Disciplines of Emergency Management - Research Paper Example

Disciplines of Emergency Management Introduction Emergency management or disaster management is the term used for dealing with unforeseen risk and more precisely to avoid such risks. This involves the preparedness for any disaster before it occurs. This deals with all aspects or phases of emergency like mitigation, response and recovery and also preparedness for such events. Emergency management as a concept was created by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It was institutionalized in the year of 1979. There were five federal agencies that were dealing with various types of emergencies. These agencies came together to form the FEMA. From then on there have been continuous initiatives by various organizations. They have included the name ‘Emergency Management’ to symbolize their task and also devoting their organization in this field. Emergency management deals with not only a single type or narrowly defined hazards but all sorts of dangers. The hazards that are considered under the emergency management term not only deals with threats to life but also to property by means of environmental or technological attacks and also various because of domestic and foreign threats and attacks like that of terror attack. The emergency management has made the government more aware of the need for national security to deal with national and global disaster (Emergency Management Roundtable, n.d.). The concept of ‘Emergency Management’ deals with three interrelated components all types of hazards, an emergency management partnership and an emergency life cycle. Here, all types of hazard deals with various technological and natural disasters that can take place in the country with very little early warning signs. Emergency management partnership deals with finding various partnerships among different levels of government like that of local, federal and state government (Haddow & Et. Al., 2008). Various private partners from industry and business sectors also come up in support of this initiative. Moreover, emergency life cycle deals with various disasters that take place not only in a single day or period but throughout various phases of time (EM Public Safety, Public Trust, 2007) Mission / Assumptions / Audience and Customers Emergency management deals with creating a framework for reducing the vulnerability to hazards and also for coping with various disasters. The vision for emergency management is stated as it looks for promoting safer and less vulnerable community as it try to deal with disasters. The mission followed by the advocates of emergency management is to protect communities by coordination and integration of activities which are necessary to build and sustain and also to improve capabilities for mitigating against, preparing for, responding to and recovering from various natural and other disasters like terrorism and disasters created by the fellow citizens (FEMA, n.d.). The Four Phases of Emergency Management Phases of Emergency management (FEMA, n.d.). In the present context, the emergency management is described on the basis of the above four heads. The phases further captivate the following: Mitigation - This phase deals with preparation for the future against a disaster. This phase is followed for dealing with the sudden critical conditions that might occur in the future. This phase helps the authorities in minimizing the effects of any disaster. This activity includes buying of flood and fire preventing material as a prevention mechanism. These activities occur before and also after the occurrences of emergency situation. Preparedness – This process includes preparing for an emergency situation. It is done to minimize the damage. This process includes planning and preparing for saving lives and helping in rescue operation. Storing food, water along with evacuation plans are considered to be part of this process. This phase takes place before the occurrence of the emergency situation. Response – This process forms to be integral part during an occurrence of an emergency. This phase deals with safely conducting variation operation so that lives can be saved. This process is completed by using the preparedness plans into action. Searching for shelter from natural disasters like floods, cyclones, tornado, and earthquake falls under the response phase. Recovery - This phase deals with recovery part that occurs after the emergency. This process involves the relief and rehabilitation of the affected. Here, various actions are taken to bring the lives of the victims into normalcy. In this phase, emergency management team tries to help the victims by collecting financial aids to rebuild the lives of the victims. They try to repair the damage that has occurred in their homes by re-building them (University of Maryland, n.d.). The emergency management is process that runs smoothly only when it is supported by various governments, be it local, state or federal. Various voluntary organizations also come up with their helping hands to the emergency management team during the time of national calamity. Local American Red Cross office helps in preparing the disaster management program. State and Federal agencies also help the local governments. These three parties are the main backbone of a successful emergency management program. Crisis Communications: Response and Recovery The crisis like national disasters can occur without any prior warning. The emergency management teams has great responsibility in creating a smooth communication channel between its various phases of emergency management so that it can cope up with the any disaster that can occur without any prior warning. Crisis communication deals with quick response team that can go to a place where the disaster has occurred and take prompt action to recover the victims from their tragedy and trauma. Response situation in crisis communication deals with the process that occurs during an emergency. This process deals by quickly responding to any disaster that has occurred during a crisis situation. The local authorities along with the government and state agencies along with various Non - Governmental organizations help in the response and recovery action. In this process, the earlier preparation which is done is put in action to meet the need for fast recovering and relief. The response part of crisis management involves searching temporary recovery place for safety and shelter from any natural calamity like floods, cyclones, tornado, and earthquakes. Recovery situation of emergency management deals with occurrences that happen after the recovery phase. It occurs when the emergency management team deals with relief and rehabilitation activities. Here, in this phase rebuilding of destroyed homes takes place. Temporary camps are built to give the homeless some shelter. In this phase, financial aids are collected from various sources. The financial aid is used in building homes for the victims of the disaster. Crisis communication basically deals with three phase. These are Pre-crisis, Response and Recovery. In the pre - crisis stage, predicting, preparing and preventing steps are taken to meet the need that can occur due to any disaster. In the response stage, it deals with acting according to the need that has occurred due to the disaster. This is the reaction stage in crisis communication. The recovery phase deals with acting accordingly after the response phase. This deals with rebuilding relationship. Then, again various learning are followed very carefully to be better prepared for any disaster when it occur the next time (Meyers & Hiley-Young, 1996). Crisis Management in the business field should have the following seven items as their crisis communication kit: A members’ list from the crisis management team Fact sheets related to the company, with physical location, various division and list of offered products. Contacts of key officers, crisis management and team members, spokespeople. Copies of company information such as division and product logos with the scanned in signature of CEO on disk. Each member of company should have a ready profile and biography. Contact information of key media contacts on a local and national basis along with financial press and analyst. Pre-written scripts are used to generate a crisis scenario analysis. (Crowther, 2004) In terms of crisis communication it has been observed in the past that many companies have faced crisis from time to time. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks that occurred in the World Trade Centre, there were many crises like situations occurring in the business and political field. The September 11 attack had a deep impact on business. Some companies were forced to loose employees due to death of many of their employees. Many other companies had their key components of infrastructure destroyed. A large group struggled from the ill effects of the attacks. Many issues erupted such as suppliers were unable to fulfill orders, customers needing heroic levels of service, breakdowns in transportation and communication, demand slowdown of many products were the after effects. In the country, every company had to deal with bewildered and traumatized worker. All on a sudden crisis management had to be a part of every executive’s job. Few businesses in general are prepared for handling a disaster that occurred in September 11 attacks. Magnitude of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York, September 11, 2001 was huge. Aon Corporation and Cantor Fitzgerald are examples of a business organization that had their headquarters in the World Trade Center. They were back to almost normal levels of business within a short span of the terror attack. Their disaster plans certainly would not have conceived an airplane flying into their building or collapsing of the entire World trade centre. They were able to recover much quicker than the others as they had contingency plans ready. Thus they have been able to execute the contingency plans and recover their business quickly (Argenti, 2002). Communications Preparedness and Mitigation Messages Mitigation deals with future preparation before the occurrence of any disasters. Communication in case emergency management deals the proper flow of control between the four phases such as Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery. In the communication preparedness stage, a disaster management team prepares itself before the occurrence of any disaster. Disaster preparedness deals with being ready to tackle any kind of situation that might occur in a household, business and also communities. Disaster scenario might occur at any instance without giving time for preparation to tackle the aftermath. Therefore, it has been highlighted by recent disasters that a sound early preparation mechanism can always help in minimizing the damage that has been caused by the disaster. In modern times, the need for individual responsibility and also the constant support of the local community and government helps the organization in this process. Disaster research focuses on the pre - disaster vulnerability, hazards analysis and mitigation. Also, it focuses on post - disaster emergency response and recovery. Preparedness is a part in disaster management that intersects the two areas of response and recovery. This method deals with individuals, organizations, households communities and also societies acts quickly responding to and recovering from a disaster. The activities commonly performed as a part of disaster preparedness are developing process of planning for ensuring readiness with for quick response, formulation of disaster management plans, stockpiling of various resources which are necessary for effective response and also developing skills and competencies for ensuring effective performance of task that are related to disaster. The preparedness task is performed with the aim of improving life safety at the occurrence of any disaster. The disaster preparedness mechanism includes protective measures that are taken against situations such as hazardous spilling of materials by the industry, earthquake and terror attacks, etc. The preparedness mechanism deals with developing certain mechanism for protecting property. It is useful in developing post-disaster restoration and also for early recovery activities. Main emphasis is placed on recovery preparedness. It is has given main importance to it as this enables to respond successfully and promptly after occurrence of any disaster. This also helps in quickly navigating various challenges that occur during any recovery activity on short and long term basis. Mitigation and preparedness are used as a complimentary term to each another. In terms of emergency management, the term mitigation is described as an initiative which is related to action taken well in advance. This enables to reduce disaster related damages from occurring. The mitigation is used as a mechanism to that have its impact after an event has occurred. The term ‘hazard mitigation’ deals with various practices that have been implemented before the occurrence of impact. It also provides passive protection when the impact occurs. Emergency preparedness develops various plans and procedures for purposes such as recruitment and staff training, acquiring facilities, equipments and supporting materials for providing active protection in the times of emergency response activities. Passive mitigation can be further divided into process mitigation and project mitigation. Process mitigation is also referred to as indirect or non structural mitigation activities. This process includes hazards assessment and also vulnerability and risk assessment. To identify projects, planning is conducted. Also set priorities, policies and practices are utilized for mitigation planning. Project mitigation deals with structural form of mitigation. It has with it, activities for avoiding or reducing damages. The project mitigation is undertaken to improve the safety and security status of an area or the nation itself. Relocation of buildings from disaster prone areas, shifting away from disaster hit geographies like areas threatened by floods, constructing building with materials which can handle the tremors of earthquake or forces of the wind and also improving drainage, building dams, improving land conditions, planting trees to prevent soil erosion and using its leaves for preventing floods are all part of project mitigation work. Emergency preparedness helps in providing short tem solutions when an emergency like situation arises. It also in tern supports the endeavor of providing disaster recovery. Disaster preparation also includes training to handle any disaster scenario, leadership, being ready all the time to handle the situation arising from disaster. The technical and financial help and support further improves the emergency management team to be better prepared all the time. For local agencies and many other organizations that come forward to help during any disaster scenario preparedness for them is to be organized by developing plans of operation. Then, they will provide to the team, the relevant training which will enable them to be prepared all the time. The exercising part and the testing part are executed thereafter. Preparedness also has in with it designing, managing the Emergency Operation Centers (EOC), equipping and also partnership development part from different community sectors like business segments. They also educate the people on how to reduce the loss from disaster. For business organizations, preparedness includes preventing any physical damage to the organization. They also try to protect any loss to inventory, business databases and records, and also try to avoid the downtime. Business organizations and planners conduct various impact analyses for identifying vulnerability to supply chain and to the resources that kept as a backup. This enables them in continuous production flow to the clients and also the customers despite any disaster scenario. In case of homes and households preparedness against any disaster means preparing with response plan against any disaster. Planning the routes of evacuation in case of any disaster, shutting the gas lines off and boarding up the windows are all part of domestic preparedness against any disaster. Disaster preparedness activities include knowledge for hazards, managing, coordinating and directing, response plans and agreement both at a formal and informal basis, creating supportive resources, life and property safety and protection, coping with any emergency situation and restoring of main functions quickly and initiating recovery plans. The national preparedness goal or HSPD-8 has become a national priority. Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) also supports this initiative. The national infrastructure protection plans are also implemented as a national priority. HPSD-8 has created a directive for strengthening information sharing. They also give importance to collaboration capabilities. The main reason and purpose of creating HSPD-8 is to set up certain policies for United States to be prepared and also to prevent from any threat of terrorist attacks domestically. They also look to respond quickly to any attack. The local entities, state and also the federal government try to strengthen their capabilities of handling any disaster by using capability based planning approach. This approach includes planning under uncertain situations. National planning scenario, Universal task list, target capability list are all part of it (Sutton & Tierney, 2006). Emergency Management Scenarios Emergency situation does not come with any prior warning. A nation’s emergency management team has a crucial role to play when emergency scenarios like terror attacks and hurricanes take place. 9/11 terror attacks and hurricane Katrina were two of the biggest national disasters that took place in the past decade. The emergency management teams had to pull out all of their stocks to response quickly and recover the victims from the traumatic situation. On August 23, 2005, a tropical storm off the coast of the Bahamas was formed named Hurricane Katrina. After that for the continuous seven days, the tropical storm formed into a devastating hurricane. It firstly hit the Florida state and then it hit the golf coast of Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. It caused tremendous suffering and destruction. It caused severe physical destruction. It also flooded the city of New Orleans. The death toll grew up to more than 1300 people. It was termed as the most devastating natural disaster in the history of America. After the severe destruction the local, the federal and the state governments initially were unable to respond according to the need of the hour. The Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans flooding brought out the true scenario of the existing emergency preparedness of the all level. It was able to bring out the existing flaws that were overlooked before the devastation. Emergency management and response planning from government, state and federal level to national response plans and also private sector plans, all were put through decisive test due to this calamity. The people also felt the need for proper planning and preparation against any such scenarios in the future. The disaster caused by hurricane Katrina was not isolated to a particular town or state or city. It showed the flaws that still existed in the planning that were created after the 9/11 terror attacks. This showed a need to pursue a proper planning for preparing against such disasters in the future. The lessons learned from the hurricane also showed that disaster management preparedness and the response is a part of the responsibility of state and the local governments. Also, a strong federal government support also goes a long way in dealing with such a huge calamity. Post - hurricane Katrina, a reform act was constructed named “Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006”. On September 11, 2001 a devastating terror attack took place on the twin towers of the world trade centre in the New York City. Both the twin towers were completely annihilated after the terrorist strike. The terror attack was initiated with the support of terror organization called Al-Qaida. The terror attacks had a lasting impact on global economy as well as that of the America. During this time, emergency response which is a product of preparedness was tested the most. The local authority, the fire fighters, emergency medical service providers and also people of the community had to respond quickly at the time of this attack. The twin towers of the world trade centre were symbolic and were a unique place. It was the pride of New York City and that of the entire nation (National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, 2010). The safety and security of the world trade centre was looked after very carefully. But the method of attacks that took place with the aid of two airplanes left the twin towers completely destroyed. The overall structure of the world trade centre was not strong enough to handle the impact of such a magnitude. After such a severe attack, the emergency management operation was put to ultimate test. The entire rescue operation team did a brave and a commendable job in saving many a lives. There were several casualties among the rescue and relief team as well. Local medical authorities did a tremendous work in saving several lives. After this magnitude of terror attack the countries safety and security situation has been looked upon very carefully and many a new safety and security steps are now being taken to prevent such an occurrence from happening ever again. Working with the Media and Communications - Means and Product Media plays a vital role in emergency management and preparation. The media as public medium can make people aware of any kind of threat that might occur. Inaccurate information by means of coverage by media of a terrorism attack could have undesirable impact. Expertise among journalists as a result of a lack of subject matter covering a terrorist incident is the most important factor. In the after effects of a terrorist attack, media channels play a vital role in ensuring public safety through proper communication. In emergency management media has an important role to play. Radio could be used to broadcast emergency messages with proper advice in various range of languages. Press as a media is very important in the emergency management context. Daily newspapers, radio services, television station and online media all can help in emergencies. Local authorities can find helpful information from media coverage. But the most important factor is that the reporting in the media should not be speculative and inaccurate. In terrorist emergencies, there should not be any censorship. Any eyewitness accounts should be self regulated and fast checked by media. Criminal investigations coverage always has a strong focus of media after any terrorist attack. Media coverage that takes place during this period might have a bearing on any terrorism trials that takes place of any apprehended suspects. TV and radio stations are high-profile institutions and they have to be looked through a proper methodology to help the emergency management authority at the time of any disaster (Davitt, 2008). Conclusion Emergency management plays a crucial role saving life and property at time of natural calamities and also at the time of external threats such as terror attacks and also earthquakes and floods. A proper and a strong emergency management teams always helps in quick action against any threat to any nation. All nations should have a strong emergency management team. They have to act according to the need of the hour. They also have to have a proper planning in place to tackle any hazardous situation with care and swiftness. The emergency management also needs support and help from households, local communities and business communities. A proper collaboration among all the authority can always go a long way in ensuring the success of an emergency action plan. Above all, in present day scenario, creating and properly maintaining of an emergency or disaster management team should be of national interest. All federal governments across the world should always ensure that the emergency management should be given top most priority to save and rescue nation from disasters that always looms large. References Argenti, P., (2002). Crisis Communication: Lessons from 9/11. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved Online on May 13, 2010 from http://hbr.org/2002/12/crisis-communication/ar/1 Crowther, D., (2004). 7 Must-have Elements in Every Crisis Communications Kit Crisis Communication Planning: Organizing and Completing A Plan That Works. Retrieved Online on May 13, 2010 from http://www.globalprblogweek.com/archives/7_musthave_elements_.php Canton, L., (2007). Emergency management: concepts and strategies for effective programs. Wiley-Interscience. Davitt. E, (2008). Media is crucial in emergency response. Australian Security Magazine. 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