Risk Assessment and Emergency Preparedness - Literature review Example

Running Head: Risk Assessment and Emergency Preparedness Risk Assessment and Emergency Preparedness [Institute’s Risk Assessment and Emergency Preparedness Since a decade, experts have indicated rapid advancement in the activities of terrorists on global level that has enforced countries, especially, countries like USA, UK, Canada, Pakistan, etc to take significant steps to avoid their detrimental effects that are killing and affecting thousands of people every year. In specific, USA has taken considerable steps and is still putting efforts to ensure safety and security of its citizens. In this regard, anti-terrorist agencies are playing a noteworthy role in identifying and eliminating factors that may allow any terrorist activities in the region (Cooley, 2002). Besides identification of terrorist groups and supporting organizations and running the War against Terrorism, it is essential that authorities should train and prepare personnel of the law enforcement agencies to handle and tackle a terrorist incident in efficient manner, as lack of preparedness and ineffective emergency response may help terrorists in fulfilling their devilish objectives. For such purpose, the State Department of Homeland Security has formed various terrorism reaction teams that will be responsible to handle situations during a terrorist attack, as well as a terrorist threat (White, 2006). In specific, this paper will attempt to discuss various aspects of emergency preparedness and various issues regarding counter-terrorism that will beneficial in keeping the region safe and secure from terrorism. It is an observation that rapid advancement in activities of terrorist organizations has resulted in an increase in the uncertainty about future as countries are confronting terrorist attacks along with natural hazards. In USA, California is one of the states that have continued to receive threats and every now and then, its citizens are concerned about their wellbeing and protection. In addition, studies have indicated that terrorist incidents are usually impulsive and result in huge wreckage and homeless people. Despite of numerous safety measures, one cannot predict potency of a terrorist attack, and in this scenario, terrorism reaction team comprising of law enforcement personnel, healthcare professionals, fire fighters, members of the civil society, etc will play a significant role in ensuring safety, as well as security of the Americans in case of a terrorist incident. Although there is no rapid standardized way of determining nature of terrorist attack; however, emergency management is a procedure that enables professionals to alleviate factors and causes of the event, and subsequently, respond in a timely and efficient manner. Such a procedure involves comprehensive planning and creation of a chain of command that will be authoritative at the time of any such event in the future. Moreover, experts have indicated that process of emergency management is an efficient tool to monitor different actions and steps taken during an incident in a centralized manner that reduces the extent of inefficiencies that usually increases the effects during an emergency. In particular, division of the process of emergency management, essential for effective response after a terrorist incident will allow a better understanding of the procedure, and thus, this paper will discuss it in its different phases of mitigation, preparedness, response, and subsequently, recovery. After a terrorist attack, one cannot avoid occurrence of the incident; however, can make efforts to lessen adverse effects that is the first stage in the emergency management process that involves evacuation measures (Deflem, 2004). However, evacuation process is not a one-time step, and thus, requires proper planning. In this regard, it is the responsibility of terrorism reaction team to enforce authorities of every public building, such as malls, libraries, academic institutions, government offices, recreational parks, etc to complete evacuation checklist. In particular, evacuation checklist includes complete map of the building with entry/exit/emergency points, availability of fire extinguishers, number of persons working/living/visiting the place, etc that will be very helpful in evacuation process at the time of any incident. It is observation that absence of such map results in chaos at the time of incident that supports terrorists in carrying out their activities in a more deadly manner. Besides evacuation steps, search and rescue is the subsequent action that plays an imperative role in lessening the effects of terrorist attack, as efficient rescue operations work as life savers after the incident, and thus, reaction team should have trained professionals available within reach of public buildings. In this regard, collaboration with different organizations, such as fire fighters, police, hospitals, etc is very important, as communication gap may also result in increment of casualties and subsequently, success of terrorists’ objectives (White, 2006). In addition to evacuation, search, and rescue operations, post-emergency recovery is an important step in the emergency management process that involves provision of assistance to injured people through immediate healthcare facilities with the help of ambulances and public hospitals. Immediate establishment of emergency cell is an essential responsibility of terrorism reaction team that will be facilitating family members and relatives of casualties and injured people from the event. In the mitigation phase, members of the team, at the same time, should get involved in collection process of evidence that will be helpful in getting hold of culprits, an important step for avoiding any future terrorist incidents in the same manner. During the collection of evidence, team should also arrange trained professionals to estimate the extent of physical and human loss in the attack, necessary for planning post-incident support. Another important phase during the mitigation stage is evacuation of people from surrounding localities, as although terrorist attacks target locations, however, it is important to evacuate nearby locations to avoid further physical or human loss (Deflem, 2004). Although the state of California has huge amount of trained professionals to carry out abovementioned activities, however, in times of attack, terrorism reaction team should benefit from voluntary organizations and community members to share the burden. However, this process of sharing should not be sudden, and team should arrange training and awareness programs for volunteers and community members that will be significant at the time of responding to a terrorist attack (White, 2006). In specific, evacuation drill is an imperative and efficient way of preparing nonprofessionals and civilians, as drills prepare residents to cooperate and collaborate with trained members of team, beneficial in mitigating adverse effects of the attack. Moreover, evacuation drills facilitate members of response team to establish a chain of command, as well to identify safe places near every public building that may enhance efficacy of the process of emergency response. All such measures before any incident result in elimination of any chaos and confusion that usually dictate individuals during a terrorist attack, causing more losses (Laqueur, 2004). In presence of trained professionals, prepared civilians, and efficient chain of command, steps become easy to monitor and handle, and that is the major objective of establishing terrorism reaction teams in the country. After the response phase that involves repetition of discussed steps and actions, team should plan and arrange recovery after the incident that involves destruction, as well as reconstruction of insecure buildings, health recovery of injured persons, and distribution of financial resources to affected families, helpful in lessening the burden of traumatic families after the attack. Conclusively, the paper has discussed significant aspects of emergency management that includes mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery phases. It is an observation that terrorist organizations are no longer working on local level, and have become a major threat for the USA. Presently, the US government has enhanced the level of scrutiny at airports and entry/exit points of the state; however, still loopholes exist at different administrative levels, and only collective efforts will result in elimination of terrorist organizations. It is anticipation that this paper will be beneficial for the students, teachers, as well as, professionals for the better understanding of different aspects of emergency response phases. References Cooley, John K. (2002). Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America, and International Terrorism. Pluto Press. Deflem, Mathieu. (2004). Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism. Emerald Group Publishing. Laqueur, Walter. (2004). No End to War: Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century. Continuum International Publishing Group. White, Jonathan R. (2006). Terrorism and Homeland Security. Springer. Read More