February 27, 2007 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project Report
(1) EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT FOR HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS COLLEGE COURSE:
Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management, George Washington University. Emergency Management Principles and Practices for Health Care Systems (Educational Curriculum). Washington, DC: Veterans Health Administration, June 2006. Accessible at: http://www1.va.gov/emshg/page.cfm?pg=122
(2) MATERIALS RECEIVED:
IAEM Bulletin, Vol. 24, No. 2, February 2007. (International Association of Emergency Managers, 111 Park Place, Falls Church, VA 22046-4513, (703) 538-1795, (703) 241-5603 (fax), e-mail: ). [I will draw attention to four contributions below:
(A) THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES (and other annoyances for emergency managers):
By IAEM President Mike Selves in his monthly "From the President" column. Citing sociologist Robert K. Merton, Selves notes five reasons for the occurrence of unintended consequences:
* Ignorance
* Error
* Immediate interest overriding long-term interests
* Basic values that may require or prohibit certain actions
* Self-defeating prophecy.
Then Selves notes five unintended consequences post 9/11 with serious consequences for emergency management {and thus serious consequences for public safety (BWB)}.
* The creation of the Department of Homeland Security "in an emotional and political environment that, quite frankly, did not always lend itself to sound, logical decisions.
* The inclusion of FEMA within DHS.
* NIMS
* Fate of EMPG (Emergency Management Preparedness Grants)
* Emphasis on "Federal primacy," de-emphasis of "local preparedness efforts based on the often expressed (and, more often, mistaken) assumption that these local entities will be totally incapacitated," and re-emergency of "the long-standing impetus for greater military control during disaster events."
Selves notes, in closing, one of the long-standing problems emergency managers deal with -- "apathy" when all is well and "hysteria" when something big happens (and I don't think he is referring to citizen disaster victims here).
(B) THE NECESSITY FOR THOROUGHNESS:
By A. J. Briding, CEM, EM Consultant for New Orleans, and Jerry Sneed, Director New Orleans Office of Emergency Preparedness.
On post-Katrina operational problems in New Orleans: "...most can be traced back to one simple root cause: not approaching planning and preparedness with the necessary rigor to ensure a robust capability."
The authors go on to note "Three areas that commonly are weak in plans:
the assumptions upon which they are based {realistic, grounded, tested}, planning for the worst case scenario, and working out the details."
"You don't have a good plan if you haven't addressed your worst-case scenario. You may not have the resources to handle it, but a good plan will determine how to apply the resources you do have to mitigate the damage, and how to coordinate for additional state and federal resources."....
"Being able to handle a 5-alarm fire using the Incident Command System
(ICS) can lend a false sense of security of being able to extrapolate that to more complex situations."....
"The operational concept is only the tip of the iceberg -- the supporting details upon which its success depends are too often ignored, and can be showstoppers."....
"There is the deceptive sense of well-being that comes from having a plan..." but not "following through with a sensible training and exercise program" [is a mistake]. "Although the need for this is well understood, it is usually the last piece to fall into place, if it is addressed at all. Plans live in an imaginary world; disasters don't.
Exercises bring out some of that missing reality, in direct proportion to the focus and energy put into them. Exercises will also bring out some of the friction that real-world operations invariably encounter."....
(C) ONLINE SURVEY GIVES VOICE TO EM COMMUNITY POST-HURRICANES KATRINA AND RITA:
By Dr. R. Steven Daniels, Professor of Public Policy and Administration, California State University, Bakersfield. Reported are results of survey from 107 respondents on "Catastrophic Disaster, Emergency Planning, Hurricane Katrina, and FEMA Revitalization.
"Theme 1: Catastrophic Disasters. I requested information on the most likely types of catastrophic disasters to be faced by local and state jurisdictions. Five emerged:
* Climatic: Flooding
* Climatic: Tornadoes/thunderstorms/rainstorms
* Climatic: Winter storm/snow and ice
* Climatic: Fire/wildfire
* Manmade: Chemical accident."
From Theme 2 on Local and State Emergency Planning and Preparedness: "...only about 12 percent thought they had adequate personnel..."
"Theme 4: Revitalization of Federal Emergency Management.... The respondents identified two general themes:
* FEMA should become independent and report directly to the President:
84.5%.
* Primary responsibility should rest with local and state governments:
49.5%....
"The managers made six broad recommendations:
* Separate emergency management and homeland security: 34.1%.
* Recruit expertise and experience: 31.7%.
* Restructure and refund FEMA: 28.0%.
* Improve intergovernmental coordination: 23.2%.
* Focus on comprehensive emergency management: 22.0%.
* Improve preparedness and training: 22.0%."
For more information, contact Dr. Daniels at: . To take the survey, which I strongly encourage the emergency management practitioners who are reading this to do -- please, go to:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=828682038166 -- the more responders the more generalizable the results.]
(D) EDUCATION FOR PROFESSIONAL EM: THE CEM REQUIREMENTS:
By Dr. William L. Waugh, CEM, in the "CEM Corner."
B.Wayne Blanchard, Ph.D., CEM
Higher Education Project Manager
Emergency Management Institute
National Emergency Training Center
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Department of Homeland Security
16825 S. Seton, K-011
Emmitsburg, MD 21727
(301) 447-1262, voice
(301) 447-1598, fax
http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu
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