Building A 21st Century Digital Government

Tragic events that cause damage to property and life may destroy the social, cultural and economic life of a community. Communities must be engaged in the various phases from prevention to recovery to build disaster resilient communities. In order to do this, there must be a disaster preparedness plan in place that involves multiple people in various roles.

Ensuring Resilience to Disasters has more tasking’s than another mission and involves many different agencies to accomplish those tasks. The four tasks are to mitigate hazards, enhance preparedness, ensure effective emergency response, and rapidly recover. The main agency that is responsible for these tasking’s is FEMA. FEMA’s mission is to “reduce the loss of life and property and protect communities nationwide from all hazards, including natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters” (FEMA, 2017, p.2). FEMA works with federal and State services to assist them in accomplishing their goals. They also assist local services by assisting in setting up emergency management agencies (LEMA) and set guidance for Emergency Operations Planning (EOP). EOP’s are “plans that provide an overview of the jurisdiction’s preparedness and response strategies. It describes expected hazards, outlines agency roles and responsibilities, and explains how the jurisdiction keeps the plan current.” (FEMA, 2010,

This chapter provides an overview that describes the basic types of hazards threatening the United States and provides definitions for some basic terms such as hazards, emergencies, and disasters. The chapter also provides a brief history of emergency management in the federal government and a general description of the current emergency management system—including the basic functions performed by local emergency managers. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the all-hazards approach and its implications for local emergency management.

Editor’s Note: This Chapter is the continuation of an adaptation of a state plan for disaster preparation and response. In total, the original chapter comprises Chapters 1, 14, 16-18.

In California, there are school programs that will help prepare the children for the disaster. Not just that, the program are placed to help them gain knowledge on the mechanism of natural disaster, to be specific an earthquake disaster. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Service (Cal OES) (2008), developed a program that

Healthy People 2020 recently added a new topic of preparedness to its list of topics and objectives. The objective that coincides with the health issue of disaster preparedness is the 13th objective. For this objective, Healthy People 2020 plans to increase the proportion of adults whose household has an emergency plan that includes instructions for household members about where to go in the event of a disaster. In 2011, 46.0% of adults aged 18 and over have a household emergency plan that includes instructs for household members about where to go and what to do in the event of a disaster (Preparedness., 2014). In addition, Healthy People 2020’s goal is to increase the percentage of adults who have an emergency plan to

At 6pm on April 30th, 2014, a life-threatening disaster struck the Florida panhandle. At that time, Florida residents were not aware of the rain and flooding that was about engulf Pensacola and the surrounding areas. But as time began to pass, it became obvious this was not an ordinary storm. As the rain poured and the lightning struck, many people lost power and television connection, unable to see that what was thought to be a small storm would set national records and be the cause for severe-weather threats. This event taught me how to prevent a disastrous situation in dire conditions as well as the importance of being prepared.

In the years after the 9/11 tragedy, the United States continues to face risks from all forms of major disasters, from potentially dangerous terrorist attacks to catastrophic acts of nature. Professionals in the fields of emergency management and homeland security have responsibilities for ensuring that all levels of government, urban areas and communities, nongovernmental organizations, businesses, and individual citizens are prepared to deal with such hazards though actions that reduce risks to lives and property. Regrettably, the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the nation's ability to deal with disasters is unnecessarily challenged by the absence of a common understanding on how these fields are related in the workforce and educational

The ultimate goal for this program is to increase shared knowledge. Each child that attends The Pillowcase Project class represents a ‘share’, the more ‘shares’ the more information is taught allowing the information to disseminate throughout the community. The goal for the Metropolitan Atlanta Red Cross Chapter is to teach the preparedness curriculum to 1500 students within the neighboring counties we by the next fiscal year. This program addresses the public health issue of individuals, families, and communities being ill-prepared for an emergency, be it due to a man-made or natural disaster. This program was designed to target

Critical incidents require immediate action (Levinson & Granot, 2002). Additionally, they also require ongoing support in order to ensure that they are correctly managed and the long-term effects are mitigated (Schneid & Collins, 2001). Addressed here are four specific events - earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and tornados. There are ways to mitigate the damage of these events, and there are also ways to try to prepare for them. Additionally, the type of response to these events is important as is the recovery from them. For earthquakes, mitigation is limited. It is possible to build houses and buildings stronger and more able to withstand shaking, and in earthquake-prone areas the cabinets often have latches and large appliances are strapped to the wall (U.S., 2007). People who live there should also have emergency supplies of food and water, and should be prepared for an earthquake by knowing information about evacuation routes (U.S., 2007). The response to earthquakes and the recovery from them are usually strong, because the areas that are most prone are also most prepared. When an earthquake hits in an unusual area, however, it can take much longer to help people and to rebuild the infrastructure.

The Department of Homeland Security sponsors a program called “Ready Business.” “DHS has adopted the National Fire Protection Association 1600 (NFPA 1600) as the American National Standard for developing a preparedness program” (Department of Homeland Security, 2015). FEMA spreads this strategy in efforts to establish effective emergency response preparedness from the businesses initially affected by disasters. This type of program is in place in hopes that it will alleviate a large amount of identified hazards associated

Having a basic understanding of community or national emergency plans can assist families in disaster. This is especially true during the response phase. The National Response Framework (NRF) is a great example of a national community reference. According to FEMA’s publication, “The National Response Framework,” from 2013, the NRF is a guide which describes the basis of national response to any form of disaster. The NRF was developed from a long line of response guidance plans. The first was the Federal Response plan which was replaced by the National Response Plan. Then in 2008, the NRF was developed to make national response guidance more efficient as well as to include practices created after Hurricane Katrina. The NRF is comprised

The Department of Homeland Security released the 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review on June 18, 2014 as required by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and its amendments. This review outlined the current state of preparedness, as well as the future areas of concentration. It also determined six strategic challenges facing the nation: terrorist threat; growing cyber threats; biological concerns as a whole; nuclear terrorism; transnational criminal organizations; and natural hazards. The basic building block of emergency management in the U.S. is the local community. Each step begins here. Threat assessments are completed on the local level. Planning, mitigation, and response are all responsibilities of the local community to support the state and Federal practice using the guidance provided by both.

I am opposed to such content on the Internet and therefore am a firm believer in

This paper on One Stop Government Portal starts with the need for deviation from conventional method of offering govt. services physically to offering it virtually. It talks about the consequences of introduction of e-governance with reference to one-stop govt. portals in India and the way people perceived its services. It also mentions the way in which these services can be enhanced in order to reach the maximum people effectively. Further, the one stop government portals can be used as a platform to develop Unique Id system for the citizens of India. Thus, the paper throws light on an era of internet that attempted to change the government services in a country