Emergency Management

Oncor electric is a regulated distribution and transmission business of the private sector and owned by a limited number of investors. Oncors’ responsibility is to deliver reliable and safe electricity to the private sectors, so they can have the power to maintain productivity by keeping the backbone of our economy (oncor 2012). We are known as the “poles and wires” infrastructure company, we manage our business like the private sector does and our company invests in the latest technology and by putting our employees and customers first. When restoring outages due to large storms or natural disasters we respond quickly and safely to restore power to the critical infrastructure. Electric service providers are required to notify the Commission’s Emergency Management Response Team (EMRT) to be involved in the event of a major emergency and natural disaster that occurs such as hurricanes and ice storms (puc.texas.gov 2009). With the EMRT, they help to coordinate power restoration while communicating regularly with any affected electric service providers before, during, and after an event.

Modern emergency management requires very conscientious planning and organization. Although, a great deal of time goes into the planning there is not a sure concrete plan, because managers still have to improvise, adapt and innovate to incidents, which rarely completely covers every aspect of the disaster. The essential roles of networks is to combine a wide range of community economic, social-psychological, and political resources. Role collaboration of emergency managers converts into a critical entity during and following a disaster coordinating intergovernmental, multi organization, and intersectoral response and recovery operations. The development of an effective leadership strategy vary and presents another levels of challenges than

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

Advances in communication technology give the crisis teams the ability to reach out to communities and rural areas using reverse phone calls and the emergency broadcast system. Traditional communication methods, such as television and radio, allows the crisis teams to distribute correct information and help reduce the effects of errors that can be communicated through news spread by word of mouth.

Supplies could be needed in one area, but without communication that area might not be able to reach out for those supplies. Communication amongst first responders is important for information sharing, so that information can flow between different jurisdictions and agencies. When looking at the efforts of first responders, communication is the one constant variable, which without communication all efforts would be in vain. (Newman & Clarke, 2008) The National Incident Management System (NIMS) places an emphasis on the importance of communication when dealing with response efforts. The National Incident Management System shows how having a unified command systems can benefit the response efforts to disaster. However, without proper and efficient communication, a unified command system cannot proceed efficiently.

Also, there are some challenges involves in mobilizing and deploying response teams in some special incidents. For instance, during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) Incident, there were reports of “some delay in achieving a fully functioning, effective and efficient Incident Command System” (Florida Commission on Oil Spill Response Coordination, 2012, P.33). As such some questions like why should city emergency management personnel use the National Incident Management System rather than developing their own command and control system often arises. This paper will try to answer or clarify this question by examining the advantages and disadvantages of the NIMS; endeavor to see if there is any advantages and disadvantages, of developing and using an ad hoc system to manage emergency; And then compare the advantages and disadvantages both systems; finally try to justify the use of the National Incident Management System as opposed to emergency management personnel developing an ad hoc command system for each individual emergency or disaster situation.

Natural and man-made disasters have increased in the past decade, and due to these changes, Emergency Managers had to make drastic changes in order to improve the way first responders operate in a disaster area.

Many times the local framework for support and response breaks down after major incidences (Caruson, MacManus, September 2008). The loss of electricity to some, if not all the area, for extended amount of time should be expected. This can also mean loss of communication in the form of cell phone connection, internet and land lines. Hence, MACS establishing an Emergency Operation Center (EOC) is the lynchpin in maintaining the command and control that would otherwise be lost (Walsh, Christen, Callsen, Miller, Maniscalco, Lord, & Dolan,

“In recent years with an increased emphasis on non-routine incidents such as hazardous materials, and now terrorist events, other methods have been developed to address new aspects related to non-routine situations” (FEMA, 1999). Command structure will encourage the delegation of workload to more manageable levels. Panic and chaos are not conducive to emergency responder productivity in a disaster. Managed response is a “force multiplier”, meaning that responders can accomplish their mission with less personnel or fewer resources if they work within a well- developed and planned system of

Since its development, the ICS has proven to be a useful and valuable tool in emergency management. By following guidelines established within an ICS, individual and/or multiple agencies can more quickly, efficiently and appropriately respond to disaster and emergency events. The continued use of the Incident Command Systems will aid in the success, competence and effectiveness of the emergency management

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.

Communication is widely regarded as one of the most essential elements in successfully managing an emergency situation. The dissemination of information, which is both timely as well as accurate, to the parties concerned goes a long way to lend a hand in ensuring that the recovery activities in an emergency situation, together with its management takes place effectively. For that reason, five critical assumptions are used to provide the basis of disaster management strategy.

Developing alternative means of communication to manage and control disaster response efforts effectively, ensures timely response actions are employed. These alternative communication

This emergence of social media has also changed emergency management and disaster response. Emergency management as a whole is fairly new, only creating widely recognized, integrated emergency management systems beginning in the 1970s. Furthermore, at this same time people realized that the effects disasters have on the communities they strike can be mitigated by the creation of disaster plans ahead of time, proper disaster response training, and the efforts of human actions in these situations. Because social media has enabled mass amounts of instant information sharing, it allows not only locals and disaster response teams to help with the management of crises, but also many remote citizens.

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