Social Vulnerability In Emergency Management

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 differing needs of a vulnerable population have to be addressed in order to alleviate issues that were noted after Katrina. In particular, the needs which are known prior to a disaster, such as evacuation for the infirmed, elderly, impoverished, and those who lack the means to evacuate. The Department of Homeland Security represented a solution to addressing these needs via a three phase response: “pre-event planning and preparation, the event, and recovery” (Dept. Homeland Security, 2008). It has been widely studied that residents of a vulnerable community may be impacted more severely and are disproportionately affected than those with means following a disaster. Assessing how to prepare for each of the phases represents an issue for emergency managers especially when it comes to those who lack the means to prepare for themselves. Quickly rebuilding homes in a devastated area won’t help a community when a disaster strikes again. Platt stated that “disasters offer a window of opportunity to strengthen communities”, via “construction and change land uses to prevent a recurrence of a disaster”. (Platt, 1998) It also can be argued that following a disastrous event, this is when a true opportunity arises, by providing an opportunity to work through solving the societal issues that are the basis for a vulnerable populous via comprehensive political reforms and

There have been times when government agencies have not been able to assist those in need during an event, and if the public is aware of the needs of the community they may be able to contribute and assist during disaster. Having the community involved in preparedness is essential in the “success in achieving resilience and national preparedness” (DHS 2013).

The paramount goal of disaster management activities is to reduce, as much as possible, the degree to which a community’s condition is worsened by a disaster relative to its pre-disaster condition. If a disaster strikes it important to know what to do or were to find the information if do not know. First responders who are well-prepared will have the peace of mind to focus on the task at hand if well prepared and trained. First responders can also serve as role models for other members of the community, leading by example to encourage preparedness. First responders can encourage their communities to make family plans and to be informed about the types of emergencies and disasters. Law enforcement should look to do training such as the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) which offers self-paced courses free-of-charge courses [Department of Homeland Security. (2017)]. Planning and being prepared for a terrorist attack provides the structure and mechanisms for national level policy and operational coordination and provides emergency managers, the understanding, the knowledge, and the steps to prepare, counter and respond to a terrorist attack. It more importantly helps to instill confidence and cohesion within

Any time that the federal agency that responds to disaster events handles such situations there is likely to be a significant loss of life due to the disaster event. This makes a requirement that responders know how to deal with the psychological issues and challenges that are present. It is reported that mental and behavioral health, "in the context of disasters and emergencies, include a wide range of interrelated factors psychological (emotional, cognitive, behavioral), psychological and social that influence people's ability to cope with and recover from extreme situations." (Disaster Mental Health Subcommittee of the National Biodefense Science Board, 2010, p.4) Stated as examples of such issues are those of "fear and anxiety resulting from safety concerns, the death of loved ones, separation from family members and uncertainty as to their fate, and loss of homes and possessions; noncompliance with government directives resulting from loss of confidence in authorities; breakdown in community social

The disaster response program in the United States consists of a number of different elements that must work together to achieve common outcomes-such as the rapid alleviation of suffering by the victims of a natural disaster, industrial accident, or terrorist attack (Miskel, 2008). Responding to each disaster presents its own unique set of challenges. An effective disaster response program will consist of several elements working as one. The specific elements vary depending on the location and the nature of the disaster or terrorist incident, but fall into three general categories: the private sector (including individuals and both corporations and non-profit entities such as the Red Cross and the Salvation Army), state and local government

Disasters by their nature kill and injure people, drastically alter people’s life by physical destruction and creating mental trauma. One cannot avoid a disaster from occurring but can definitely take measures to overcome it. Government agencies like FEMA can provide information early warnings to the people in disaster prone areas prior to its occurrence. This research paper discusses about the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina, reasons for failure to communicate information during Hurricane Katrina, the category of people who were more vulnerable to this disaster, and how could they be overcome for future disasters.

The objective of this study is to become more sensitized and knowledgeable about preparations, impact, and response to disaster. Recommendations for improvement will be made. If one will, then imagine for a moment the condition of one who is, following a major weather-related disaster, homeless, wet, cold, hungry, tired, hungry and scared having lost possessions and nearly one's life. Upon applying for assistance from FEMA, those applying are instructed to access FEMA online for assistance. Consider that there is no power and will not be for days and possibly weeks and even if there were, one cannot return home to use their computer because it is flooded or washed away by the sea. This is just one example of the horrors that were suffered by victims of Hurricane Sandy along the north-eastern U.S. coast most recently. This is an example of a poor and cold response to individuals who are in real and dire need. It is reported in the work of Reynolds (2012) "After Sandy struck, some areas did worse than others, and FEMA as with Katrina got bad press. Manhattan was hit hard, but the outer boroughs suffered more. Staten Island residents say they were forgotten by relief efforts and one press report called the island "a giant mud puddle of dead dreams." (p.1) The problem is however, how to reach the masses who are scattered and dispersed in all direction following such an event as a Hurricane. This same problem was experienced by FEMA during the aftermath of

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.

Disasters are events that not in control situations which exceed public sector capacities, push societal linkages to a breaking point, and demand extraordinary and selfless behavior from citizens, businesses, communities, and nongovernmental organizations. Disasters challenge have their most sorrowful impact at the level of the individual, where crises of natural and technical variety undermine the comfort and stability people feel and leave them injure, and looking for direction and meaning in institutions and believed larger than themselves. Even when local government officials act relating, individuals still look to other segments of the public sector, such as nonprofit groups or religious organizations, for urgency needed support. In a

In this text, Dr. Jorn Birkmann takes an in-depth look at the interaction between society and natural hazards. Birkmann explores, among other things, the concept of vulnerability and how it relates to calamity. There is a focus on how the knowledge of particular natural hazard can be combined with information regarding the vulnerability of a society before a disaster to reduce risk. Overall, this text will provide me with relevant information on the complex interactions between natural hazards and society.

There are several phases in the emergency management of disasters. One is the recovery phase. McEntire (2015) defines the recovery phase as an “activity to return the affected community to pre-disaster, or, preferably, improved conditions.” The reason that the conditions should be improved is because emergency managers should study and learn

The analysis and the mapping of social vulnerabilities have been successfully used in many countries as a tool for the development of emergency management plans. One of the most consistent methodologies is the Social Vulnerability Index (hereafter defined as SoVI®), initially constructed to compare U.S. counties (Cutter et al., 2013). The SoVI® provides a social vulnerability map by synthetizing socio-economic and demographic factors based on the principal component analysis [see Dunteman (1989) for further details]. In the recent years, this approach has been utilized in various geographical settings, different time periods and accounting different variables for the identification of social vulnerabilities for effective management of disaster-related

Data obtained by assessing social vulnerability must be implemented within each phase of the emergency management process; mitigation, response, and recovery. First, to effectively respond and recover from incidents emergency management agencies must concentrate on the mitigation phase to prevent incidents from happening in the first place. This is achieved through a thorough hazard/vulnerability analysis (HVA). This type of analysis assesses the risk of physical, economic, and social vulnerability within all communities of a given jurisdiction (Lindell et al., 2006, p. 165). Additionally, the basis of the HVA allows emergency managers to effectively plan for disaster by creating pre-planned responses to disasters (rather than improvised response) and staging resources to locations with the highest probability of risk; ultimately contributing to the mitigation and response phases.

However, more often than not, bystanders and victims of disasters are the first to engage in response activities. Another misconception is that all community stakeholders go through a fight-or-flight response due to a disaster, and often act irrationally. Moreover, a disaster often leads to antisocial behavior amongst victims, causing an increase in looting and higher crime rates (Kapucu & Özerdem, 2013). Researchers have found that crime rates decrease and looting rarely occurs in response to disasters. There is also a misconception that public agencies are unreliable and will only look after their own families, and not provide proper medical, shelter, and transportation for victims. Additionally, there is a misconception that when public agencies tell communities to evacuate, everyone leaves the area. However, convincing people to leave their homes is the hardest part of disaster