Friday, August 30, 2019

Emergency Management - What Is It?

Emergency management....what the heck is it and why should anyone care?

I don't know how many times when people ask me what I do and I tell them I'm an emergency management specialist, they look at me like what planet are you from? Well, in the interest of full transparency, I'm a retired emergency management specialist, but I still get that same look no matter how I couch it.

For those who've never really thought about or heard of emergency management it's nothing more, really, than managing emergencies...or trying to as it were.

On a broad societal scale, the definition in the graphic above applies and it takes someone with a certain skill-set to be able to 'game the system' in order to make it work.

On an individual level, though, we've all done it, and we're all gonna continue to do it....especially if we have accident prone kids or we're responsible for accident prone adults like me.

We manage cuts, bruises, scratches, broken bones - you know, those common-place emergencies some of us are faced with more often than we'd like to admit. It's when we do really stupid things like putting a running chainsaw across our knee (like I did a few years back) that those who know how to sew that sucker back up get to work their magic to save the day!

Some will tell you Moms are generally better at the 'garden variety' types of emergencies, especially when it comes to their kids.

Some guys will tell you no way - men are inherently better at it for whatever egotistical reason(s) they can come up with.

In actuality, it can go both ways.

When Moms respond if their kids (or idiotic husbands like me with a chainsaw) are in danger, they usually do so with a calmness and strength unmatched anywhere. Many Dads in the same situation become quivering piles of useless jello (myself included).

Emergency management is a very simple concept, really. Emergencies occur, we respond to them based upon our own level of expertise and knowledge. Simple as that. Some people might even consider getting up in the morning to be an emergency situation - at least until the coffee is made and in a cup within reach!

It's when the emergencies get too big to handle by ourselves that we often times run into trouble. The old adage, 'sink or swim' often plays a much larger role in our response than most of us would be willing to admit. That's also when most of us have enough sense to call in reinforcements to help.

We call the fire department if we have a house fire...well, we call 911 and they dispatch the fire department.

We call the police (again, we call 911) if we experience a break in (unless we have our own self-defense planned for and implemented - well, we eventually have to call the police anyway).

We rely on EMTs to save our lives if we have a heart attack.

And the list goes on.

That's how the 'system' is supposed to work.

Regardless of the scenario, we use a process to arrive at whatever decisions we must make in order to survive. Our own personal level(s) of preparedness often dictate how well we actually respond if, and when, the time comes to do so.

Government is no different in this regard....ALL levels of government.

It's when the everyday 'garden variety' emergencies get out of control that more help is needed and calls go out for assistance.

What's a 'garden variety' emergency, you ask? It's one that a local jurisdiction can handle all by itself...or should handle all by itself, the operative word here being 'should'. Minor discipline problems at school ring a bell as just one example? This is an issue that's getting a LOT of attention here lately what with more calls for increased law enforcement presence in our schools.

But I digress.....

When this occurs, depending upon the response readiness and capability of the next higher level of government, assistance can be immediate or it can be the opposite. In this regard, emergency management can actually be considered a sort of art form if it's done right. Unfortunately, more often than not, emergency management falls far short of what it should. Why is that? The answer(s) may surprise you.

For one....lack of preparedness (everyone, not just first responders). How many times have we heard lamentations that someone never thought it could happen to them in their safe, close-knit community?

If that's the lamentation it also means little to no preparation took place before the emergency slapped them upside their heads with a heavy dose of reality....that IT CAN HAPPEN HERE...and EVERYWHERE!

It's the IT that we need to figure out and get ready to respond to, and that ain't happening as much as it needs to.

Another one....no mitigation activities, not even an analysis of what MIGHT be done to reduce the likelihood of an event's occurrence, much less trying to eliminate the possibility.

Yet another....response deficiencies in the form of inadequate equipment, lack of appropriate and intensive enough training.

And, finally....problems with recovery including such things as disaster relief, rebuilding infrastructure, insurance issues, victim's assistance, and counseling.

Those are just a few in a very long list of things that come into play and need to be considered when preparing for emergency and disaster events.

Bottom line, emergency management consists of five preparedness missions:

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If any single mission in this cycle is left out or given less attention than it deserves, the entire process literally falls apart.

Compare the emergency management cycle to the following one below illustrating an 'illogical' gun violence cycle (which, by the way, can be applied to virtually any scenario and/or hazard), and you might just get a better idea of the obstacles we all face in this process:


Add to this the reality many organizations do not recognize, much less accept, their moral, ethical, and legal responsibilities regarding emergency management, and we're looking at a serious recipe for disaster.

So, what's the big deal when it comes to emergency management? Well, it pretty much boils down to a process, a 'system' as it were. Emergency management is the entire process...the whole shebang!

Each individual 'preparedness mission' is an individual phase of an emergency management 'process' that falls under the umbrella of the emergency management 'program'.

For example, response (which is what many of us pay the most attention to because it's also the most visible of all the phases when the proverbial kaka hits the fan) is an action.

And that's where the art form comes in.

We hail our heroes when their response goes above and beyond, and deservedly so. They risk their lives in order to do what they do.

Emergency managers, however, work behind the scenes in an effort to try to make sure the responses go as planned.

That requires every single responder, every single response organization, every single government agency at every level that may have a role in a response and recovery operation, every volunteer organization, and every single organization responsible for providing for the safety of an 'at risk' group (like school children, maybe) must work together beforehand to try to:

1. Communicate their ideas with each other,
2. Coordinate their plans and activities with each other,
3. Cooperate across agency and jurisdictional boundaries with each other, and
4. Collaborate with each other.

There's a ton of information out there to help in this process (here's a partial list of resources for school safety I've compiled for my own blog as just one example: School Safety Resources).

If it's done right, response to emergency and even disaster events can be pretty seamless and efficient.

If it isn't done right, there will be hell to pay.


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