MGT FINAL. Local Emergency Management. Management Essay

Local Emergency Management
Name
Institution of affiliation
Local Emergency Management
Introduction
Natural disasters are inevitable incidents in the United States. These disasters affect many states in the country and require adequate preparedness at the county, state and federal levels to avoid loss of life and property and the weakening of the critical infrastructure. Emergency management is a vital aspect of the mitigation and preparedness against natural disasters. Besides, it helps in the coordination of response and recovery. Emergency management refers to the planning and allocation of resources intending to reduce and eliminate the negative impacts of all kinds of hazards and disasters that are either human-made natural.
The approach of emergency management consists of three integral parts. The first part describes all types of hazards component. This means that the strategies of emergency management can be applied to all kinds of emergencies such as natural disasters, human-made (technological) incidents and terrorist attacks (Crowley & Flachsbart, 2018). The second part constitutes emergency management partnerships. The management of events require connections at all levels government and private sector. The federal, state government and the local authorities should cooperate with the private sector, which consists of the public, businesses and voluntary organizations. The last component of disaster management consists of the emergency preparedness cycle. The cycle has four phases that include plans to mitigation, preparedness, response to emergencies and recovery from the impacts of a disaster.
A Local Perspective: Foods in Harrison County, Mississippi
One of the major natural disasters in the United States is floods. The disaster threatens many states in the country, especially Mississippi State. Harrison County is one of me most affected counties in Mississippi. More than 210,000 people inhabit the County. In the past, the impacts of floods in Harrison County were devastating (Serino et al., 2018). It led to the loss of life and property. It also destroyed some of the critical infrastructures in the County. The food and agriculture sector was hindered due to the destruction of crops in the farmlands located on the Mississippi flood plains. The transport systems were also destroyed. To avoid such incidents in future, proper management of emergencies at the county level is required. The floods in the County commands for the attention of the federal government, Mississippi state government, the county authorities and the cooperation of the private sector (Larson, 2019). Besides, the County needs a local plan for emergency management. The emergency plans should also be specifically designed to manage flood-related emergencies. The contributions of each stakeholder must be clearly defined in mitigating the impacts of floods in the County, preparing for its consequences and coming up with the response and recovery teams (Zachos et al., 2016). Appropriate emergency management will help in reducing the impacts of floods in Harrison County in the future. This can be achieved through a well-designed emergency management cycle.
Emergency Management Cycle
County-level emergency managing requires the integration of various planning approaches and the cooperation of different stakeholders. It also involves multiple government institutions such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Also, it requires the adoption of national approaches; for instance, the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP). The management of emergencies is a series of four steps namely; mitigating activities, preparedness plans, and responding to emergencies and recovering from incidents.
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The Stages of the Emergency Cycle
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1645920271780Recovery00Recovery4114800271780Preparedness00Preparedness
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The mitigation phase involves all the activities by the government and the local sector that aims at preventing or reducing the chances occurrence of a disaster. It also helps in reducing the damaging impacts of natural disaster that cannot be avoided. Emergency mitigation can be done before and after emergencies. In Harrison County, floods cannot be avoided due to the proximity with river Mississippi. However, mitigation activities can be conducted to reduce the damaging impacts of floods in the County. Before the flood emergency, the hazards can be predicted with the help of risk forecasters delegated by the county authorities. This is followed by creating public awareness and education of the county residents. Emergency planners and managers can disseminate the information regarding floods through organized seminars, campaigns and school programs (Mark, 2019). The County can also join the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and adopt the local laws that govern development in the floodplains. At this stage, the citizens of Harrison County can be encouraged to purchase insurance plans offered by private insurance companies and the NIFP. This help in the hastening of the recovery process in case of flood emergencies. The County should also develop reliable and effective communication systems and flood warnings. The relevant stakeholders, for instance, the volunteer organizations, should also be informed in advance. The canals and waterways can also be built to reduce the impact of the upcoming floods. Relevant private sectors, such as business investors should be encouraged to participate in such activities.
The mitigation stage is followed by preparedness, which involves coming up with the plans or handling flood emergencies in Harrison County. The county emergency planners can then develop a plan to protect the citizens, their animals and property, and the critical infrastructure within the County. During the development county plan, the local authorities can involve the private sector the federal and state governments. The private sector includes the citizens, volunteer organizations such as the Red Cross and investors in the program. The county plan can also adopt the conventional planning approaches stated in the HEESP to conform to the national goals of emergency management and planning. They can also partner with FEMA to make the plan more comprehensive (Wu, 2016). The authorities can also allocate the necessary resources such as food supplies, ambulances, passengers and cargo trucks and first aid kits. The residents of Harrison County should also be informed about flood risks and be encouraged to purchase flood insurance programs to protect themselves and their property. The volunteer organizations, local authorities and the federal government should also help identify the areas that the citizens will relocate to incase of flood emergencies. Preparedness also involves putting together emergency management teams that will participate in the emergency response.
The third phase of emergency management in the response stage. It refers to all the activities that aim at saving lives and property during floods. In this phase, the response teams implement the emergency management plan. During floods in Harrison county, appropriate warnings should be issued in time. Evacuation of residents and livestock should also be done according to the directives of the local authorities. Emergency teams can help in the transportation of cargo and passengers out of the flood plains (Phillips et al., 2016). Volunteer organizations such as Red Cross can offer medical services to the citizens injured during the event. Besides, food supplies are also availed according to the county emergency plans. Government organizations such as FEMA can also intervene following their integration in the emergency plans of Harrison County. The response teams must ensure that the damage on the critical infrastructure and property is reduced and most importantly, no life is lost.
After the occurrence of a natural disaster, recovery activities are vital in restoring normalcy. The recovery activities are also meant to create safer conditions in the future. At the end of flood emergencies, the local authorities through the local assessment teams of Harrison counties can estimate the economic damage caused. The emergency management teams can ...