Emergency Management Stakeholders

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.

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.

This paper is designed to show you the differences between the way conservatives and progressives view the federal role in emergency management. Furthermore, the advantages and disadvantages of each them. Also, we will discuss what you should expect as a practitioner of the profession on how to prepare yourself when you would like to switch from one to the other. Most importantly discuss the criteria of a natural disaster and how human and social perception factors inter play with each other. One question at hand is do we blame the victim? What does “blaming the victim” means? Is there any validity to this or not? Does this concept influence the way our society responds to disaster or any other event that may occur? These are some of

Organizations over the past few decades have come to realize two things, there are a limited number of people in the government that are able to respond to natural disasters or large scale disaster effectively and that the government only has so many available resources to offer during a time of crisis. Another fact is, that private sector companies and non-profit entities, such as the Red Cross, have the ability to be more prepared due to their vast network of stores and distribution centers and their leisure, they indeed do have a unique responsibility

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

Being prepared for a hurricane is not just the responsibility of first responders like firefighters, law enforcement, and EMS. An entire community from one individual or a family all the way up to state and federal government personnel need to work together and do their part and everybody has their own role to play. It is very important for communities to have strong collaborative planning teams. These teams are made up of governmental, nongovernmental, private, and public organizations and agencies that need to be integrated and share information and also trained together during the planning phase to increase the successfulness of the response to a disaster. Having educated and informed citizens is key for a prepared community, for example they can create evacuation and family reunification plans, compile disaster kits, and engage in trainings and neighborhood preparedness activities so that during an emergency they are able to help themselves, their families, neighbors, and friends. Another way to lessening the effects of a hurricane is to implement mitigation

CERTs are deployed progressively and as needs in the area dictate but members are taught to assess their own needs and those in their immediate environment first. Spontaneous volunteers, our neighbors and ordinary citizens, often arrive on-site at a disaster ready to help. Yet because they are not associated with any part of the existing emergency management response system, their offers of help are often underutilized. Specialized planning, information sharing, and a management structure are necessary to coordinate efforts and maximize the benefits of volunteer involvement. Emergency management experts are encouraged to identify and utilize all existing capacity for integrating unaffiliated volunteers. Some CERT teams are able to be deployed outside of the immediate area to assist other local governments during times of emergency. These teams must receive additional training in order to be able to be

The differing needs of a vulnerable population have to be addressed in order to alleviate issues that were noted after Katrina. In particular, the needs which are known prior to a disaster, such as evacuation for the infirmed, elderly, impoverished, and those who lack the means to evacuate. The Department of Homeland Security represented a solution to addressing these needs via a three phase response: “pre-event planning and preparation, the event, and recovery” (Dept. Homeland Security, 2008). It has been widely studied that residents of a vulnerable community may be impacted more severely and are disproportionately affected than those with means following a disaster. Assessing how to prepare for each of the phases represents an issue for emergency managers especially when it comes to those who lack the means to prepare for themselves. Quickly rebuilding homes in a devastated area won’t help a community when a disaster strikes again. Platt stated that “disasters offer a window of opportunity to strengthen communities”, via “construction and change land uses to prevent a recurrence of a disaster”. (Platt, 1998) It also can be argued that following a disastrous event, this is when a true opportunity arises, by providing an opportunity to work through solving the societal issues that are the basis for a vulnerable populous via comprehensive political reforms and

Hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, tsunamis, freak floods, mudslides, typhoons, and avalanches. Natural disasters cost billions of dollars each year all over the world. The severity of these disaster are measured by the lives lost, the economic loss, and the ability of the population to rebuild. Natural disasters that really affect people worldwide tend to become more intense as the years go on. The frequency of earthquakes, mega storms, and heat waves has gone up considerably in the last few decades. Scientists, geologists, and storm watchers work hard to predict major disasters and avert as much damage as possible but it is still to predict some natural disasters. It has become easier to predict major storms, blizzards, cyclones, and other weather related natural disasters over the years. But there are still natural disasters that come up rather unexpectedly, such as earthquakes, wildfires, landslides, and volcanic eruptions. FEMA goal is to ensure that the United States is able to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters, natural and manmade alike. The agency’s motto is “A Nation Prepared”. Some people like FEMA former director Joe Allbaugh believe people shouldn’t depend on FEMA. That people should be able to help themselves and rebuild on their own.

Over the years, the National Response Framework (NRF) has evolved to meet the growing need of a more comprehensive and logical approach to a nationwide emergency management strategy. Stemming from the National Response Plan in 2008, it is one of the five frameworks designed to aid in organizing national preparedness activities, the others being Prevention, Protection, Mitigation and Disaster Recovery. The NRF’s main function is to guide how the agencies and communities respond to all types of disasters and emergencies. The framework was designed to be scalable, flexible and adaptable to account for the differing scopes, particulars and complications that arise from these events. Its application can range from grave but local incidents, such

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.

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.

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

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