Inclusive Emergency Management Practices

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.

(10) Be prepared and make sure that everyone responsible for service continuity is ready to respond. (NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Toolkit, 2012)

The future of Emergency Managers (EM) will be greatly enhanced by seeing more and more people obtaining their bachelors degrees in this field. This is credited to more colleges offering the program, and seeing the need for it in todays ever changeling, and changing environment. Having a BA in EM could also include a chance for promotions, and higher salaries.

Social vulnerability is impacted throughout the emergency and disaster management process. The threat level of social vulnerability can vary between community segments based upon demographics, income, and/or business type. First, social vulnerability must be analyzed in every community within a jurisdiction which first starts by understanding its meaning. Second, data obtained by assessing social vulnerability must be implemented within each phase of the emergency management process; mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Lastly, if an Emergency Management Agency (EMA) fails to implement changes to their emergency operations plan based on the analysis of social vulnerability within their communities they will see many consequences.

Tampa Bay, Florida is ranked in the top 20s of one of the highest populated, metro population destinations in the United States (Tampa Bay Business Journal Staff Member, 2011). In fact, in the year 2011, there were more than 2,823,938 documented residents residing in the Tampa Bay area as well as 87.3 million tourists visiting Tampa Bay and its surrounding areas in the same year (Tampa Bay Business Journal Staff Member, 2011, & State of Florida.com, n.d.). As a result, the city of Tamp Bay, Florida puts great stress on its Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan, or better known as CEMP. To better elaborate, the city of Tampa Bay incorporates approximately 170 square miles, with land‐surface elevations ranging from sea‐level along the coast to approximately 55 feet above sea level (City of Tampa | Office of Emergency Management, n.d.). Therefore, the city of Tampa Bay, Florida developed its CEMP to help prevent or lower

When developing a EOP it that different ideal and principles to maintain that plan throughout its development. During an emergency the planning and development of that plan is essential for the success of the operation. Using the guideline provided by the ten principle plan to help identify the procedures needed for a reliable EOP. The planning concept provides the flow of a plan, understanding that phasing, branches, planning horizon and the forward and reverse planning supports the inner concept of the EOP, which deliveries the procedure and standards necessary to make the plan work throughout a condition without interruption. Without a plan or guideline to execute during a disaster be it man-made or natural it would lead to major loss of

When a disaster hits an area it does not discriminate on where it hits or who is affected. When it comes to effective emergency management it is important that managers take into account certain preimpact conditions in order to properly prepare, mitigate, respond and recover from a disaster regardless of the magnitude. One preimpact condition that is important to consider is the Social Vulnerability. Social vulnerability is important because it assesses the resilience of communities and how disasters or external stressors can impact them (Lindell et al, 2006, pg. 153). It is important for emergency personnel to understand the social vulnerability of a community in order to alleviate the amount of human suffering and economic loss that can occur post disaster.

The book ‘Introduction to Emergency Management’ is written by George Haddow, Jane Bullock and Damon Coppola. George D. Haddow served as White House Liaison and Deputy Chief of Staff to FEMA Director James L. Witt from 1993-2001. Jane A. Bullock served as Chief of Staff to FEMA Director James Lee Witt in the final 5 years of her 21-year career in that agency. Damon P. Coppola is an emergency management planner and analyst with over 15 years of experience providing technical and subject matter expertise to clients in the public, nonprofit, private, and international sectors. It is very important to know the background of the authors. Two of the three authors of the book have served under the FEMA director James Witt. While reading

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.

This paper examines a case study about the transfer of knowledge between preparedness and emergency response as conducted by Kerstin Erikkson of Lund, Sweden University. Erikkson (2009) conducted the case study by analyzing emergency response following Gudrun, a storm with hurricane force wind gusts that struck the South of Sweden in January 2005. This disaster caused significant damage to the region 's critical infrastructure, such as roadways, railways, telecommunications systems, and electrical power supply. The storm also resulted in power outages for roughly three-quarters of a

Emergency managers can gather resources from underutilized resources such as community-based organizations. Community-based organizations frequently interact with community through by providing daily services and have a positive rapport with citizens. They can provide or help locate and reach special needs individuals while offering accommodations specific to each individual. Local businesses such as insurance agencies and realtors can provide insight on high risk flood areas or general disaster areas. The school system is also a good resource to not only educate children, who in return educate their parents, but to network with bus drivers to find out where kids with special needs are located. As a result, a system can be set up to help transport these kids when disasters

Who is an emergency manger and what do they do? Generally, the emergency manager is responsible for the emergency management program within their county, city or designated area of control. From a layman point of view, programs may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and will contain Local Emergency Operations Plan and Hazardous Materials Plan.

Mitigation and preparedness make up the first half of the emergency management cycle along with response and recovery (Bullock, Haddow, & Coppola, 2013). Mitigation consists of reducing the probability and consequence so that a risk becomes less of a threat (Bullock et at., 2013). Preparedness is a state of readiness to respond to any type of emergency situation (Bullock et al., 2013). While response and recovery are both important parts of emergency management, they tend to be costlier than plans that focus on mitigation and preparedness.

In less than two decades, social media has revolutionized modern communication and information sharing. What began as a simple form of social networking has turned into innumerable platforms for people around the globe to share ideas, create and share businesses, promote brands, read news from various sources, as well as share and find vast amounts of information, among many other uses. Thus, with a few clicks of a button, people are now able to interact with someone on the other side of the world. The capabilities created through social media’s many uses have forever changed global politics, business, and interpersonal communication.

In the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and resulting tsunami, over 4000 scientists, government officials, NGOs and UN representatives met in Kobe, Japan to address one of the most important tests the world has to face: disaster risk reduction (DRR). The product of the conference was the 10 year Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015. Endorsed by 168 countries, the document promotes 3 main aims: the integration of DRR into viable development policies and planning, building resilience to hazards and incorporating risk reduction methodologies into the implementation of emergency preparedness, response and recovery programmes (GNDR, 2014). In order to achieve these goals, the framework states 5 priorities of action: