Emergency Management Assignment Analysis

Our way of life in the United States and around the world changed on September 11th, 2001 after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers in New York City, the Pentagon and on flight 93. One of the statements that President George W. Bush made in his Address to the Nation on Terrorist Attacks that night was, “Our first priority is to get help to those who have been injured and to take every precaution to protect our citizens at home and around the world from further attacks” (Bush, Para 6, September 11, 2001). Emergency management services across the nation and the world sprang into action to provide immediate aid to the response and recovery efforts that were in dire need in New York City. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was an instrumental part of providing aid in that process.

In addition, we are seeing a well diverse generation coming up through the ranks of emergency management. The role of EM is forever changing. Everyone entering into this career must understand the importance of the commitment to becoming a life long student. Sense this field is continuing to evolve, we need to encourage the same for the students of this field. They have to remain fluid, and professional in all regards. It will be a critical part of their training to be able to communicate with all levels of the parties involved. Along with the role, will be the responsibility to become involved with the community and to become a member of well known associations in the area.

Historically, the United States has been one of the few Western societies to be secluded from major international conflict within domestic borders. As terrorism, a problem that seems to be borderless, natural disasters, and unconventional warfare continue to rise the citizens of the United States have begun to see its effects firsthand. This devastation has prompted a change in management of incidents that is affecting the traditional roles that agencies play in response efforts to mitigate the situation. Agencies with major responsibilities to disaster response have begun to examine other Democratic Western Countries to discuss, as well as collaborate on possible improvements. One country that departments are creating collaborative

The second phase of a traditional emergency management plan, and the third phase in the Los Angeles Unified School District is represented by the response phase. At this level, the emergency management team is already faced with the crisis situation, in the meaning that the risk has materialized, and they are forced to manage the ongoing crisis in an effort to minimize the losses of the emergency situation.

Emergency management faces many challenges in today’s modern society. In the years prior to 9/11 emergency management was primarily focused on natural disasters. That has since changed; we now face a diverse variety of risks and hazards on a constant basis. As we continue to grow in population current and newer have compounded into more problems that emergency planner must face and find solutions for.

Anytown, Minnesota currently has an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) located in a back room of the City Hall. The designated room is 650 square feet and has not been updated for over ten years. Huder (2012), states that an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is where decision-making and problem solving occurs when there is a disaster. An EOC can be activated for disasters as well as for large-scale planned events (Fairfax, 2015 p. 1). ASTM International identify that an EOC needs to be developed and maintained based on the risks, vulnerabilities, capabilities, and the needs of the community (Standard Guide, p.2). The Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided a checklist that assists with assessing the capability of the infrastructure of an EOC (United States, n.d,). Based on this assessment, it is recommended that the current EOC undergo restructuring and renovations to include; increasing the square footage of the current EOC and upgrading offices to be

1. I think an emergency situation would increase a person to offer their help. I think when an emergency happens you get the feeling that you have to help someone in need. Example: You drive by a car accident and the car is on fire. You stop to help the person out of the car so that they don't catch on fire or die. You may also call 911 so that they can send out help.

Many years ago emergency rooms were more commonly known as emergency zones. I am a doctor in the emergency zone located in the slopes Colorado. In my many years I have seen many bizarre cases, I have witnessed people die before I could save them, but the most rewarding part of my job is the people who come in on the brink of death and I am able to save them. I truly have the greatest job on earth.

Eight years of experience in emergency medical services have granted me the opportunity to observe our world through a diverse pair of glasses. Interacting with and treating patients outside of the hospital offers the rare perspective of viewing the environment from which our patients originate. This has opened my eyes to the struggles and barriers those in a lower socioeconomic status face. Working in the urban, suburban, and rural settings, I have treated patients from all walks of life. Knowing all patients are people with various backgrounds and experiences, I learned that communication must be personal and sincere. Navigating the obstacle course that is the patient-provider relationship takes practice, but more importantly, it requires

Under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) must develop an emergency response plan, review the plan at least annually, and provide information about chemicals in the community to citizens. Plans are developed by LEPCs with stakeholder participation. There is one LEPC for each of the more than 3,000 designated local emergency planning districts. The LEPC membership must include elected state and local officials, police, fire, civil defense, and public health professionals, environment, transportation, and hospital officials, facility representatives, representatives from community groups and the media.

The United States emergency management communities are psychologically unprepared to deal with the loss of lives and property from catastrophic disasters; a price of overwhelming death and destruction affecting the international first response community. Many first responders lament to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (bostock, Matusko,Emp, Paterson & Bryant, 2013) and whereas, the global community has tried for decades to prevent such mental injury, the U.S., since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and hurricane Katrina, is only beginning to understand the cost of sending emotionally unprepared personnel to national disaster front lines.

Emergency management plans are the policies and procedures developed and implemented by an organisation to treat with and respond to emergency situations when they arise. These plans in most cases are written and take into consideration all the hazards and threats posed to the organisation. Furthermore O’Brien, O’Keefe, Rose &Wisner (2006) identify disaster planning as “based on risk assessment and lessons learned, which are codified into a set of risk management and emergency plans designed to enable effective and efficient policies and practices.” However to evaluate the effectiveness of these plans several strategies can be used, two such methods are:

An emergency response is an effort by public safety personnel and citizens to mitigate the impact of an incident on human life and property. But, when it comes to a crisis or a major disaster this can become very difficult. Because, when something so damaging and drastic happens, there’s really no fixing or changing the situation. All people or emergency responses can do is try their best to fix and help the situation as best as possible. These are things that most emergency response teams are prepared for and trained for.

In the study of emergency management theory, there are many definitions at issue that we must discuss. I would like to give you a quick overview of some terms to the study of Emergency Management in the United States. The terms are fact, theory, opinion, expert opinion, thesis, hypothesis, and experiment. We will explore more into detail of their meaning and how these terms relate to Emergency Management.

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.