EM Comp
What makes disaster research different from most other subject areas? Think in terms of prospective versus retrospective research opportunities. Also, think in terms of research ethics - use of human subjects under duress.
Research plays a key role in all aspects of society. It provides insight into a particular topic of interest and normally contributes to the betterment of society. This is no different when it comes to the field of emergency management, particularly as it relates to disaster research. Disasters come in all different forms. They can be human caused or natural, accidental or intentional, and they can all impact individuals differently. This why research is necessary to further study each type of disaster, or study factors over time that contribute to a disaster. The information gathered as a result of the research can be used to help reduce the likelihood of a similar result taking place in the future. How and when research is conducted is a topic of discussion that is still ongoing today. Disaster research is likely going to be retrospective in most cases. Unlike prospective studies designed to track patterns or behaviors which could result in a particular outcome over time, disasters and their impacts on people and communities are often studied after the fact. 20 people participating in a prospective study on heart disease can be tracked over time to determine contributing factors if a person ends up having heart disease. Whereas, the effects of a disaster are more easily studied either during the disaster, or in a post-disaster environment. Hurricanes are forecasted each year, but knowing whether or not they will make landfall cannot be predicted. A terrorism driven event, a tornado's path, or a lightning induced wildfire is very difficult to predict. But the factors leading up to the event can be investigated through retrospective research. By studying those indicators, it can contribute to reduction of vulnerabilities which lead to lessened risk. Another difference in disaster research compared to that of most other subject areas is primarily the human element involved in a disaster. A disaster is defined as an event that involves the occurrence or imminent threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life of property resulting from any natural or man-made causes - including, but not limited to fire, flood, earthquake, hurricane, tornado, high water, landslide, mudslide, wind, storm, wave action, volcanic activity, epidemic, air contamination, blight, drought, infestation, explosion, radiological accident, water contamination, bridge failure, or bridge collapse. Each of those incidents are going to involve people. Immediately following an incident it is difficult to try and gather information from impacted people because they may still be trying to recover from the incident. They may be in need of medicine, food, or shelter. Depending on their individual situation, they may not be able to deal with researchers flooding the scene looking for data. With that being said, researchers have to be able to gain access to all types of vulnerable populations to be able to gather the necessary data to further their research. If its learned that certain vulnerable populations deal with certain types of disasters better than others, then planning where to allocate resources for future incidents can be done based on the research. This ultimately leads to a wise allocation of resources. With all research, it must be carried out in a responsible and ethical manner. Disaster research is simply complex because each disaster is unique, and almost every disaster will impact people. A tornado in one community can have very different consequences than a tornado in a separate community. It's the research that allows government, academia, and the private sector with the ability to help prepare society to mitigate, prepare, respond, and recover from the wide variety of disaster that could potentially impact people.
Preparedness
A state of readiness to respond to a disaster, crisis or any other type of emergency situation.
RSF's
Community Planning and Capacity Building Economic Recovery Health and Social Services Housing Infrastructure Systems Natural and Cultural Resources
In order to effectively plan and prepare for a disaster you must first define your response. Defend or refute that statement.
I would say that this statement can only be true to a certain extent. Defining a response can occur on a broad sense, but contingency planning will no doubt occur as the event develops. No disaster event is ever the same, so to develop a plan that will cover all possible scenarios is virtually impossible. This is why emergency managers train and exercise. Emergency managers are always finding new ways to adapt and to grow their knowledge base because disasters evolve.
What is meant by long-term mitigation?
It is long term because it is a sustained action, there is no concrete ending to mitigation, it is an effort that is continuous to lessen the disaster impacts on life and infrastructure.
Discuss the four phases of comprehensive emergency management. State the goals and objectives of each. Give some examples of activities in your workplace for each of the four phases.
The four phases of comprehensive emergency management are: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. These four phase of comprehensive emergency management are the main goals of emergency managers, giving them a guidance in preparing their community for any hazard or disaster that could occur. The mitigation phase focuses on preventing future disasters or limiting their effects. This includes redeveloping building codes, moving people out of hazard-prone areas, improving infrastructure, educating the public, and conducting hazard assessments. Mitigation is unique in that it is an ongoing phase that occurs both before and after disaster. -Washington, DC has a very large flood risk because it is almost entirely water locked, the city sits on what was once swamp land, and there is very little vegetation in the city to collect excess water. Because of these hazards, DC has a very high flood risk. Currently, infrastructure is being build to mitigate this hazard. A flood wall is being installed in order to keep flood water out of certain areas within the district that are at high risk for flooding. Preparedness is the phase in which the planning process takes place. This process aids in response and recovery operations by developing plans that cover all needs of a jurisdiction during an emergency. If these plans are properly drafted, they will coincide with Emergency Operations in order to achieve an optimal outcome. -This summer I helped facilitate the DC Snow Summit. This workshop allowed for the DC Snow team to come together to establish lessons learned from the previous snow season. These lessons learned were turned into an after action report and an updated snow season checklist for the 2017-2018 snow season was drafted. checklist included everything from updating equipment to exercising the updated winter snow plan. The plan was exercised at the end of October and will be used in the upcoming snow season. Response is the life and infrastructure saving phase. This phase tends to be the shortest but most glorified phase in emergency management. This is where we see plans being put into action. This phase begins as an emergency event takes place. Incident command is established. The first incident commander is usually the first qualified person on the scene. The incident commander communicates with the emergency operations center, who will stand up in the case of a disaster event. The Emergency Operations Center allows for resource requests, cross agency communication, and public information to flow in an organized manner. -We saw response efforts as Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico were hit by hurricanes this hurricane season. Local, State, Federal and Volunteer responders deployed in order to save lives and infrastructure. The recovery phase of emergency management takes place once lives and infrastructure are secure. This is the longest phase of emergency management as it can take years to recover from a catastrophic event. This phase of emergency management focuses on restoring life to a previous or better state than is was in before the event occurred. This is the phase in which debris management, sheltering, and rebuilding takes place. -This summer, there was a fire that impacted 200 residents in NW Washington, DC. I choose to speak about this response because it was somewhat poorly executed. The Recovery Program for DC HSEMA was not notified of the fire until a week after the event. The Recovery was not properly executed because a single agency took the lead and did not follow the plan in place. Their resources were depleted and they experienced burnout. By the time HSEMA got involved, it would have been very difficult to take the lead because of actions that were already taking place, it would have been counterproductive. While this event was catastrophic to the families and difficult for the agencies involved, it did reveal the necessity to stick to a working plan and the necessity for inner agency and cross agency communication.
Federalism? What impact does that have on disaster management?
The process by which two or more governments share powers over the same geographic area. When more than one government entity has power over an area, cross agency coordination is required. When there isn't a good communication channel and good coordination on resources, we see situations like hurricane Katrina take place.
What are the 8 principles of Emergency Management?
Comprehensive Progressive Risk-Driven Integrated Collaborative Coordinated Flexible Professional
What is comprehensive emergency management?
Comprehensive emergency management is an all encompassing approach to emergency management. It does not focus on one risk, function, or hazard above others. It focuses on all risks, all hazards, all potential impacts and all stakeholders across all sectors of business and government. To be effective, comprehensive emergency management must take every possible contingency into consideration. While comprehensive emergency management looks at all approaches, it also must consider the four phases of emergency management, Preparedness, Response, Recovery, and Mitigation. By focusing on all phases, comprehensive emergency management can lower response and recovery necessities by preparing for and mitigating an event before it takes place. A great example of this would be the current hurricane season. Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico were hit by catastrophic hurricanes. Comprehensive emergency management calls for these agencies to already have response and recovery plans in place for these types of events. They should have contingency plans as well, for flooding hazards, chemical hazards, biological hazards, etc. The time to write these plans is well in advance of an event such as these so certain circumstances can be prepared for and mitigated. Following these hurricanes, After Action Reports should be conducted to achieve lessons learned. These reports and lessons will aid in updating and evaluating current plans.
What are some good sources of current and relevant information to researchers and scholars in the field of emergency management, homeland security and disaster science? What's the difference between peer-reviewed and non- peer-reviewed literature?
Currently, research in emergency management is seeing a shift from practice-based research to theoretical and data-based studies. Research in emergency management has progressed from individual case studies to theoretical case analyses, and finally to multivariate analyses. Much modern research has its focus on applying the science of natural and technological hazards into policy that can help to reduce the risk of disaster to life and property. Other common areas include translating natural hazard research into policy on managing the threat of terrorism, decision-making on budgetary funding of the DHS, and the implementation of human resource management concepts within the DHS personnel system (p. 164). Waugh (2017) proposes that for this trend to continue, research in emergency management must continue to become more empirical and theoretical. It must also include competencies in quantitative analysis so that emergency manager can effectively apply available research (p. 165). As discussed above, for emergency management research to remain current and relevant, disaster research must continue to be published by credible, peer-reviewed, and scholarly sources. Non-peer reviewed articles are those that are written by journalists and then published in magazines and newspapers. Articles of this type are written by journalists whose subject matter expertise pertains only to the field of journalism. As such, the information contained within such articles has not been reviewed by experts in the field of emergency management to attest to the accuracy of the material. FEMA's Higher Education Program's document, Emergency Management Scholarly Research Resources, supports Waugh's suppositions on emergency management research and offers a broad list of informative and relevant sources that may be used to aid researchers and scholars in the field of emergency management. According to FEMA (2013), the 2013 Draft Research Standards for the Academic Discipline of Emergency Management states that the most significant sources of research literature in emergency management are peer-reviewed articles that are based on empirical study and any other sources are secondary and tertiary. Therefore, the sources offered by FEMA (2013) are divided into the categories are primary, secondary, and tertiary (p. 2). Primary sources include those which come from peer-reviewed, scholarly journals. Some examples include primary emergency management journals, which include, but are not limited to open access journals such as International Journal of Disaster Risk Sciences, International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, and Journal of Disaster Research (pp. 3-4). Other sources include peer-reviewed journals that offer research information on many disciplines, but also publish articles specific to emergency management. These include sources such as EBSCO, JSTOR, or Elsevier (p. 6). Finally, other reputable sources in this category include books related to the field of emergency management. Some of these include codification books, edited books that include the works of many authors on various disaster-related topics, or case study books (p. 7). Secondary sources are those that have been approved by an institution. These might include thesis and dissertation papers, conference proceedings, research center and think tank reports, and government reports such as those prepared by the Congressional Research Service and the Governmental Accountability Office. However, FEMA (2013) warns must information from these sources should be used only for context and should not serve as the basis or foundation of research (p. 10). Lastly, tertiary sources are those that are neither peer-reviewed, nor approved by a reputable institution. These sources include popular press and media reports, professional magazines, opinion pieces, legislation and policy-making documents, and communications with subject matter experts. While these sources can present polarizing information and can add some perspective to literature review, they lack the appropriate credibility to pose as sufficient foundations for research (p. 16). Excellent post, Brandy. This question comes up almost every time. You should know the difference between a peer-reviewed journal and non-peer-review article. Also, know the name of a peer-reviewed journal that an emergency manager might read. Easy answer ..... The Journal of Emergency Management (JEM). OR The Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (JHSEM):
Disaster response encompasses a range of topics, including how incident management systems are critical to facilitating effective response. What are some key functions that typically need to be performed in response, how are they coordinated, and what seem to be the major issues and challenges? How does an understanding of human factors and "disaster mythology" inform practice?
Disaster Response is undoubtedly the most important phase of comprehensive emergency management as it is the phase where life and infrastructure safety is threatened. The response phase is where we see plans and training put into action. A coordinated response can include a variety of agencies, organizations and personnel, depending on the size and veracity of the disaster event. The three primary actions that take place in response are public warning, evacuation, and sheltering. Additional functions include providing emergency medical care, providing the public updated information as it is collected, and organizing volunteers and donations. Disaster response must be seamlessly coordinated as time and resources are in critical demand. It is important that relationships across tribal, local, state, federal, and non governmental organizations be established before a disaster occurs in order to negate poor response time and coordination. It is important to remember that response starts and ends locally. The local EMA should be capable of responding without assistance for the first 72 hours. Because the response begins and ends locally, FEMA has outlined several responsibilities of the local government. These include acting s the primary provider for emergency response services, activating the EOC and Emergency Response Plan, coordinating response organizations, activating local stakeholders, and notifying the State EMA of the situation and requesting state or federal aid. At the state level, the state EMA must assess the situation, review local requests, activate the state EOC if necessary, and determine if the response will over capacitate state resources, therefore warranting a federal disaster declaration. At the federal level, response occurs if the local and state entities are overwhelmed by the disaster event. The federal government assists by conducting preliminary damage assessments, approving requests for assistance, setting up a disaster field office, activating the federal response plan, and standing up the emergency support functions. The response phase faces major challenges including behavior of citizens in a disaster, managing resources and volunteers, limiting role abandonment by emergency response personnel, obtaining disaster declarations, and addressing communications between responders. It is important that first responders be aware of these challenges as they face disaster response in order to act against them as they arise.
General Eisenhower told his battle staff that "The plan is nothing. Planning is everything!" What did he mean by that. It's almost a contradiction. Or, is it?
Eisenhower meant that the planning process was more important that the established plan. Going through the process, developing COA's and evaluating all possible routes to an intended outcome before establishing the optimal choice, these are the things that make the plan "everything". For all intensive purposes, the product, the written plan, is unimportant. This is because no event is the same, so contingency planning must take place in order to counteract unexpected circumstances. Contingency planning cannot happen if possible COA's and outcomes have not already been addressed. I don't believe it to be a contradiction, we can plan to do something, but without the proper procedure and processes in place, nothing will be achieved.
Define the five Acronyms: NIMS, ICS, NRF, ESF and HSPD. Now that you've defined them, relate each of them to each other.
HSPD - Homeland Security Presidential Directives: Directives issued by the president of the united states to government agencies. These directives pertain to homeland security and the agencies role in the emergency response system. HSPD's were initiated by President George W. Bush following the 9/11. Based on problems identified by the 9/11 Commission, Bush issued HSPD-5 and HSPD-8. HSPD-5 called for standardization among first responders. HSPD-8 called for a focus on disaster preparedness, specifically, strengthening the preparedness of the U.S. to prevent and respond to threatened or actual domestic attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies. These HSPD's aided in the establishment of NIMS. NIMS - National Incident Management System: NIMS is a program that was developed by the Department of Homeland Security following the 9/11 terror attacks.This is a comprehensive, national approach to incident management that is applicable to all jurisdictional levels. The purported goal of the NIMS program is to help the nation prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from all types of disasters including domestic terrorist incidents. There are six key components that make up this program; command and management, preparedness, resource management, communications and information management, supporting technologies, and ongoing management and maintenance. Within this framework, the establishment of an ICS is mandated. ICS - Incident Command System: A program established in the 1970's, following poor response to wildfires, with the goal to increase coordination amongst first responders. It is the most important field level operations strategy for first responders. ICS serves as the framework for communication and protocol for first responders and the people who interface with them. It is a set of personnel, policies, procedures, facilities and equipment, integrated into a common organizational structure designed to improve emergency scenes. The purpose of ICS is to establish standard operating procedures that are flexible enough to support any necessary situation. NRF - National Response Framework: A FEMA publication, established in 2008 that outlines guidelines for how government agencies should respond to emergencies of all scopes and sizes. The NRF, similar to NIMS and ICS is flexible enough to be used for any event. The NRF houses 15 Emergency Support Functions used to respond to an incident. ESF - Emergency Support Function: A mechanism used by federal agencies to assist in the interagency coordination for a federal response to an incident. There are 15 Federal ESF's that have been established. Each ESF is a grouping of governmental and private sector capabilities into an organizational structure to provide support, resources, and services during response and recovery operations. ESF's are activated based on the necessity of the incident command system.
What is the difference between hazard, risk, exposure and vulnerability? In your discussion, include an explanation of what Dennis Mileti poses to us as a Systems-based approach from his book (or other writings) Disasters by Design.
Hazard: a potential form of danger that could lead to a disaster. Risk: the probability of a disaster occurrence as well as specific costs, outcomes, or effects of such an event should it occur. Exposure: hazard risks combine with community features and environmental circumstances to subject people and property to the effects of disaster. These exposures are responsible for producing the consequences of the hazard, which are also known as disaster impacts. Vulnerability: relates to individuals as well as communities. In terms of individuals, vulnerability refers to those factors which increase a person's chances of suffering serious physical, social, or psychological problems following disaster. Community vulnerability is defined in terms of the area's demographic, historical, cultural, and ecological features. According to Mileti, a systems-based approach requires that communities work to understand the interactions between the natural environment as well as human perception, actions, and organizations. This approach is based on the idea that all biological, social, and ecological entities are comprised of diverse elements, yet these elements interact to produce unique effects on an area. Therefore, one must not only consider the specific elements of each system, but must also work to understand their interactions. In disaster, the primary systems are: -The physical system-environment -The human system-people -The built system-structures This means that there many different possibilities for interaction between the systems. Furthermore, as these systems evolve and increase in size and complexity so too will their interactions. As such, planning will continue to be more and more difficult, while losses will be greater.
Is Emergency Management a Profession? The article was posted to Lesson 1. Here's an opportunity to give an informed opinion in response to what Eric Holdeman wrote in July, 2013 edition of Emergency Management magazine.
I believe emergency management is a profession. Holdeman made good points in that a profession requires certifications, which the emergency management profession offers with a CEM, AEM, and the various FEMA professional courses such as the MEPP and the Executive Program as well as the ICS courses. Holdeman also spoke about Emergency Management Education programs I would assume that this exam is proof enough that there are available education programs in Emergency Management, public health, GIS, and so many other fields that contribute to an emergency managers knowledge base. The key point that Holdeman made about emergency management not being a profession was that EMA Directors are appointed positions and that most of the people chosen to fill these roles are not emergency managers. Basing the decision to deem emergency management as a profession based on the small number of EMA Directors versus their staff seems demeaning. There can be anywhere from one person to more than two hundred people in an EMA, depending on the size of an agency. These people, a directors supporting staff, are emergency managers. They are planers, operations, PIO's, training and exercise, etc. and they are properly certified and educated in some form as emergency managers. So to diminish the profession because certain EMA Directors were appointed based on politics and not on knowledge seems misguided. Were we to base the designation of profession on this mentality, no professions would truly exist due to government appointment and nepotism. I believe that the vast majority of emergency managers who have received an education, either formal or informal, and who have developed their skills through real world experience and training should feel secure in stating that they are in the emergency management profession.
Thinking back to Katrina in 2005, FEMA did not leave a favorable impression on the American people and the media ripped them to shreds. Was this criticism fair? Katrina was a catastrophic event of immense proportions. Local and State officials added to the confusion. Federal assistance was requested late in the game. FEMA's original charter wasn't response, or was it? What's your take on FEMA then and now?
I think following any disaster situation, it is easy to play Monday morning quarterback and point fingers at everything that went wrong. Yes, there were areas that FEMA could improve upon, and I think they have and are still working towards, we saw major reform and restructuring in the wake of Katrina and Rita an optimal agency output. FEMA had a model in place and tried to mold that model to fit the disaster at hand. They should have analyzed the disaster first and then molded their operations plan and models to fit the disaster and challenges they were facing. Overall, it is easy to point fingers at FEMA for the downfalls of Hurricane Katrina. However, director Brown and the organization were simply following the processes and operating procedures that were in place during that time. Director Brown actually performed his roles and responsibilities as they were laid out of paper. The downfall came in the fact that what was laid out on paper wasn't sufficient enough to handle what was occurring in the real world. I think the most overlooked issue surrounding Katrina was the Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin. He was told to evacuate, to get the buses full of people out of the city, he was told of the wealth of resources that Michael Brown and FEMA had to offer and he ignored it all. Michael Brown had the experience with his time spent working his way up at FEMA and with local and state experience to be of service during this storm, but Ray Nagin didn't choose to listen to him.
There are many different aspects to a good Recovery program. Compare and contrast the activities that occur in Short Term and Long Term recovery? If preparedness makes for a good disaster, what makes for a good recovery?
I think the biggest difference between a successful Recovery Program and an unsuccessful Recovery Program is leadership. The Recovery Manager has to establish it as a priority in the program and assume that disaster will eventually befall the community. If so, then what will be done to work with all the key agencies and where will post-disaster recovery funds come from and how will the community successfully apply for them? When agencies work together to establish resources to aid in recovery, an area is able to recover at a larger scale. Unfortunately, recovery does not always happen this way. Lack of communication and coordination lead to one source being completely depleted of resources, energy, and resolve this burnout can make it difficult top successfully recover following a disaster. Short term recovery is what happens immediately after response. These are actions that are no longer saving lives but are not quite getting life back to normal, such as sheltering individuals after an apartment fire. This keeps them safe, but it isn't until long term recovery that they get their homes back or establish new housing and life is "back to normal". I personally think recovery efforts are somewhat overlooked in EM. Recovery is 75% of emergency management. The time it takes to recover is drastically longer than the time it takes to respond or even prepare. I think it would be beneficial for more focus to be placed on long term recovery efforts.
Discuss the evolution of comprehensive emergency management. Talk about some of the key pieces of legislation or notable moments in its history (from the 1950s going forward).
In the 1950's the FCDA existed but did very little in terms of emergency management, so in September 1950 Congress approved the Federal Disaster Relief Act to provide limited assistance during disasters. The issue at this time was proving importance of disasters in a time when wartime civil defense was on the forefront. Between 1958 and 1973, many changes occurred: • The Office of Defense and Civil Mobilization created. • Federal Civil Defense Act amended to allow the federal government to provide funding for civil emergency preparedness. • 1961 JFK separated "civil defense" and other emergency preparedness functions into 2 agencies -Office of Civil Defense -- Department of Defense. -Office of Emergency Planning -- Became Office of Emergency 1973-1992 • All coordination of federal disaster response assigned to General Services Administration • Federal Disaster Relief assigned to Housing and Urban Development 1979 -- FEMA established. • 1988 -- Stafford Act (amended Disaster Relief Act of 1974) • Evolution of concept of "Comprehensive Emergency Management" -- Mt. St. Helen's, Bophal, Hurricane Hugo, Loma Prieta earthquake, Hurricane Andrew. National Academy of Public Administration Report --1993 • "Emergency management and FEMA are overseen by too many congressional committees, none of which has either the interest [in] or a comprehensive overview of the topic to assure that coherent federal policy is developed and implemented." • FEMA needs "a more coherent legislative charter, greater funding flexibility, and sustained support for building an effective agency and a national emergency management system." 1993 GAO Report • To "underscore the commitment of the President, responsibility for catastrophic disaster preparedness and response should be placed with a key official in the White House." • FEMA Directorates whose resources would form a disaster response unit -- National Preparedness and State and Local Programs and Support have "not historically worked well together." 1993-2000 • FEMA Reorganization -- Mitigation Directorate, Preparedness, Training and Exercises Directorate, Response & Recovery Directorate. • FEMA Director made member of Cabinet • 1993 -- EMAC Initiative by Southern Governors begun • 1993 -- World Trade Center Bombing • 1995 -- Oklahoma City Bombing • 1999 -- ODP in Department of Justice 2000-2007 • 9/11/01 Terrorist Attacks • Creation of Office of Homeland Security in White House • March 2003 Creation of Department of Homeland Security • ODP Function kept separate from FEMA • 2004 Hurricane Season -- perception of FEMA's effectiveness • 2004-2005 DHS undertakes 2SR (2nd Stage Review) resulting in major reorganization, including creation of Preparedness Directorate separate from FEMA • August 2005 -- Hurricane Katrina • September 2006 -- FEMA Reform Act • January 2007 -- DHS announces plans for implementing FEMA Reform Act
What are the four major steps in the hazard mitigation planning process? Discuss them.
Organize Resources: -Assess Community Support -Build the Planning Team -Engage the Public Assess Risks: -Identify hazards and profile hazard events -Inventory assets and estimate losses Develop a mitigation plan: -Set goals and objectives -Identify actions and assign priorities to them -Prepare an implementation strategy -Write the mitigation plan Implement the plan and monitor progress -Adopt the plan -Implement the plan recomendations -Evaluate the planning results -Revise the plan
Talk in general about the Scientific Method and then apply it to a basic curiosity about disaster studies or emergency management. In other words, how would you use the scientific method to objectively answer a question?
Question Literature Review Hypothesis Measure concepts Data collection Data analysis Draw conclusion Communicate results You could relate this to a variety of EM topics, because we do research almost daily in this field. I have seen this process firs thand in creating a flood plan for the city of DC.
Explain how flood risk areas are assessed in the United States. How does this effect homeowner's insurance rates and someone's ability to build a home in a specific location? Will climate change affect the assessment process (or has it already)?
REVIEW As a Certified Floodplain Manager it is part of my job responsibilities to administer the Floodplain Management program within the City of Falls Church, Virginia. In order for individuals like myself to be successful in managing floodplain management programs it is vital that the program be founded on sound technical and scientific data. In order for this to occur the nature of flood hazards and the degree of flood risks that are present within a given community must be determined. In the United States, flood risk assessments are generally handled at the national level through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. One main way information is gathered to determine the risk of flooding in a given area is through a hydrologic and hydraulic study. In short, Hydrologic analyses indicate the volume of flow, or amount of water, flowing from a watershed at a given time. Hydraulic analyses determine the aspects such as the velocity of the flow and depth of flow of waters throughout the watershed. On top of hydrologic and hydraulic studies, other sources of information that help determine flood risks in a given area are historic rainfall records, stream gages, flood benchmarks, regional trends and other forms of historical data. Once all this data is collected and analyzed, a Flood Insurance Rate Map, more commonly referred to as a FIRM, is created for a particular community that lays out floodzones in the area including the floodway, 100 year flood and other areas susceptible to flooding. Based upon how information is gathered to determine floodplains and other areas susceptible to flooding, there is no doubt that climate change can and will have a large impact of the assessment process. As was indicated above, FEMA uses factual data rooted in scientific methods to identify the risks of flooding for a given area and to develop floodplains. Hydrologic and Hydraulic studies analyze concrete quantitative data such as water quantity, depth and velocity to help determine a flood risk. Over the past few years, as climate change has been brought to the public eye, we have witnessed unprecedented rainfall events. Research has shown higher intensity rainfalls for longer durations are occurring more frequently than in years past. This is undoubtedly changing the flood risk associated with communities. As a result, FEMA has recently started beginning to restudy or reanalysis floodplains around the country to account changes of this nature since the original study was completed. Floodplains area developed with the intention of protecting life and property to the fullest extend possible. As a result, when development occurs within a floodplain there are strict restrictions associated with it. For instance, new structures that are being built are generally required to have their first habitable floor to be at or above the Base Flood Elevation for that location. Many times, freeboards are in place which requires the first flood to be elevated above the Base Flood Elevation by a certain amount. Within the City of Falls Church we require a freeboard of 1 foot. Additionally, for new structures all utilities are required to be elevated above the Base Flood Elevation as well. For pre-existing structures that are wanting to renovate, the rule of substantial improvement applies. In short, this policy states that if the cost of the proposed work exceeds 50% of the assessed value of the structure than the entire structure must be brought in compliance with current floodplain regulations. This tends to create challenges for many homeowners want to redevelop older homes within the floodplain, as they tend to be limited on the extent of improvements that can be made. It is important to note that regulations vary drastically from community to community within the United States. What I made mentioned above relate exactly to the City of Falls Church. There are certain communities within the United States that do not allow any development or redevelopment within floodplain areas. It is important to check with your local floodplain administrator to determine what codes apply to your given city.
Social vulnerability is a concept that has been used to explain/predict recovery outcomes. Define social vulnerability and discuss various factors that have been identified as important predictors. Why is it important to view recovery as a process? What strategies do we most associate with holistic disaster recovery?
Social vulnerability is the notion that those individuals who face exposure to hazards and are least able to cope with disasters are the most vulnerable when disasters occur. There are a variety of reasons why a certain population group may be social vulnerable during times of disaster, socioeconomic Status, age, gender, race, disability, minority status, language, housing, and transportation. It is important that these individuals be prioritized during response and recovery because of their lesser ability to personally respond to and recover from an incident. Furthermore, mitigation efforts should be done in order to alleviate the burden on vulnerable populations and therefor on responders during and after a disaster event. Plans should include these populations in consideration as well, so response and recovery operations know how best to assist vulnerable populations during and after a disaster.
What are the two broad categories of mitigation? Give some examples of each.
Structural mitigation focuses on physical entities. This includes updating infrastructure, building levees, and engineering buildings and structures to withstand local hazards. Non-structural mitigation is policy based and can include building codes, floodplain mapping, and land regulations. It is important that both of these practices take place as they ensure a much more cost effective response and recovery. Ensuring that building are up to code means that during a disaster, structures will be more stable, while building levees ensures that a flood will have less of an impact on a community.
What, in your opinion and that of others, is the future of terrorism preparedness in the United States of America? How heavily will/does politics play into this equation?
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created to combat terrorism in the United States. To help with that, DHS created the National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) to communicate information about terrorist threats by providing timely, detailed information to the public, government agencies, first responders, public sector organizations, airports and other transportation hubs (www.dhs.gov). With these advisories, a summary of the threat, actions being taken, and steps needed to ensure the public's safety. Many departments (police, fire, EMS, federal) are already in the process of committing resources to help combat terrorism. Many of the larger cities have units dedicated to terror response. The Fire Department of New York (FDNY) created the Center for Terrorism and Disaster Preparedness in response to the September 11 attacks. Director Chief Joseph Pfeifer states that before the attacks, the most the department did for terror preparedness was a few exercises (FDNY). However, once the preparedness office was created, it forced the FDNY to modify how they trained for the next attack. Now, the department incorporates terror training into the usual training regimen. Politics was injected into planning, and all aspects, of terror training when DHS was formed. FEMA, and many other departments, were placed under the umbrella of DHS.
While the emergency management community enjoys a much greater understanding of mitigation possibilities and pitfalls, translating ideas to actions remains one of our greatest challenges. How has the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 changed the environment for mitigation practice? What are the key provisions of this act? What is the distinction between structural and non-structural approaches to mitigation, and why is it important to employ both? What evidence (research paper) can you give that mitigation is cost effective?
The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000) created a forward push for mitigation focussed efforts. This act incentivized mitigation by offering extensive grants through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). The act requires that an approved State Mitigation Plan be in place in order to receive federal disaster assistance. Essentially, the Act could not tell agencies what to do, so it offered incentives and drawbacks in order to propel mitigation into the minds and practices of emergency managers. There are two approaches to mitigation, structural, and non-structural. Structural mitigation focuses on physical entities. This includes updating infrastructure, building levees, and engineering buildings and structures to withstand local hazards. Non-structural mitigation is policy based and can include building codes, floodplain mapping, and land regulations. It is important that both of these practices take place as they ensure a much more cost effective response and recovery. Ensuring that building are up to code means that during a disaster, structures will be more stable, while building levees ensures that a flood will have less of an impact on a community. There are numerous cost effective evidence to hazard mitigation. Some of these include: FEMA-funded grants and the savings from mitigation activities. These also include the reduction of direct property damage, reduction of direct business interruption, reduction of indirect business interruption loss, reduction of non market damaged, reduction of human loss, and the reduction of the cost of emergency response
A former State EMA Director here in Alabama told me that he believes most EM professionals don't understand or appreciate the Robert T. Stafford Act. Well, here's your chance to prove him wrong - or, at least, an opportunity to explore the Stafford Act! Tell us what we all need to know about it.
The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act was signed into law on November 23, 1988 and amended the Disaster Relief Act of 1974. The Stafford Act exists because when FEMA was created in 1979, all authority over disaster-related activities was transferred from the President and other federal agencies and assigned to FEMA. The Stafford Act was created to outline special measures, designed to assist the efforts of the affected States in expediting the rendering of aid, assistance, and emergency services, and the reconstruction and rehabilitation of devastated areas. The Stafford Act improved disaster response and emergency management in general in that it provided clear-cut framework and guidelines for the federal government's role in how disasters are declared, the types of assistance to be provided, and the cost-sharing arrangements between federal, state, and local governments. However, the hurricane season of 2005 exposed weaknesses in the Stafford Act's ability to guide authorities' responses to large-scale catastrophic disasters, which led to additional changes in response to a mandate by the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 resulted in a new National Response Framework (NRF) to clarify the roles and responsibilities of key agencies and levels of government, and the resources available for emergency response to all hazards. The Stafford Act authorized the federal government to provide financial, technical, logistical, and other necessary assistance to states who qualify for a presidential disaster declaration. The Stafford Act requires that a states governor activate the states emergency response plan before requesting a disaster declaration; then local and state agencies must respond to a disaster before a Presidential Disaster Dec can be issued. There are certain instances where the president can decide to surpass this protocol and can issue a disaster declaration before the state requests it, we saw this in this year hurricane season, during the response to Hurricane Irma. The president may also issue a disaster declaration without a governors request if a disaster event takes place on federal land, such as the 9/11 Pentagon attack.
For every dollar spent on Mitigation
The nation receives a $4 benefit in the future.
Identify key organizations and agencies that play a role in emergency management in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. What concepts or frameworks have been suggested or employed to coordinate efforts between all of these entities with a stake in emergency management? What factors contribute to successful outcomes?
There are public organizations at the federal, state, local, and tribal levels that play a role in emergency management. These organizations can be EMA's, DPW's, DOE's, DOH's, and so many more. Key federal partners tend to be FEMA, DHS, Army Core of Engineer's, DOT, and the office of the President when necessary. Private companies such as Booz-Allen Hamilton and Hagerty play an integral role in providing contracted agents to assist on projects at any level of government. Finally, non-profit organizations such as the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, along with local churches and volunteer organizations all have a hand in emergency management. In order to coordinate the efforts between these entities the National Response Framework and the National Disaster Recovery Framework have been employed. The National Response Framework is a document that is used for planning which describes what the government will do in the event of a catastrophic disaster. It deals with immediate needs made evident by a disaster. In contrast, the National Disaster Recovery Framework is a guide used for long-term rebuilding in disaster-stricken areas. Disaster recovery managers are provided with a flexible structure to restore affected communities. Through collaborative emergency management, these organizations integrate into a cohesive entity and build the strongest possible team to create disaster-resilient communities. Each of these organizations will be acting for a certain purpose, so it is the emergency mangers responsibility to best organize these groups for an optimal outcome during a disaster. These groups are just a few that can be used as a resource for the emergency manager. Regular meetings and exercises can test the readiness of all involved. Then, if changes need to be made, these can be implemented before an actual disaster occurs.
In a seminal article by Thomas Birkland he states "If generals are said to be ready to fight the last war, disaster policy seems to be geared to respond to the last disaster." What did he mean by this? Give an example that supports his statement and a recent initiative that is steering us away from this trend.
This is post disaster mitigation. After Action Reports and Lessons Learned are conducted to see what went worked and what didn't work regarding the disaster, response, and recovery. This information is compiled and used to update existing plans or, in some instances, write new plans that are now necessary. An example of this is the levee failure in New Orleans that led to such large devastation during Hurricane Katrina. This is not something that was addressed before the hurricane and ignorance to the issue caused a great deal of death and damage. The DMA 2000 and the HMGP are both tools that can slowly counteract this issue by incentivizing jurisdictions to be more intentional in mitigation and therefore preparedness efforts.
ESF's
Transportation Communications Public Works and Engineering Firefighting Information and Planning Mass Care, Emergency Assistance, Temporary Housing and Human Services Logistics Public Health and Medical Services Search and Rescue Oil and Hazardous Materials Response Agriculture and Natural Resources Energy Public Safety and Security Long-Term Community Recovery External Affairs
Discuss validity. What are the two types? How can you relate validity to variables?
Validity is how reliable your research is. It addresses all factors included in your research and how accurate it is. Most importantly, validity is the measurement of what is to be measured. The reliability of measurement and the reliability of the research is essential when wanting to determine the true answer. Saul McLeod (2013) states, "internal validity is the effects observed in a study due to the manipulation of the independent variable and not some other factor." McLeod (2013) goes on to state, "external validity refers to the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other settings, other people, and over time." The difference between the two types of validity is that internal validity refers to reality of measurements factors like instructions and extraneous variables. External validity refers to external factors like ecologic, population, and historical factors. As stated earlier, validity is the reliability of research and the accuracy of it. Variables is the data obtained during an experiment, it is anything that can vary. This data must be controlled so not to have any threats to the validity of your experiment. If there is a question in the validity of your experiment or data, then your experiment or data is in question. When discussing validity in research, it refers to whether the research actually measures what it says it will measure. Validity is the strength of our conclusions, inferences, or propositions. There are two types of validity: internal and external. Internal validity shows us that the difference in the dependent variable is actually a result of the independent variable, while external validity shows us that the results of the study are generalizable to other groups and environments outside of the experimental setting (Ryan, 2015). Questions to consider when dealing with internal and external validity include: are the researcher's conclusions correct? Are the changes in the independent variable indeed responsible for the observed variation in the dependent variable? Could the variation in the dependent variable be attributable to other causes? Internal validity relates to variables in that it is a measure of confidence that changes in the dependent variable are actually caused by the independent variable. This is particularly important because research is often conducted in order to determine cause-and-effect relationships. If a research study shows a high degree of internal validity, then we can logically conclude that there exists strong evidence of causality in the results. If a study displays low internal validity, we can conclude that there is little or no evidence of causality in the research.
Volunteers - tell us the good, the bad and the ugly of volunteerism in the wake of a major disaster. What are spontaneous volunteers? How do we manage them? Also, include some discussion about donations and what must be established to manage them.
Volunteers remind us that people are inherently good. That in the wake of disaster, people want to help in any way they can. While this is desire to help is wholesome and positively rooted, if carried out in the wrong way, it can have serious implications on response and recovery initiatives. Properly trained and credentialed volunteers can help with canvasing, debris removal, shelter staffing, and many other roles during response and recovery. The issue with volunteers comes whit spontaneous volunteers who come to help with response and recovery without being properly identified, certified, and trained. These people arrive on scene and jump right in without any sort of direction. A doctor could self deploy to aid in response, but without going through the proper channels to register with volunteer management, that doctor could prove to be more of a liability than an asset. It is important that civilians realize that while their help is appreciated, they must go through the proper channels in order to have a beneficial impact. Donations can also be beneficial and harmful at the same time. Donations flow in as disasters occur, so donation management should be set up early in order to have a system in place when things get busy and chaotic. PIO's should be directed to ask for donations that there is a need for or for monetary donations as these take up much less space. People are so focused on helping that they don't realize a winter parka is not necessary for hurricane victims in south florida. People also use disasters as a reason to spring clean and donate. Again, if announcements are made about what is needed and what will be accepted as a donation, this will limit the necessity to store unnecessary items. All in all, volunteers and donations are always more positive than negative, but it is important that an emergency manager be prepared to manage both.
Preparedness is a comprehensive emergency management concept that includes elements of planning, training, exercise and evaluation, public education, and program development and capacity building. What are some of the key findings about preparedness from the disaster literature? How can emergency managers apply these findings?
WORK ON THIS ONE Preparedness is more than just a written plan, it includes training, exercise and evaluation, public educations, community outreach and program development and capacity building. Emergency managers can conduct exercises and workshops, facilitate community outreach, and meet with stakeholders to keep plans and operations valid.
Recovery
start by distinguishing short-term from long-term recovery. What might be the goals for both types and how long is long-term? Might recovery go on for years, perhaps even a decade or more? Indeed, it could and there are many examples where it has gone on for more than a decade in the wake of a catastrophic event. Recovery is affected by community actions taken in preparedness, response and mitigation phases. Few communities have thorough and functional recovery plans. Long-term recovery incorporates mitigation strategies and funding from Federal sources.
Global warming is a very controversial subject. You may weigh in on it on one extreme or the other. Perhaps you are just waiting to see what the future brings. Regardless, assume that global warming or climate change/adaptation will continue to loom heavily over our heads. What problems do you need to plan and prepare for because of global warming? Do government officials in your community discuss this at all?
Climate change promises rising sea levels, more frequent and more powerful costal storms, and the spread of tropical diseases, as well as increased incidence of fooding, wildfires, drought, and heat waves.
EMAC
Emergency Management Assistance Compact State level mutual aid system that expands community-to-community mutual assistance compacts.
Explain the difference between qualitative and quantitative research. Give an example of each as it relates to disaster studies or emergency management.
Qualitative research tends to be more open ended that quantitative research. The researcher is the main source of information and gathers information through interviews, focus groups, narratives, content or documentary analysis, participant observation, and archival research. Quantitative research is more focused and tends to support a topic numerically. This type of research includes data collection through questionnaires, surveys, measurements, and other numerical data collection sources. Qualitative and quantitative research can enhance each other if used correctly. For instance, qualitative research can enhance quantitative research by giving a story to the numbers while quantitative research can enhance qualitative research by supporting the collected information.
