Read an extract below and answer questions that follows:

 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States

Department of Homeland Security, initially created under President Jimmy Carter by

Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive

Orders on April 1, 1979.

 

During the 1960s and 1970s a series of major natural disasters hit the United States thereby

prompting the establishment of FEMA, whose mission was and remains, to support the

citizens and first responders to promote national collaboration towards building, sustaining,

and improving the capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and

mitigate all hazards.

 

The governor of the state in which the disaster occurs must declare a state of emergency and

formally request from the President that FEMA and the federal government respond to the

disaster.

 

Question 4

 

FEMA identified five successive steps to exercising a risk/disaster management strategy.

Identify and discuss Five of these steps.

(25 Marks)

FIVE STEPS : 

1. Prevention

The best way to address a disaster is by being proactive. This means identifying potential hazards and devising safeguards to mitigate their impact. Although this stage in the cycle involves putting permanent measures into place that can help minimize disaster risk, it's important to acknowledge that disasters can't always be prevented.

Prevention involves scenarios such as the following:

a. Implementing an evacuation plan in a school, for example, showing teachers how to lead students to safety in the event of a tornado or fire.

b. Planning and designing a city in a way that minimizes the risk of flooding, for example, with the use of locks, dams or channels to divert water away from populous areas.

2. Mitigation

Mitigation aims to minimize the loss of human life that would result from a disaster. Both structural and nonstructural measures may be taken.

a. A structural measure means changing the physical characteristics of a building or an environment to curb the effects of a disaster. For example, clearing trees away from a house can ensure that dangerous storms don't knock down the trees and send them crashing into homes and public buildings.

b. Nonstructural measures involve adopting or amending building codes to optimize safety for all future building construction.

3. Preparedness

Preparedness is an ongoing process in which individuals, communities, businesses and organizations can plan and train for what they'll do in the event of a disaster. Preparedness is defined by ongoing training, evaluating and corrective action, ensuring the highest level of readiness.

Fire drills, active-shooter drills and evacuation rehearsals are all good examples of the preparedness stage.

4. Response

Response is what happens after the disaster occurs. It involves both short and long term responses.

Ideally, the disaster management leader will coordinate the use of resources including personnel, supplies and equipment to help restore personal and environmental safety, as well as to minimize the risk of any additional property damage.

During the response stage, any ongoing hazards are removed from the area; for example, in the aftermath of a wildfire, any lingering fires will be put out, and areas that pose a high flammability risk will be stabilized.

5. Recovery

The fifth stage in the disastermanagement  is recovery. This can take a long time, sometimes years or decades. For example, some areas in New Orleans have yet to fully recover from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It involves stabilizing the area and restoring all essential community functions. Recovery requires prioritization: first, essential services like food, clean water, utilities, transportation and healthcare will be restored, with less essential services being prioritized later.

Ultimately, this stage is about helping individuals, communities, businesses and organizations return to normal or a new normal depending on the impact of the disaster.

Developing Skills for Disaster Management

To effectively coordinate this cycle, disaster management leaders must develop a number of critical skills. The skills necessary for each stage of the cycle are as follows:

Prevention

During the prevention stage, strong analytical skills help leaders identify potential threats, hazards and high-risk areas. Problem solving abilities are also invaluable in identifying the best ways to avoid or diminish the likelihood of catastrophic events.

Mitigation

Planning is an important skill during the mitigation stage; the disaster management leader will need to develop strategies and structural changes that can help mediate potential threats. Spreading awareness is also critical, as community members must be made aware of the steps they can take to prepare for all contingencies.

Of the five stages, mitigation is the most crucial because, if done correctly, it can reduce the impact of the next emergency or crisis.

Preparedness

During the preparedness stage, it's important to be skilled in training people to respond to disasters. It's important to stay organized, which is the best way to ensure readiness. Oral and written communication skills prepare laypeople and emergency response personnel for action in worst case scenarios.

Response

The ability to quickly make decisions is crucial here, as the response stage is time sensitive. Another valuable skill is delegating essential tasks to other volunteers or emergency responders.

Recovery

As disaster management leaders help their communities recover, the most essential skills are empathy, understanding and relationship building; indeed, without earning the trust of the community, any recovery efforts are likely to come up short.

+ Emergency management, also referred to as disaster management, means preparing for potential calamities and responding to them as quickly, strategically and effectively as possible. Typically, this involves following the basic disaster management cycle, which comprises five crucial stages.

Step-by-step explanation

+ Specifically, disaster management is about organizing and directing resources to cope with a disaster and coordinating the roles and responsibilities of responders, private sector organizations, public sector agencies, nonprofit and faith based organizations, volunteers, donations, etc. The ultimate goal of the disaster management leader is to minimize the event's impact, something that involves preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation.

+ ?Emergency Preparedness

There are real benefits to being prepared:

Being prepared can reduce fear, anxiety, and losses that accompany disasters. Communities, families, and individuals should know what to do in the event of a fire and where to seek shelter during a powerful storm. They should be ready to evacuate their homes and take refuge in public shelters and know how to care for their basic medical needs.

People also can reduce the impact of disasters (flood proofing, elevating a home or moving a home out of harm's way, and securing items that could shake loose in an earthquake) and sometimes avoid the danger completely.

The need to prepare is real

Disasters disrupt hundreds of thousands of lives every year. Each disaster has lasting effects, both to people and property.

If a disaster occurs in your community, local government and disaster relief organizations will try to help you, but you need to be ready as well. Local responders may not be able to reach you immediately, or they may need to focus their efforts elsewhere.

You should know how to respond to severe weather or any disaster that could occur in your area hurricanes, earthquakes, extreme cold, flooding, or terrorism.

You should also be ready to be self sufficient for at least three days. This may mean providing for your own shelter, first aid, food, water, and sanitation.