Abstract
Houston and neighboring cities are no strangers to emergencies. There are two forms of disasters, that affect our world today, manmade and natural. Being located along the gulf coast makes us vulnerable to natural tragedies. Some of the natural hazards are floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes. On the other hand, we are not over looked by manmade disasters, like refinery explosions, fires and chemical spills. When emergencies happen, they send our daily lives spiraling into chaos. Learning from the catastrophes in the past help us to survive the tragedies in the future.
This paper will educate and prepare the city of La Porte, Texas how to organize and prepare for such emergencies. Keywords: disaster preparedness, La Porte office of emergency management
Disaster Preparedness
Introduction
As one of the most prominent petro chemical industrial centers in the state of Texas, located along the gulf coast makes La Porte a potential target for natural or man-made disasters. The purpose of this community assignment is to cultivate, promote and implement an effective emergency disaster program for the residents of the community of La Porte Texas. Our areas of teaching and operation will be community centers, churches and parks. The focus of this community assignment will be preparedness for natural or man-made tragedies. First, there should always be an emergency plan in place and all members of the family should be familiar with it. Knowing what supplies to
This case summarizes events preceding the Hurricane Katrina, which was one of the worst natural catastrophes in the modern history of the USA. It raises questions about the lack of reasonable prevention and preparation actions due to flimsy structure and management of the responsible organizations and persons, invalidity and inconsistence of their actions and incapability of making the decisions in a timely manner. As a result of the unstructured and incoherent activities, we could observe several ineffective and costly attempts to mitigate floods and hurricanes. In the beginning the local officials, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and “White Houses past and present always seem penny-wise and pound-foolish” because of the chain of the wrong
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.
Table 1. above shows the nature events that have happened in Houston, TX. For the most part Houston has encountered a lot of floods. These floods have been caused by heavy rain, thunderstorms and hurricanes around the area. They all have impacted the city of Houston and have been recorded along with many other events to have caused a lot of damage.
An emergency operations plan for the community in which we live is a document of great importance to each of us whether we know it or not. This paper examines the emergency action plan for Knoxville, Tennessee. In the course of the examination, it will compare and analyze the plan for Knoxville with the standards set forth in the textbook for this course along with other recognized sources in the field of emergency management.
Because of this hurricane, people are being forced out of their homes, left with no food, left with nothing, and being forced to see this natural disaster thrash at their city. Not only will this hurricane affect the people in Houston and south Texas, but it will also affect those across the nation who have loved ones going through this tragedy. This event is important because lives have been lost and many people are losing many of their possessions. This hurricane is bringing devastation to people in this county, who just a few days ago were living
In day to day operations, uncertainties do occur. Henceforth it would be important to have a contingent and well detailed disaster preparedness plan and procedures. Healthcare systems, on a day to day basis, are faced with emergencies in form of disasters. As a result, majority of medical centers have well-structured exit plans in the event of a disaster occurring("Hospital Disaster Preparedness: Your Guide to Getting Started - Emergency Preparedness", 2011). However, this essay will aim at interviewing one of the top disaster preparedness staffat the Houston Methodist Hospital. In the interview, I will seek to identify the top three disasters that the Houston Methodist Hospital is prepared for. Similarly, in the interview, I would seek to identify the top lessons learnt from disaster preparedness at the hospitals.As it concludes it would summarize the findings with regards to the interview stated below. Below is an excerpt from the interview to answer the two aforementioned questions.
The whole world observed as the administration responders appeared incapable to provide essential protection from the effects of nature. The deprived response results from a failure to accomplish a number of risk factors (Moynihan, 2009). The dangers of a major hurricane striking New Orleans had been measured, and there was sufficient warning of the threat of Katrina that announcements of emergency were made days in advance of landfall (Moynihan, 2009). Nonetheless, the responders were unsuccessful to change this information into a level of preparation suitable with the possibility of the approaching disaster. Federal responders failed to recognize the need to more actively engage (Moynihan, 2009). These improvements include improved ability to provide support to states and tribes ahead of a disaster; developed a national disaster recovery strategy to guide recovery efforts after major disasters and emergencies; and the Establishment of Incident Management Assistance Teams in which these full time, rapid response teams are able to deploy within two hours and arrive at an incident within 12 hours to support the local incident commander (FEMA,
The Caddo-Bossier Parishes have been hit by a flood in recent months that left thousands of residents in a state of distress. While this did not cause large numbers of fatalities, it does bring up the concern if the area would be ready for such a large crisis. During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the state and country showed how unprepared they were for the aftermath of a natural disaster that left thousands dead. In an instance that this occurred again, it is vital we have educated the population and learned how to react. This case study is covering the mitigation, the preparedness, response and recovery in the case of another flood hitting the area.
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.
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Denton is a 255-bed hospital featuring more than forty three specialties, the hospital is located adjacent to a major highway which is used to transport hazardous materials, commuters and cargo. Texas Health Presbyterian Denton is a suburb of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, which has an estimated population of seven million residents and covers a geographical area of approximately 9,000 square miles. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and the fourth largest in the United States. The purpose of this paper will be to evaluate the Texas Health Presbyterian Denton’s Emergency Operation’s Plan to determine if it address a comprehensive response to threats, emergencies and disasters while safeguarding the welfare of its citizens.
The first thing I would do is have emergency or natural disaster plan and preparation available online with its own website for the local or other communities. I will check to make sure all officials,
The burden of emergency management has grown great deal in the last few decades. We have seen an increase in natural disasters, a new threat of terrorism on our front door and an increase in manmade disasters. All of these have tested emergency management in a number of cities and towns across the nation. It is not always disasters that present problems for emergency managers. We have to look beyond our traditional view of emergency management of helping us during times of disasters and view what issues they consider may affect their emergency response. Issues that emergency management see that are moving into the critical area are issues of urbanization and hazard exposure, the rising costs of disaster recovery, and low priority of emergency management.
Risk for disasters is a part of life; emergency situations occur more frequently than many people believe. A wise person plans for the worse, and hopes for the best. After a disaster, how well a community can recover will depend largely on how well they prepared in advance. Risk management includes identifying any potential risks to a community and proactively planning to minimize the threat. Proactive organization of resources and people to respond to emergencies can mean the difference between a community’s ability to regroup and recover, and the loss of life. To better
This subject aims to teach students the main elements of emergency management for natural disasters and to a lesser degree terrorist attack. Students will understand the principles involved in emergency