The National Response Plan Essay

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.

Local protective measure planning equips first responders with the knowledge needed to organize efficient response results in the event of an emergency. Structured open dialogue between local emergency jurisdictions enables responders to delegate the appropriate individuals and equipment resources to the impacted local areas requiring the most aid following a terror event. By establishing a streamlined communication framework, local emergency responders can collaborate their efforts and resources to promote collective well-being. When a local emergency plan specifies what responders and resources belong where and at what time, response overlap and shortages can be avoided. Unionized response action established prior to a terrorist incident, serves to mitigate the risks, hazards and threat of injury or harm the people and property of the US face when a terrorism event occurs. Furthermore, a structured local emergency operations plan for a hazardous materials incident involving a terrorist is imperative to public health and safety, as the blueprint outlines protective measures the public can follow to minimize their exposure to dangerous substances. The people of a community affected by a terror event can be warned and notified of the event’s associated dangerous materials, which threaten their well-being, through a variety of methods such as warning sirens or horns, emergency alert systems, automated

Mutual aid agreements are essential for allocating resources, equipment, and personnel between jurisdictions through intrastate, interstate, private organizations, and nongovernmental organizations agencies in the event of an emergency situation that exceeds the capabilities of the local agencies. Intrastate agencies mobilized by a mutual aid agreement consist of resources within the state that can provide support to the requesting department. During catastrophic events, interstate sources activated through a mutual aid agreement are comprised of resources from other states that are able to support the operations required when state resources are incapable of providing adequate aid. Private-sector organizations, nonprofit organizations, and nongovernmental organizations provide additional support in times of crisis when the organization has necessary resources to sustain operations. Emergency situations that may arise and benefit from the resources established in an existing mutual aid agreement include mass casualty incidents, fire and law enforcement situations, natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes, and terrorist attacks.

What is the National Response Framework? The National Response Framework is a guide to how the Nation conducts all-hazards response – from the smallest incident to the largest catastrophe. This key document establishes a comprehensive, national, all-hazards approach to domestic incident response. The Framework identifies the key response principles, roles and structures that organize national response. It describes how communities, States, the Federal Government and private-sector and nongovernmental partners apply these principles for a coordinated, effective national response. And, it describes special circumstances where the Federal Government exercises a larger role, including incidents where Federal interests are involved and catastrophic

This means that this system can be used for a variety of incidents, hazards, and impacts, despite its size or location. There are five major components that need to be understood about this system: Command and Management, Preparedness, Resource Management, Communications and Information Management, and Ongoing Management and Maintenance (FEMA, 2017). Each of these components apply very well to the management of a serious disaster that Homeland Security and public agencies may have to deal with. By using this policy program, it organizes key information and distributes important duties and gives direction in order to lessen the chaos that can transpire during a disaster event. Following, the Incident Command System is a very convenient tool when managing a serious disaster.

Terrorism has been growing in the recent years and first responders are trying to stay ahead of any potential attacks. However when we think of terrorism we often assume the only terrorist that exist are the ones that planned, coordinated, and carried out the 9/11 attacks. That is correct in a sense, but terrorism is vastly more complicated than just carrying out an attack on a location or people. Terrorism can easily be described as a criminal act but with a slightly different motive. There is also significant risk associated with terrorism. First responders should be aware of those risk as they could affect potential outcomes of an event.

Having a basic understanding of community or national emergency plans can assist families in disaster. This is especially true during the response phase. The National Response Framework (NRF) is a great example of a national community reference. According to FEMA’s publication, “The National Response Framework,” from 2013, the NRF is a guide which describes the basis of national response to any form of disaster. The NRF was developed from a long line of response guidance plans. The first was the Federal Response plan which was replaced by the National Response Plan. Then in 2008, the NRF was developed to make national response guidance more efficient as well as to include practices created after Hurricane Katrina. The NRF is comprised

Situational awareness is a crucial cog in the wheel of an efficient disaster response. Information on casualties, extent of damage, infrastructure and the present response efforts give emergency planners the way forward in the allocation of resources available. It helps in promoting preparedness, which requires the emergency response team to have detailed information about the risk that they are getting into (Haddow & Haddow, 2013).

Public safety is the primary objective and the critical function for every level of our local government officials. Each elected official has a role in protecting their citizens. All levels within local government have the responsibility to identify, plan, implement their strategies and have the ability to recover from such incidents. If a terror attack did occur, the local government would be responsible for the primary roles of communicating to the public and be responsible for all areas of the event. This includes law enforcement, fire safety, public safety, environmental response, public health, and emergency medical services (Bullock, Haddow and Coppola, 2016, p. 184).

The constantly changing nature of terrorism mandates that Metropolis continues to press forward to develop a vision and strategy that defines their terrorism preparedness objectives. Employing insight and identifying eight risk areas, Metropolis has developed this terrorism incident preparedness plan. The intent of this document is to provide Metropolis guidance and cohesion to support agencies during a terrorist event using reactionary and resiliency planning. Moreover, the plan will consist of three parts. Part I will discuss four reactionary and four resiliency areas, Part II identifies impacted segments of the areas discussed in Part I, and Part III will provide detailed step-by-step

The National Incident Management System provide a systematic guidelines for “departments and agencies at all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to work seamlessly to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of incidents, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity, in order to reduce the loss of life and property and harm to the environment while NRP is an all-hazard framework that builds upon NIMS and describes additional specific Federal roles and structures for incidents in which Federal resources are involved ” (U.S. Department of Homeland Security 2008). Also, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2013), National response protocols are structured to provide tiered levels of support when additional resources or capabilities are needed. Despite the facts that most incidents are managed locally, some of them will require a unified response from the State, Federal government, the private sector, and NGOs. NIMS Incident Command System (ICS) ensures that interoperability across multi-jurisdictional or multi-agency incident management activities are unified to enhance clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of all

The mutual aid agreements are usually mandated in law and negotiated as legal contracts. These are prearranged agreement, which may or may not have a financial component, to provide essential resources when local resources are inadequate to meet the needs of a disaster. An agreement, however expressed, identifies which agency controls certain resources in the field and how and when they may be reassigned. Agreements help create working relationships between agencies and governments and my facilitate trust. These aid agreements are common both in conventional emergency management and in homeland security matters.

Consequence management, when incorporated into standing operating procedure (SOP) provide the hierarchy for supported and supporting roles in incident response. Each local agency carefully compares plans for the various response functions within that agency and revises the plans to remove any discrepancies which prevents disconnects between vital functions and manage expectations (Managing the Emergency Consequences of Terrorism, 2002). Coordination and the establishment of SOPs ensures that all levels of government understand their roles in order to allow for the appropriate level of government to understand their place in the emergency management

As a kid my father always told me great preparation makes success, in designing a preparedness plan for your agency or organization. First we must examine what it means to be prepare, this preparation geared more so to defense against the growing threat of terrorist. From a layered perspective, being prepared for a terrorist attack means taking individual responsibility for one’s own safety and security. This layer starts and gains life in the homes, at schools, at workplaces, and in communities, etc. The community component then connects with the service provider requirements of being prepared. This includes Law Enforcement, Emergency Services, Utilities, and local Government. Continuing up the chain is the State Government and then the Federal Government. All of these individual tiers have distinct responsibilities in being prepared for the next terrorist attack.

The Department of Homeland Security released the 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review on June 18, 2014 as required by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and its amendments. This review outlined the current state of preparedness, as well as the future areas of concentration. It also determined six strategic challenges facing the nation: terrorist threat; growing cyber threats; biological concerns as a whole; nuclear terrorism; transnational criminal organizations; and natural hazards. The basic building block of emergency management in the U.S. is the local community. Each step begins here. Threat assessments are completed on the local level. Planning, mitigation, and response are all responsibilities of the local community to support the state and Federal practice using the guidance provided by both.