Emergency Prepardness

“Texas is uniquely susceptible to climate change, perhaps more than almost any other state” (Public Citizen,2018). Texas is prone to droughts and has had its fair share of hurricanes and tornadoes Texas is no stranger to natural disasters. Even though climate change may not be the reason for the current natural disasters. Climate change does mess with the climate patterns which in the future can lead to it affecting how common those disasters will be. The way Texas is dealing with this particular issue is by creating different policies to help with the environmental problems. These policies have

As the World Bank and the United Nations (2010) point out, “Climate-related hazards (“extreme events”) have resulted in an average of $59 billion a year in global damages” (p.174). Climate chance forces emergency planers to not only address current increased risk, but it also requires significant long-term plaining as the problem increases in magnitude. As an example, places like Florida will not only need to contend with a longer and stronger hurricane season, but increased sea levels as well. In the short term, the effects of climate change can have secondary effects. Things like droughts create secondary problems like social and economic disruptions (World Bank & United Nations, 2010, p. 182). This is the case in California where droughts are causing economic problems in the states agricultural sector and an increase in forest fires.

Although major disasters, such as wildfires, tornadoes, and earthquakes, are usually followed by an outpouring of

After comparing these two articles it’s clear that wildfires need to be taken as serious as any other natural disaster. The topic of wildfires is often misunderstood. Many people think that wildfires happen and that’s what firefighters are for. In reality it’s more than the duty of firefighters. People should learn to contribute to the prevention of the spread wildfires. House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop said “I’m heartened to finally have an Administration that’s focused on actively managing and addressing the on-the-ground conditions that are contributing to our historic wildfire crisis” (US Department of the

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

On April 18, 2016 Yahoo reports Houston, Texas have flooding that forces residents to move out their homes and live in a nearby shelter. The flooding causes damage to the electricity lines, foreclosures of freeways, and forcing schools to close down because of the weather. One million students got the day off including workers. It’s deeply saddened that five victims were dead in this weather. There is over 450 water rescue and victims were transported to the mall to shelter away until the storm passes. It’s hard for people to drive in the freeway because the water can be up to 15 feet deep. The weather causes frustration toward the Houston resident.

Within the constitution, there is no explicit clause that grants the federal government to provide relief for natural disasters, and therefore under the 10th amendment the power is in that of the states, not the government. However, despite this recently the federal government has been held accountable to providing relief efforts. In addition, there is no way to change the constitution to give the federal government this power, as neither can the legislative, nor executive, nor judicial branch can add/change the constitution, and therefore this power must be returned to the states. The article suggests that through the federalist papers, the founders wanted the states to unite together, and provide relief to each other as the states, not the

In Texas, the road closures have made it difficult for workers to have a timely commute. The property tax may increase by to help for the damages caused by Hurricane Harvey. There is also a shortage of contractors in Texas, which may lead to a longer period of rebuilding. The energy and petrochemical industries are critical in Texas. Texas' oil refineries had to partially or fully shut down during the storm.

The largest disaster in the middle Tennessee area was the flooding of the Cumberland River in 2010. There were disaster mitigation efforts made before and after the disaster. Disaster mitigation is the first of the four pillars of disaster preparedness (Siminovi, 2011). This is one of the most important pillars, as this is where real change can be physically made in order to possibly change the path of any future disaster.

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Denton is a 255-bed hospital featuring more than forty three specialties, the hospital is located adjacent to a major highway which is used to transport hazardous materials, commuters and cargo. Texas Health Presbyterian Denton is a suburb of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, which has an estimated population of seven million residents and covers a geographical area of approximately 9,000 square miles. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and the fourth largest in the United States. The purpose of this paper will be to evaluate the Texas Health Presbyterian Denton’s Emergency Operation’s Plan to determine if it address a comprehensive response to threats, emergencies and disasters while safeguarding the welfare of its citizens.

California is notorious for its wildfires. In the last two decades San Diego County has faced some of the most destructive firestorms in state history (Brainard, 2007). Ron Roberts, chairman of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, describes the county’s disposition as, "We have a very dangerous, unpredictable situation. We have some of the highest temperatures, some of the driest landscape conditions, and some of the most powerful winds - all ingredients for a perfect firestorm (Pesce, 2007)." In 2003, San Diego County was overwhelmed by firestorms, including the Cedar Fire, and at that time it was the worst in state history. However, in 2007 San Diego was once again devastated by firestorms, but this time more mighty than the preceding (Ekard, Tuck, Jr., & Steffen, 2003). San Diego has had its fair share of practice at managing firestorm response actions. The 2003 firestorms proved that there were numerous inefficiencies within the county’s emergency response plan, while the 2007 firestorms emergency response revealed the lessons learned from 2003 and improvements implemented were effective. The threat of future firestorms in San Diego County are inevitable due to the continuing drought, Santa Anna winds, climate changes, and human behavior (Pesce, 2007). Having a well-constructed Incident Command System (ICS) and the trained personnel to execute its model is the most effective measure to mitigate the degree of life lost and property damage in a disaster incident. A

The response to this statewide disaster requires the combined efforts of all state agencies and the state's model mutual aid system to address. In support of this unified effort, all state agencies with a role in supporting drought mitigation and relief efforts are organized under the Incident Command System and will continue provide emergency planning, response, and mitigation support as long as needs exist and hopefully this need will not be a need for very much longer. The Task Force is currently coordinating with other relevant national and international efforts including the emerging National Multi-Model Ensemble and the international effort to develop a Global Drought Information System and a subgroup of the NOAA Drought Task Force recently released a science assessment looking at the relationship between El Niño and the California drought which states that the impacts of El Niño on California winter precipitation are likely to be greater in late winter than in early winter; southern California has a stronger chance of wet conditions than northern California; and, in case of a very strong El Niño, heavy precipitation is more likely across the entire state. This is a positive sign for Californians everywhere, especially in the Valley as we rely heavily on rain and snow for our

Houston and neighboring cities are no strangers to emergencies. There are two forms of disasters, that affect our world today, manmade and natural. Being located along the gulf coast makes us vulnerable to natural tragedies. Some of the natural hazards are floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes. On the other hand, we are not over looked by manmade disasters, like refinery explosions, fires and chemical spills. When emergencies happen, they send our daily lives spiraling into chaos. Learning from the catastrophes in the past help us to survive the tragedies in the future.

Have you noticed the amount of natural disasters that have occurred lately? Recently, natural disasters have been happening such as hurricane Harvey, Irma, and the 7.1 magnitude earthquake Mexico experienced. Sadly, California could be next to be hit from an earthquake.

Mitigation is taking action to reduce potential disaster damages to the community before a disaster threatens. In Hidalgo County, located in South Texas; much of the land is dry, covered with grass and thorny brush and it is very humid and hot. Potential disasters to this area include: Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Floods, Heat, Wildfires and Armed or Terrorist Attacks. Disaster preparedness is a natural part of living in South Texas and everyone is responsible for preparing for such disasters. Before a disaster happens, an emergency plan should be prepared by all and should be practiced at least twice a year and updated accordingly with any new issues that may arise.