Examination of Emergency/Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness Operation Event Critique Briefing

Emergency/Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness Your Name Subject and Section Professor’s Name October 14, 2024 Slide Title: Introduction to the Event In today's presentation, we are going to critically analyze the measures taken and the planning that was done before the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA. This event, which led to the loss of nearly 3,000 people, changed the world of security and emergency significantly. It also revealed formula deficiencies in addressing human-caused disasters, especially terrorism in the United States. This briefing aims to evaluate the prevention and response interventions before and during the event to create strategies that may improve the future response to such catastrophes. * 9/11 terrorist attacks. * Impact on security and emergency management globally. * Focus on evaluating pre-attack planning and response strategies. * Goal: Improve future disaster preparedness and response. Slide Title: Mitigation Overview According to Sandler and Schwab (2021), mitigation mainly involves the permanent and sequential elimination of risk within the policy and activities level. The Rand study shows that before September 11, 2001, American preparedness focused on more traditional calamities like hurricanes and floods. However, terrorism as a source of mortal danger was not adequately represented in risk assessment and risk management. Other profound structural weaknesses, such as architectural weaknesses that did not incorporate rebar in framing the WTC, were visible. This danger was not foreseen in the mitigation measures, primarily due to a lack of robust consideration of human-induced disaster threats. * Mitigation focuses on eliminating risks at the policy level (Sandler & Schwab, 2021). * Pre-9/11 risk assessment mainly focused on natural disasters. * Lack of preparedness for terrorism as a human-induced threat. * Structural weaknesses in the World Trade Center contributed to disaster impact. Slide Title: Facilitating and Supporting Policies and Laws Before 9/11, the legal framework in place in the United States for disaster response was the Stafford Act, which mainly focused on natural disasters (FEMA, 2015). Though this act offord was funded for mitigation, it failed to address the threat of terrorism. Pre-9/11 legislation did not meet this need; however, seven post-9/11 legislative measures, including the Patriot Act, reformulated intelligence and security. The Department of Homeland Security concept and the National Incident Management System (NIMS) alterations became significant policy shifts to contend with. * Pre-9/11 policies, like the Stafford Act, focused on natural disasters (FEMA, 2015). * Post-9/11 legislation (e.g., Patriot Act) reformed intelligence and security measures. * Establishment of the Department of Homeland Security and National Incident Management System (NIMS). Slide Title: The Role of Local, State, and Federal Governments Terrorism preparedness in those agencies remained deficient at the time of the 9/11 incident primarily due to a lack of coordination between the local, state, and federal agencies. As a result, FEMA's initial objective was more oriented toward natural disasters, which left some holes in human-made incidents (Walton et al., 2021). Thus, while local agencies reacted actively, measures needed to be taken to prevent or at least prepare for such a massive-scale disaster. After 9/11, combined approaches and information exchange concepts have become more critical than ever, becoming part of disaster management contingency plans. * Pre-9/11, insufficient coordination between agencies in disaster response. * Focus of FEMA and other agencies was on natural disasters. * Post-9/11, enhanced collaboration and information sharing became essential. Slide Title: Assessment of Risk Control The process of risk analysis forms the core part of disaster risk reduction. However, before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack, most of these risk assessment was inclined towards natural disasters, and human-made calamities like terrorism were least considered. Thus, a full ri...