How To Evaluate Effective Emergency Management Practices

Two specific areas of concern are noted in the majority of studies conducted. The first area of concern was that there was not a clear delineation of roles and responsibilities or organizational leaders (Haddow et al., 2014, p. 322). Since this event this has been an area that has shown considerable improvement. This has been accomplished through the use of NIMS and collaborative efforts of first responder leaders to craft an all hazards model of response. By doing both of these things, partner agencies are better able to fold into the rescue

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has developed and implemented many practices for managing both natural and man-made disasters. Emergency managers play an important role in ensuring these practices are fulfilled entirely and all disasters are handled efficiently and effectively. Through the development of plans emergency managers work to reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management does not avert or eliminate the threats but instead focuses on decreasing the impact of disasters. Issuance of the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 (HSPD-5) has forced Homeland Security to manage domestic incidents better and they have done so through the National Incident Management System (NIMS). The NIMS system offers a reliable nationwide model to assist “Federal, State, tribal and local governments, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to work together to prevent,

Thus, in emergency management, to enhance the agency’s vision, changes may arise from policies and procedures, technology advancement, and equipment, shift in priorities, increase on mitigation and prevention measures, and methodologies among many others. This therefore demands that leadership in the emergency management must possess the ability to lead changes as requires since emergency management itself has to do with prepared for and responding to disasters or crisis that take place often with little to no warnings with the expectation to respond with adequate preparation. Hence, the emergency management employees and the leadership who want to be successful in dealing with disasters must learn to respond swiftly and effectively to changes; “an effective leader is able to motivate and inspire others to embrace change” (FEMA, 2005, p.

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.

Over the past half century, the field of emergency management has gradually evolved into a more structured profession. There are several aspects of response efforts that needed to be revised in order for the field to be viewed as legitimate and trustworthy. Primarily, the implementation of advanced education through the process of accreditation, college programs and certifications has paved the way to legitimize the field. In addition, there has been an increase in efforts to hold those accountable to their actions while responding to crises. Through a combination of these efforts, emergency management has attempted to become a more dependable organization as viewed by the general public.

An emergency manager takes on an extremely wide variety of roles and responsibilities, which are needed to be fulfilled in order to achieve an outcome of a secure and resilient Nation. Resilience, by definition according to the Presidential Policy Directive (PPD-8), refers to “the ability to adapt to changing conditions and withstand and rapidly recover from disruption due to emergencies”. Resilience is built upon preparedness and the actions taken to plan, organize, equip, train, and exercise to perform all elements of emergency management. PPD-8 also states that preparedness requires the entire nations commitment. Resilience is a result of preparedness by the community as a whole. In order for an emergency manager to effectively perform

The basis for emergency management lief in “The Congressional Act of 1803 contained the first piece of national disaster legislation ever to be passed by a United States Congress.” (Anna Maria College, 2014). This paved the way for the original system that we utilize today. As with many formations of programs and funding analysis citizens contribute to the process in which we formulate a response. “A series of massive hurricanes and earthquakes during the 1960s and early 1970s served to focus public attention on natural disaster relief.” (Anna Maria College,

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.

Emergency Management is the the jelly to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, can't have that without the main ingredient, peanut butter. As the bread, their is the Strategic/ Executive people who make their political objectives into a strategy. Next comes your jelly, the Tactical/ Field people who have the opportunity to go out and have a hands on experience with the disaster. Then you have your peanut butter, there's your Operational/ Agency, they have the most important job because they support everybody. Just like the peanut butter the Operational level holds everyone together by managing information, telling everybody everything, managing resources and finding and solving problems. Being on the Operational level you have to have tell

One method of setting standards for performance in emergency management is through accreditation (Wilson & Oyola- Yemaiel, 2001). Accreditation is a process by which a third party organization, such as the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP), sets prerequisites and conducts an evaluation process to assess an institution or program against a set of accepted standards (Baker 1995). In emergency management, accreditation ensures that all emergency managers comply with the minimum performance standards to respond to all phases of emergency management (Wilson & Oyola- Yemaiel, 2001). In addition, the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) describes accreditation as, “a way of indicating by self-assessment, documentation, and peer review, that a program meets national standards for emergency manager programs” (EMAP, 2010). Furthermore, on the federal level, accreditation ensures

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

Haddow, G. D., Bullock, J. A., & Coppola, D. P. (2014). Introduction to emergency management.

Great post as usual, it seems that us have covered the four phases of emergency management, and you struck on a portion that I feel is very important, leadership. Leadership in my opinion can be the most important area when we are dealing with an emergency situation. I have always have the philosophy, that as a public servant we should always give more than we take, an its an honor to do the job and lead from the front not the rear. We must build trust between the police and the citizens that we serve and remember that honor is a word that we give as a guarantee and not betray that faith which was entrusted to us.

From the Portsmouth fire of 1803 to Hurricane Sandy of 2012, every major disaster that has occurred not only in the United States, but in the surrounding countries, has shaped how emergency management progressed over the last few centuries. Not only did natural disasters played a role in this evolution, but the U.S. presidents as well because each president had a unique mindset towards the relationship between the federal government and emergency management. As we progressed towards the future, there is no doubt that this field is continuing to evolve. Whether it is a natural disaster or a U.S. President, emergency management only has room for improving. Although it will have its times of failure, the history of emergency management has shown that failure is only one step closer to

Fagel, M. J. (2014). Crisis Management and Emergency Planning. Boca Raton, Florida, USA: CRC Press.