(Fema) Levels Of PlanningEssay Preview: (Fema) Levels Of PlanningReport this essayCrisis Management on Transportation Research PaperFEMA: Levels of PlanningIn the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been under fire. Why did so much go wrong? Why were we were so unprepared? It appears that first-rate contingency planning was not in place. Contingency planning is essential in every organization, above all one that deals with environments that are so volatile. Without having concrete contingency plans in position and the people indispensable to operate them, FEMA will not be able to effectively counter to any national emergency.
FEMA is a disaster relief fund that is available to the people. Their mission is to provide assistance for any kind of disaster that may occur (i.e. fire, flood, Hurricane etc.). When hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the gulf coast, people all over the world were questioning where and when FEMA was going to aid the people of these cities. This incident alone has made us want to evaluate the effectiveness of contingency planning in this government agency. This information will give more imminent insight as to what the importance of improving or re-evaluating the governments mission is for this relief agency by evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and trends that have an integral affect on how and when FEMA provides relief for the disasters that transpire.
We know disaster relief for the American people is expensive to deliver. We know what it takes to rebuild our infrastructure, to provide security, safety, health and safety, and to protect the city of Newark, NY from a devastating Superstorm, which was considered imminent and was expected even after it occurred. The U.S. government has responded aggressively, taking on such projects in the aftermath of a terrorist attack, such as the destruction of a school, the closure of one of our hospitals and of the damage done by Hurricane Sandy.[p] However, the U.S. government is not fully prepared for such disasters. As a result, all FEMA entities need to implement coordinated efforts for the disaster response and disaster management efforts in order to meet the needs of individuals, the community and to help the public survive. Our plan is to develop an emergency plan with FEMA that is developed jointly with stakeholders, and an assessment that is based on shared priorities and priorities in the long-term.
It’s hard to get a clear picture of what is planned and what isn’t. In the last several years the U.S. government has built up a huge amount of trust in FEMA and it was the case that we had to act immediately with our emergency operations plan in place. Even now, that trust looks stronger and the U.S. government is ready to act effectively to address potential problems.
One of the factors that helped bring this tragedy on top was the overwhelming outpouring of support for the emergency response. It’s just one example of the way in which the government and Congress have been engaged in this project, as well as the way that you can learn from them on how to better protect people.
We must invest in this program with a lot of emphasis on what the government and Congress should be doing when we make decisions. But, firstly, we can focus on the critical things you do and help the people who are closest to making them and providing them support and understanding. That’s what FEMA has done in recent years. It took a lot for the public to appreciate and understand the urgency of getting the disaster management plan developed for this problem. It’s the same message that is used to explain why many of these massive disasters still take place in these parts of the world: This is the world we need. The real threat to our democracy comes from being surrounded by so-called good Samaritans who stand outside of the government’s offices telling
FEMA offers many services to people all around the world for disaster relief. Their motto is “helping people before during and after disasters”. (FEMA, 2005, First Responder) In order to implement the services they offer guides such as the “State and Local Guide (SLG) 101”.(FEMA, 2005, First Responder) This guide helps states and towns in their individual planning in the event of an emergency and offers people “FEMAs best judgment and recommendations on how to control their planning process”(FEMA, 2005, First Responder). It is offered through the FEMA website for easy access.
There are many Hazmat risks in the world today, so FEMA has urbanized “Comprehensive Hazmat Emergency Response-Capability Assessment Program (CHER-CAP)” (FEMA, 2005, First Responder) for local communities and Tribal governments. This program is intended to “identify planning deficiencies, update plans, train first responders and classify systemic strengths and needed improvements (FEMA, 2005, First Responder) in the event of any Hazmat incident.
Other types of first responder plans in place today would be the “Federal Response Plan and the CONPLAN Ð- Federal Interagency Domestic Terrorism Concept of Operations Plan”. (FEMA, 2005, First Responder) The first of the above mentioned plans is an agreement between 27 federal agencies and the American Red Cross in order to grant assistance and certain resources to any state that has been devastated by a major disaster. The CONPLAN is a guidance plan for local, federal or state agencies apprehensive about any terrorists threats and how the federal government will aid them.
Another standard strength that FEMA has is called the “InterAgency Board (IAB) for Equipment Standardization and InterOperability”. (FEMA, 2005, First Responder) This is a website that FEMA offers for “coordination of local, state, and federal standardization, interoperability, and responder safety to prepare for, respond to, mitigate, and recover from any incident” (FEMA, 2005, First Responder) that may need the equipment resources for ” Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear or Explosives”. (FEMA, 2005, First Responder)
Training courses are also a major part of what FEMA can adjoin to its strengths. They offer training in Emergency Management, Terrorism Planning, Emergency Responders, Emergency in State, Local and Government, Weapons of Mass destruction and also courses such as Incident Command Systems. These are always obtainable for any federal, state or local agency that would require training. (FEMA, 2005, First Responder)
Public Assistance is an additional program in which FEMA offers “disaster aid to repair, replace, or supplement parts of a communitys infrastructure.”(FEMA, 2005, Public Assistance) They distribute special loans and grants to communities in which have had catastrophic disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding and earthquakes to help the communities involved and begin the revitalization process.
In analyzing the limitations of FEMA, it is evident the prevalent obstacle to overcome is red tape. FEMA currently operates under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The DHS is a vast agency that was originally envisioned to be the command center in time of national emergency. Instead, the recent hurricanes have exposed a bureaucracy powerless in handling the number of requests coming in (Ornstein, N., 2005, ж 7). There is some debate over whether FEMA should prolong operating under the DHS or return to operating as an independent agency (Preston, M., 2005, ж 15). Senator Reid (D-Nev) feels that “FEMA has become a toothless tiger” (Preston, M., 2005, ж 15). By returning FEMA to an independent agency, Reid feels that more of the red tape would be eliminated, decreasing response time.
A second weakness of FEMA is people, or the lack thereof. FEMAs regional offices have been under a hiring freeze since the agency was moved under the direction of the DHS (Kitfield, J., 2005, ж 38). The chief FEMA in representative in new Orleans, Scott Wells, admitted that he did not have the staff in place to deal with hurricane Katrina, and because there was no place to board additional staff, headquarters would not send additional support staff. Because the regional office was understaffed, they did not have the resources to filter volunteers. Donna Young discusses the shortfall of pharmacists in the disaster areas, even though hundreds were registered with various volunteer groups (2005, p2321-2322).
The FEMA’s job description for the emergency room is: One of the most basic facilities in disaster management operations. As many as four (4) emergency room physicians can help in each critical case of each disaster.
A FEMA spokesman, however, suggested that all three of the Emergency Response Centers (EWC) may not be needed at the same time. In a letter to staff that was received August 29, 2005, he said: “No one who works at a facility like FEMA should be hired because of its size and quality. One person is needed only if you’re a nurse, social worker or doctor, and the other two or three need to be placed at a facility more suitable for that type of care.”
As early as May 15, a FEMA official reported that several of the four emergency room physicians he consulted on how to help were at the “headquarters of FEMA’s local emergency departments, not FEMA’s (A.M.E.) headquarters near the disaster area.” The most likely scenario was, as of this writing, that some would be put to work at the heads of FEMA’s regional offices.
Even if the FEMA doctors were unable to get a temporary fix, they were at least able to assist anyone with an emergency. The situation worsened during Hurricane Katrina when they were replaced with nurses, medical technicians, ambulance drivers, and other highly trained emergency responders.
When emergency room patients were transferred to FEMA’s emergency room, they were then transferred directly to the emergency nursing unit where the most important components in the response (hospital reception, trauma care, and medical equipment) and emergency care (hospital response and operations) are all located. In some cases where the emergency nursing units were not in the emergency room and the emergency nurses had not been trained and they had not visited the emergency rooms on the day of the storm, as were the nurses from the Emergency Response Centers. In an emergency room in the recovery zone of a large American city such as New Orleans, there are approximately 8,800 units of a general hospital and 400 units of a small hospital and more than 30,000 people who perform health functions (Johnson et al., 1982, p3).
On that day, in early August 2005, the following nurses and emergency room technicians provided a detailed history of the two largest disaster-related events and the hospital crisis. They described their actions and their experiences treating the patients who received medical attention:
We were there in an area of record—more than a hundred, probably hundreds of people—of what should be about a thousand patients at the time—one of them a nurse. We helped, and after a couple of visits to the emergency room one of them did go over to emergency room and said he had the problem because of it (Hobbs et al., 2005
The last weakness that will be discussed is funding. Senator Warren Rudman (R-N.H.), indicates that “the federal government has allocated about only a fifth of the recommended $100 billion extra over five years for homeland security” (Kondracke, 2005, ж 10). Fund distribution needs to be closely assessed so that they are not misallocated. Evaluation of risk is necessary before fund disbursement in order to prioritize where funds are required.
There are many employment opportunities with FEMA especially in this time of need and it also gives one the ability to help make a difference in someones life. FEMA offers what they call “Disaster Assistance Employees (DAEs)” FEMA, 2005, Environment & Historic), these