Mutual Aid Agreements Are Essential For Allocating Resources

In the essay "Top Ten Competency For Professional Emergency Management" Author B. Wayne Blanchard states, that Emergency Management requires collaboration from different organizations for it to be effective. Some of the organizations that a person is dealing with is Local and state and national level organizations. Some of the local organizations that communities deal with are American Red Cross, Cert (Community Emergency Response Team) and Emergency responders like the Fire Departments, and Police department. Some of our State and national organizations that we deal with are Fema (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and Homeland Security.

The assistance provided for the purpose of helping the victims of a disaster rebuild their homes to the same living conditions they had lived in before the disaster, FEMA assisted 130,000 middle income and low income families rebuild after the Northridge earthquake (Eugene, 2010). FEMA also assisted with the coordinated the response of 27 federal agencies that were involved in the recovery process. The FEMA United States Fire Administration student manual “ICS-300: Intermediate ICS for Expanding Incidents” (2013) refers to this type of command structure within the Incident Command System is defined as a “Unified Command”. The Unified Command type of management system allows for multiple agencies to work together to plan and strategize but most importantly to be able to collect resources from each agency without having to go through extra steps. This coordination was said to have had a huge benefit by being able to get the funding for repairs and to be able to decrease the time frames set to repair and rebuild the infrastructure (highways and roadways) needed to the get the city moving again. (DeBlasio et al,.

There are two main perspectives on foreign aid in Australia – are we giving too much or not enough? Foreign aid is given to developing countries, and is necessary to build an environment where policies and infrastructure can be in place to support other sources of finance. Australia is part of the worldwide foreign aid commitment as we value that everyone should have a fair go, and the country plans to give $3.9 billion over 2017 and 2018. We help countries in need by contributing, food, resources, providing financial assistance, exchanging goods, personal time and knowledge. The main types of aid are humanitarian aid, which is disaster relief and emergency aid and development aid, which is a long-term commitment between nations. Australian aid is strongly on development aid particularly focused on the Asia-Pacific region, but it also has a strong commitment to African and South Asia. Interestingly, 90% of Australia’s foreign aid goes to Asia-Pacific countries such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, because if they build into a developed nation, then we can build trade relations, regional security and partner in defence. This is a polarizing issue that divides the nation due to different views on Australia giving aid, however, a strong foreign aid program is vital for Australia to build successful relations and regional security.

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

In chapter 3, titled “Congress and the Agencies”, we learn of a few of the many laws, processes and agencies that have been created to better prepare the United States for a national emergency. Since the origins of the United States, the President has always been the lead on emergencies that required attention by the federal government, but the legislative and judicial branches of the government have become more and more involved in making sure that it is done constitutionally. One of the main reasons for this is because of the statutes that have been created because of the response to emergencies. These statutes have been separated into three separate categories.

Many Americans watching the Government response to Hurricanes Rita and Katrina as it play out in the media could not believe the finger pointing that was going on between our elected leaders as many victims struggled to get their life in order. With the National Response Framework initial responsibility remains with the local elected officials and each level of the government above that will monitor and remain ready with assistance if requested. This will allow needed resources to get where they are needed without the internal bickering of the past. The Emergency Support Function Annexes within the National Response Framework ensures multi-agency interoperability and encompasses the other components of the NRF.

When a disaster such as a hurricane takes place, the first responsibility is of the state’s governor to make a formal request for a state of disaster and receive the necessary assistance and aid to the affected area (The Disaster Hanbook- National Edition, 1998). The President of the United States of America must make a declaration of emergency and major disaster to initiate the effort to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) (The Disaster Hanbook- National Edition, 1998). Once a disaster has been declared, the U.S president will send supplementary funds to the state and local efforts to aid the affected population (The Disaster Hanbook- National Edition, 1998). In order for funding to be dispersed to the area in need, the President of the United States must allow this action to take place.

UNDAC is an international emergency response system within the UN. As scenes from Hurricane Katrina flooded the international news overwhelming support was offered from all around the globe during Katrina however frustration grew as bureaucratic entanglement hindered or prevented most aid. Though late to accept assistance the eventual involvement of UNDAC teams in Katrina has increased relations with global response agencies that will in the future should increase the utilization of foreign aid (OCHA, 2015). This aspect of Katrina influences has however remained untested as the United States has not experienced a natural disaster on the same scale as Katrina therefor has not required outside assistance as of

Under the 1988 Stafford Act, the federal government guidance is to support the disasters only if they are of “such severity and magnitude beyond their state and the affected local government’s capabilities to support the disaster” (Edwards, 2014). The Governor may request to the president to declare an “emergency” or a “major disaster” if federal assistance is needed (Edwards, 2014). An “emergency” declaration usually considered when a hurricanes hit, whereas “major disaster” declarations is after disasters to render aid to state and local governments and individuals (Edwards, 2014). In the past, 86 percent of major disaster declarations requested by governors to the president have been approved (Edwards, 2014).

Basic disaster assistance falls into three categories as specified by the Federal government: assistance for individuals and businesses, public assistance, and hazard mitigation assistance. The scope of this paper will cover the analysis of the elements of eligibility for disaster assistance and will follow up with a conclusion about the Public Assistance Process, utilizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Public Assistance (PA) Guide as the major resource for information.

The NRF leads the nation on how to respond to all types of disasters and emergencies. Built on measurable and adaptive concepts recognized by NIMS the NRF arranges important roles and responsibilities across the Nation. With a description of specific authorities and the best practices when managing incidents the NRF deals with incidents ranging from serious large scale terrorists attacks to tragic natural disasters. Joint Field Offices (JFO) are responsible for FEMA operations and are defined in the NRF as the primary incident management field structure for the Federal Government (FEMA, 2013). Joint Field Offices use ICS structure and features but they do not manage on-scene operations. The JFO alternatively provides a fundamental location for the incident management assistance team to incorporate Federal, State, local and tribal governments and nongovernment’s response, recovery and mitigation

This information will be used to establish priorities and develop an incident action plan. Resources and capabilities are employed based on the size, scope, nature and complexity of the incident. Should the disaster exceed the local governments, they would request assistance through mutual aid and assistance agreements, the State, or the Federal Government. Mutual aid agreements establish the roles and responsibilities of both parties, the procedures for requesting assistance and communication protocols.

Hurricane Sandy pushed across New York coast and left a devastating trail behind. There devastation was so great that it caused federal, local, and regional levels to develop plans and strategies for future crisis. An emergency situation on a magnitude as Hurricane Sandy created a collaboration of many emergency services. FEMA, Red Cross, Department of Transportation, and many local agencies were involved with managing the chaos caused by the storm. Collaboration was utilized during the occurrence of the storm and after the storm. Several of the agencies and their involvement will be described.

During and at the conclusion of a disaster the recovery helps bring the State back to level of normalcy. Many would be displaced with no home, medical assistance, food or money to support themselves or family and with that outside assistance from private sectors, nongovernmental organizations and the federal government will be essential in the recovery effort. Utilizing the Stafford act allows services of all appropriate agencies to be used to help alleviate efforts of the State. As soon as circumstance permit all services to assist the people in need will be available. Disasters bring about so much destruction and displaces so many and providing different services from crisis counseling, housing, employment opportunities and medical service

An additional advantage of aid is that it provides Australia with strengthened diplomatic, economic and political ties to the recipient countries. As Australia is a prominent aid donor in the Asia-Pacific region, it has strong diplomatic ties with the developing countries of that area, and can therefore receive the benefits from such a relationship with these countries. An example of such a relationship would be the free trade agreements Australia signed with Singapore in 2003 and Thailand in 2005, Australia diplomatic relationship with these nations played a large role in the securing of these two agreements. Australia can also benefit from such a good relationship politically as the recipient country of Australian aid can support Australia’s politics. A strong relationship with a recipient nation would also allow Australia to form economic bonds with the developing country, such as the agreement of tied aid money – were the recipient must spend some of the aid money provided by Australia on Australia’s goods and services, therefore strengthening Australia’s economy. Hence, creating and maintaining strong relationships with recipient nations of Australian aid is advantages as it