Human Collective Community And Organizational Actions

Tragic events that cause damage to property and life may destroy the social, cultural and economic life of a community. Communities must be engaged in the various phases from prevention to recovery to build disaster resilient communities. In order to do this, there must be a disaster preparedness plan in place that involves multiple people in various roles.

The whole world observed as the administration responders appeared incapable to provide essential protection from the effects of nature. The deprived response results from a failure to accomplish a number of risk factors (Moynihan, 2009). The dangers of a major hurricane striking New Orleans had been measured, and there was sufficient warning of the threat of Katrina that announcements of emergency were made days in advance of landfall (Moynihan, 2009). Nonetheless, the responders were unsuccessful to change this information into a level of preparation suitable with the possibility of the approaching disaster. Federal responders failed to recognize the need to more actively engage (Moynihan, 2009). These improvements include improved ability to provide support to states and tribes ahead of a disaster; developed a national disaster recovery strategy to guide recovery efforts after major disasters and emergencies; and the Establishment of Incident Management Assistance Teams in which these full time, rapid response teams are able to deploy within two hours and arrive at an incident within 12 hours to support the local incident commander (FEMA,

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

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.

compared the ready availability of funds for disaster recovery to the paucity of funds for mitigating the effects of disasters before they strike (Roberts, p. 133). The review asserts, “mitigation has been called the most neglected aspects of emergency management” (Roberts, p. 133). The criticisms resulted in a professional consensus of reforming the emergency management goals—part of the consensus resulted in the creation of a mitigation directorate, and one year after the 1993 reorganization of FEMA caused by the ineffective response to Hurricane Andrew in 1992 (Roberts, p. 133). A directorate that defined mitigation as reducing the impact of natural hazards, is one of the key elements for FEMA’s reinvented organizational structure.

While we do not have historical record of all of the natural hazards that have impacted the United States, we do know that for multitudes of years, the United States has been hit by many natural hazards – hurricane, tornado, drought, wildfire, flood and earthquake, to name a few. As each of these natural hazards occur, multiple issues arise – relative to the core components of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Yet, even with prior knowledge from years past and the destructive events that have occurred, we as a nation continue to struggle with natural hazards that more often than not become natural disasters. For too long it seems as if we have settled in to a rhythm of responding, attempting to recover, rebuilding and then repeating the cycle as another natural hazard strikes.

Planning and preparation are a constant battle for the emergency responder community. They must stay up to date with polices and training. They must run drills, so that they are comfortable and familiar with how to respond, in the case of a catastrophic emergency. They can not just plan for one type of scenario, but they must run through every type of event that could unfold. Types of scenarios they could practice for include mass shootings, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, bomb threats, bio-attacks, or anything that could have a large scale of casualties. After high intensity incidents, the responders have an after actions review, where they contemplate on what worked

Analysis: Lack of organization and utilization of the Incident Command System (ICS) and establishment of a Unified Command, created too much responsibility on the Incident Commander as well as ineffective on scene communications.

Essentially, an Incident Command Systems provides the basis of information in which the local, regional, or state response organization use to control the efficiency and functionality of response to an event or disaster. ICS encompasses five major systems which are, “command, operations, planning, logistics and finance” (Haddow, et. al., 2013). There are also three types of Incident Command: single, unified and area. A Single Incident Command involves one area, with one event, and one Incident Commander. Unified Command involves an event that spans jurisdictional boundaries and, therefore, warrants involvement of multiple Incident Command Systems and communication and coordination between respective Incident Commanders. Area Command spans, or has potential to, a very large area, such as a public health emergency as suggested by Haddow, Bullock and Coppola (n.d.).

The studies surrounding the Incident Command System (ICS) explicitly state the importance of its use on all emergency responses. The challenge that is always possible at every incident is, “what happens when that relationship you have developed with your partner falters and the organization of the simple, single patient call begins to fall apart?” (Owens, 55). Using the ICS framework creates the basis for first responders to formulate an organized response that is resilient and established. In the smallest, routine incidents ICS is used for scene size up and establishing structure.

The book, “National Incident Management System: Principles and Practice,” by Dr. Donald W. Walsh, Dr. Hank T. Christen, Christian E. Callsen, Geoffrey T. Miller, Paul M. Maniscalco, Graydon C. Lord, and Neal J. Dolan, describes ICS as, “…a system for domestic incident management that is based on an expandable, flexible structure…” (Walsh, et al., 2012, p. 12). Due to this flexibility, Walsh et al. state that ICS is commonly used by all levels of government as well as by a number of non-governmental agencies and the private sector. ICS is structured around five sections. These sections are command, operations, planning, logistics, and finance/administration (Walsh, et al., 2012,

The NIMS model of incident Command Systems (ICS) will be used as the framework for all responses to hazardous material releases. This will allow flexibility to rapidly activate and establish an organizational structure around the functions that need to be performed to efficiently mitigate an incident (Washoe County LEPC, 2006).

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.

As eluded by Moynihan, the unpredictable nature of an emergency and the sporadic occurrence requires participants of an emergency reponse team to develop management systems prior to an inicident. Moreover, the NIMS provides a framework for establishing an ICS that is adaptable to multiple types of emergencies. However, the first step for ensuring emergency preparedness in the event of a disaster entails the “planning and mitigation that [is] needed to begin far in advance of disasters and continue[s] long after to prevent their recurrence” (Cooper & Block, 2006, p. 62). This is emphasized by Moynihan in reference to the ICS, detailing a command and control network of programs/systems, where functions are oulined and roles established between

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