Key Features of Emergency Management - Essay Example

Emergency management is a wide term or a generic name that refers to an interdisciplinary field that deals with organizations’ strategic management processes that are used to protect vital assets of other organizations from hazardous risks that may even lead to disasters or catastrophes (Sugihara, 2006). These organizations’ strategic plans also ensure that the organizations’ continuance is achieved in their planned lifetime.

Emergencies, catastrophes, and disasters are not ramping since they are distinctively separated by the emergency response applicable to their occurrence. Disasters are events and are distinguishable from daily emergencies by four factors including disaster makes organizations lose their normal autonomy. Secondly, an emergency leads the organization into some additional interaction with other organizations than on normal days; disaster leads to a reduction in performance standards of the affected organization.

Finally, disasters increase organizations to have an increased public sector/private relationship (Nazzaro, 2010). Catastrophes are considered disasters that affect persons in a wide locality. For instance, destruction of community structures; thus, affecting the operation of the local officials. Catastrophes' functions sharply interfere and affect the normal operation of the community, and they create situations that cannot be handled by the nearby communities (Sugihara, 2006). Assets that are subject to such unexpected or unplanned scenarios can be either in the form of living things, non-living things economic, or cultural assets.

Resulting disasters may be manmade or are because of natural occurrences; therefore, the entire strategic management process requires resources preparedness and a well stipulated strategic plan in order to reduce risks that may occur from a disaster (DIANE Publishing Company, 1995). Emergency management is often a strategic process and is never a tactical process; therefore, it resides within the organizations’ executive level.