Introduction There are many roles an Emergency Managers will have to take in today’s emergency response and management field. The fact that emergency management covers such a vide field of concern means that the roles themselves will not be cookie cutter standardized throughout the world. In the United States there are Emergency Managers at the local, state, and federal level and each of these roles are similar. The fact that these Emergency Managers deal with separate issues that are not similar will cause these managers to have their own unique custom roles which will make them differ from one another. The purpose of this essay is to define and discuss the most important roles these managers fill. Local Local Emergency Managers such as county or volunteer fire chiefs will have the direct familiarity and the best understanding of the best approach to certain locally unique situations in their area that a federal or even state employed Emergency Managers would not, purely due to the fact that the outside managers do not deal daily with the small hand emergencies that the locals face. “Where there is an Emergency Managers that person is generally appointed, at the county level, by a County Council or by County Commissioners, depending on the form or structure of the county government.” (FEMA, 2014) Local Emergency Managers will understand better how to maneuver the cities’ infrastructure and local topographical hazards better than an “out-of-towner” federal, or
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.
As Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma successively lashed the gulf coast starting in late August 2005, nature’s fury exposed serious weaknesses in the United States’ emergency response capabilities. Not all emergencies pose this magnitude of challenge. In the United States, the initial—and usually major—responsibility for disaster response rests with local authorities. This “bottom-up” system of emergency management has a long history and continues to make sense in most circumstances. Core Challenges for Large-Scale Disaster
In the Disaster in Franklin County simulation (Regents of the University of Minnesota [UMN], 2006), there were several key personnel in the incident command team. This concept is utilized in real disasters when the Public
The various local, state, and federal emergency management systems of the United States suffered a crude awakening in the decade of the 2000s. Systems expected to hold up were put to the test and failed to prepare for disaster, mitigate the damage, and, in some instances, actually hampered responses in life-or-death situations. Worse, all failings were highlighted in an age of global communication and mass media, on display first whether a man-made incident like September 11th attacks or natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina. The decade found the complacent government failing to maintain modern emergency management practices, stimulating began a series of doctrinal upgrades and training improvements. Yet, no matter the bureaucracy, writings, or money thrown at a problem, the first responder to the incident has and will continue to influence the outcome. While the individual responder stands as the most important part of
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.
In regards to local and national emergency response, first responders have explicit roles and responsibilities. The National Response Framework (NRF) is an excellent tool designed to outline the precise roles and responsibilities, as they relate to the different echelons. Local governments play a major role in the overall response frame work within their community. Typically chief elected or appointed officials are responsible for the safety and welfare for those within their respective jurisdiction. Also, officials have a role in how laws and policies are formed, in order to to aid preparedness efforts and improve emergency management and response capabilities (DHS, 2006).
The history of emergency management dates back in 1803 when a great fire struck Portsmouth city in New Hampshire. In response to this firebreak out, the Congress passed into law the Congress Act, 1803 to compensate the Portsmouth merchants. The Portsmouth city fire breakout and the congress response to the disaster set a precedent, which was applied in United States in management of emergencies like the 1835 terrific fire of New york city, fire break out at Chicago in 1871, the Galveston hurricane of 1900, and the 1906 San Francisco horrible earthquake up to mid-20th century (Rubin, 2012).
Government at all levels plays an important role during disaster management. Actions and roles of each government agencies are spelled out in the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the National Response Framework (NRF). But before we go into details on the roles of governments, let me first of all explain what constitute emergency and emergency management, just to give clearer understanding some of these terms. Then I will examine the roles of governments at all level including first responder actions, mutual support, lead and support roles.
The next sept that will help the OES to meet our agency objectives as we adjust to the necessary organizational changes is to “understand the horizontal and vertical linkages within local government, specifically, local emergency management agencies (LEMAs) which typically have horizontal linkages with personnel in police, fire, emergency medical services, public works, and emergency management/homeland security departments” (“Building an Effective Emergency”, n.d.). Let’s not forget the municipal that answers to their local
In “Wither the Emergency Manager,” Niel R. Britton comments on Drabek's “Human Responses to disaster: An Inventory of Sociological Findings.” Britton describes six positive and negative issues in emergency management as it is today. In this paper, we will discuss the implications on emergency management as a field and on the individual manager.
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.
An Office of Emergency Management is in charge of the training and planning to secure a plan for preparedness, to act in response to and convalesce from damages that affects the Department and to ensure that the Office of Emergency Management's mission continues. It is going to be an either local, tribal, state, national or international level agency that holds the responsibility of recovering from all manner of disasters. A major goal of the Office of Emergency Management is in being recognized as the Department that is a center of epitome in management, during an emergency, and continuity planning. An Office of Emergency Management can also be referred to as an Office of Disaster Management. In order for effective emergency management procedures
Emergency management is a difficult job, and there are many factors that goes into it, if a person wants to be effective at their job. Usually on the news stations, or on social media websites, we can see the actual disaster happening in real time, and/or can see the immediate damage the emergency has caused a town. An example, could be seeing the destruction a hurricane leaves in its wake from an aerial views from news helicopters. Usually after a few days the news will stop reporting on this event and move on to the next major news story. After a disaster occurs, people in the emergency management business are there to help pick up the pieces, and try to restore order or to help those in need. In many cases they are successful and everything,
Introduction. On 06 January 2005, a cargo train carrying a massive amount of chlorine spilled in Graniteville, South Carolina creating panic and indeed chaos to both citizens and emergency managers on how to properly respond to the hazardous materials released from the train wreckage. The people of the small rural town of Graniteville located just outside of Aiken, South Carolina, where caught in their sleep when Freight train 192 traveling approximately 47 mph struck other consignments spilling a dangerous amount of chlorine gas into the atmosphere. As a result of this disaster, 5,400 individuals were evacuated from their homes whiling causing nine deaths. The magnitude of such disaster was one that would change any town or city forever.
When a disaster has taken place, first responders who provide fire and medical services will not be equipped to meet the demands for many services. Several issues such as the number of victims, communication failures and road blockages will stop people from accessing emergency services they have come to expect at a moment 's notice through 911 emergency services. Individuals will have to rely on others for help in order to meet their immediate lifesaving and life sustaining needs. If access is blocked or the agency’s capacity is exceeded, it may be hours or days before trained help arrives. There is a four-phase model that organizes the events of emergency managers. This model is known as the “life cycle” which includes dour