Domestic Disaster Assistance

Research on the NBEOC used during Hurricane Sandy consists of an extensive review of peer-reviewed articles using ProQuest and EBSCOhost, and journals associated with public and environmental health. Additional contributions to the research paper will include the FEMA website and the PS7 Review. The PS7 Review is a monthly newsletter created by FEMA to educate and inform community partners about its mission to increase collaboration amongst the private sector and whole community (Homeland Security, 2013). The final research paper will begin with an overview of Hurricane Sandy, followed by a description of the design and location of the NBEOC, and conclude with the media’s role in dispersing disaster information to the public. While taking into account that “more than 60 percent of NRCC personnel rated the NBEOC as effective or very effective” (FEMA, 2013), a major limitation of this research is that the NBEOC has not been implemented enough to back this statement. Therefore, information collected during the research process will assist in determining whether the NBEOC demonstrated organizational excellence before, during, and after Hurricane

According to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), there are many factors that will affect the direction of emergency management in the coming years. These can be classified as global challenges, global opportunities, national challenges, national opportunities, professional challenges, and professional opportunities. Global Challenges include some issues like global climate change, increasing population and population density, increasing resource scarcities, rising income inequality, and increasing risk aversion. Global Opportunities has to do with increased scientific understanding of the hazards and societal responses, as well as revolutionary technologies. National Challenges involves increasing urbanization and hazard exposure, interdependencies in infrastructure, continued emphasis on growth, rising costs of disaster recovery, increasing population diversity, terrorist threats, low priority of emergency management, legal liability, and intergovernmental tensions. Due to these factors that will affect the direction of emergency management in the coming years, there is need for us at emergency management division to adjust operational plans to meet these challenges and especially changes emanating from constant changes expected in technology and other threats we face.

Disaster is anything that can occur causing damages, an ecological disruption and deterioration of health and the health services. Disaster can be manmade or natural disasters such as floods. When disasters like flooding or tornadoes that may be accompanied by floods occur, the public health personnel and public health nurses are normally the first people who respond to the emergency, given that they are the people who understand and know the available resources used in providing first aids to the affected victims.

One topic that is in the cross fire on debates all the time is the federal policy on disaster relief, and disaster preparedness. The federal government has programs put into place to help the victims of natural disasters, such as hurricanes and tornados. Some of these disaster relief programs are The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (the Stafford Act), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and The Red Cross. These programs have many policies in place, but some feel that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to improve these policies.

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.

Every year, there are approximately 150,000 deaths and 200 million people affected by natural disasters and humanitarian crises (Thomas, 2003). Natural disasters alone, which include various occurrences, cause substantial disruptions such as the temporary displacement of more than five million people. According to the Fritz institute, statistics show that uprooted people from humanitarian crises such as civil conflict and war is greater, with an average of 13 million refugees and 20 million internally displaced people each year. As the biggest worldwide participants in the relief effort in the global community, disaster relief organizations are the forerunners of the help supplied to people affected by catastrophic events.

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.

This information will be used to establish priorities and develop an incident action plan. Resources and capabilities are employed based on the size, scope, nature and complexity of the incident. Should the disaster exceed the local governments, they would request assistance through mutual aid and assistance agreements, the State, or the Federal Government. Mutual aid agreements establish the roles and responsibilities of both parties, the procedures for requesting assistance and communication protocols.

An emergency is a severe, sudden and sometimes risky circumstances requiring urgent action (Salman Sawalha, 2014). Escalation of an emergency situation can lead to disaster; which is an unusual event that can cause lost of life and property (Salman Sawalha, 2014). International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRRCS) define disaster as “unexpected devastating events that disrupts the operations of a population or public which leads to huge losses and overwhelmed the affected community 's ability to respond to the situation with the resources they have at hand”. There are two main types of disaster that can lead to emergency situations; these include natural and man-made disasters.

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 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.

Data obtained by assessing social vulnerability must be implemented within each phase of the emergency management process; mitigation, response, and recovery. First, to effectively respond and recover from incidents emergency management agencies must concentrate on the mitigation phase to prevent incidents from happening in the first place. This is achieved through a thorough hazard/vulnerability analysis (HVA). This type of analysis assesses the risk of physical, economic, and social vulnerability within all communities of a given jurisdiction (Lindell et al., 2006, p. 165). Additionally, the basis of the HVA allows emergency managers to effectively plan for disaster by creating pre-planned responses to disasters (rather than improvised response) and staging resources to locations with the highest probability of risk; ultimately contributing to the mitigation and response phases.

Through the years, many countries have adopted the same guidelines when it comes to emergency management. The system is ever changing with the types of hazards countries have to deal with, and so is the knowledge to mitigate them. As counties adopt this universal system, it provides them with an easier way to give and receive outside aid before, throughout and after an event or disaster. Although very similar there seems to always be some differences around the world. Emergency management and disaster response in France is very similar to the United States. Because of these similarities each country

This essay will seek to justify that the inclusion of the role of women in disaster preparedness and response planning is imperative and must be taken into account by not only humanitarian organizations, but also the communities they work in. Issues of gender and diversity need to be integrated into disaster preparedness and response planning in a way that allows women as

Dasgupta, et al (2010) asserted that an individual’s gender impacted an individual’s reaction to the disaster and the ways of coping. According to Alam and Rahman (2014), the immediate issues were to find shelter and manage foods after the disaster. Involvement of women post disaster is challenged by the conception that women are vulnerable and that men are more capable and proficient then women. It is important to acknowledge that women’s involvement is vital for effective change, thus they too should be granted decision making opportunities in response to a disaster (Scanlon, 1996). Women played important roles that help protect lives, assets, however were always given a secondary role than primary. And if women were provided with better information then that could have resulted in better preparedness. Chowdhury (1993) and Forthrgill (1996) identified women’s primary role post disaster is to take care of the family members and provide food. Women are often depicted as victims that lack agency during disaster, however studies have showed they can be very useful too. According to UNDP (2010) report the women’s social roles can be mobilized as capacities for adaption in vulnerable areas. Skidmore (2002) and Hallegatte (2009) emphasize that disasters might not always render women vulnerable, but also opened up opportunities as well. According to Rees, Pittaway and Bartolomei, (2005) post disasters women are more subjected to marginalization because of the preexisting social