for the Safford Act Relief? Yes. The readers may be curious to know how? Today’s manager is the one with “a mix knowledge” of emergency management authorities, guidance, policies, principles, and program as presented by Professor Anthony