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Lessons Learned From The NIMS

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Introduction The events of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks (9/11) resulted in far-reaching changes in emergency management doctrine and practices. After 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) used lessons learned from 9/11 and other previous disasters and developed the National Incident Management System (NIMS) in 2004 (FEMA, 2017, p iii). NIMS was developed by DHS to strengthen coordination and collaboration between all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and the private sector during incidents of all sizes and scopes. The NIMS guidebook states, “Originally issued in 2004, the National Incident Management System (NIMS) provides a consistent nationwide template to enable partners across the Nation …show more content…

Hurricane Katrina that flooded and destroyed entire sections of the City of New Orleans in 2005 is a prime example of the enormity of resources necessary to respond to catastrophic disasters and the consequences that can happen if lifesaving resources are not staged prior to the storms arrival and do not reach the impacted areas in the disaster zone immediately after the disaster. After the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, and other past large-scale disasters, FEMA doctrine began to focus on a whole community approach to emergency management (FEMA, 2016). The severity of impacts disasters can have on communities can overwhelm local government resources and thus requires a whole community response that includes all levels of government, local government partners in the non-profit and private sectors, as well as the faith-based community. “This all-inclusive whole community approach focuses efforts and enables a full range of stakeholders to participate in national preparedness activities and to be full partners in incident response, including emergency management practitioners, first responders, and community leaders” (FEMA, 2016, p 5). However, for local emergency managers to implement a whole community approach, partnerships with community organizations, private businesses, and the local faith-based community must be established before a large-scale incident occurs. The next section of this paper will discuss coordination and collaboration through the practice of the Incident Command System

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The Stafford Act was enacted in 1988 and determines how and when the federal government is allowed to intervene in a natural disaster. It also defines the type of assistance to be provided as well as the distribution of funds among the federal, state and local governments. FEMA is responsible for coordinating the assistance identified in the Stafford Act. However, FEMA has to answer to the Secretary of Homeland Security rather than making their own decisions. The authors describe how our current governmental system isn’t well equipped to deal with major devastation such as Hurricane Katrina.

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(1999), system approaches can also be used for emergency management. It entails using rigorous techniques to help determine preferred designs, plans, and operational strategies for challenging and complex disaster management systems. As a result, this jurisdiction has an emergency messaging system. Its emergency management department has partnered with its community to prepare for, respond to, mitigate the impact of, and recover from disasters. It has an Alert Center that allows people to view all emergencies and alerts in their areas.

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Personnel and equipment come into the devastated area from all over the country, as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands” (Bell, 2006, p. 26). 2005 brought the largest national response to natural disasters. Hurricane’s Katrina and Rita affected numerous states. The states affected were unable to help themselves, as would be responders were now victims. In addition to the lack of responders, the local infrastructure was decimated and local and state officials were unable to respond.

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The NIMS provides assistance to each state, which allows them to be prepared for any possible emergency. The five components of NIMS provided a guideline that is used throughout an emergency whether it be Federal departments, State, tribal, and local organizations. Establish a system and being able to provide possible issues that may arise and analyzed the challenges. The national integration center (NIC) ensures that the NIMS is operating at optimal level, that all training, resources, and communicating system are being meet; the NIC provides an assessment NIMS and ensures that each component is filing it responsibility. NIMS is an ideal system that was developed to respond universally to emergencies and the check and balances installed into

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When a disaster occurs the federal, state, and local governments contact the military for help and support due to the their advantages attached to military operations and response which could benefit in them in manpower with specific qualifications, skills and expertise, strategic and rapid mobilization, updated technology and a variety of equipment (helicopters, aircraft, earth-moving machinery, respirators, medical supplies, power and lighting equipment, under-water capability, etc.) that most emergency organizations are unable to acquire on a moment notice (Kapucu, 2011). Besides, the military’s bureaucratic structure with hierarchical rules in place are effective in command, coordination, and control of manpower, authority, and regulations, is beneficial in providing effective response actions during the time of emergency (Anderson 1970; Schrader 1993; Sylves 2008; US House of Representatives 2006) (Kapucu, 2011). This advantage cut time in half because the structure is already set up without questioning who is doing what or who is in charge. Additionally, the military supports in sheltering the homeless, the construction of temporary housing and restoration of minimal critical infrastructure (water, electric, sanitation, communication infrastructure, etc.), (Miskel 2006; Schrader 1993), (Kapucu, 2011).

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Social determinants have become an influential component of innovation within traditional areas of research, from overall health of communities to disaster management. Starting in the 1980’s, researchers began to understand that social contexts, both micro and macro, have a significant impact on both individuals and the community as a whole when discussing response and resilience to disasters. After the chaos of Hurricane Katrina, after the sheer difference of separate populations ability to cope during the disaster area came to light, researchers began to elucidate the social factors which affect disaster response and ways to assess those for future disasters. The three largest areas of concerns that should be considered are social stratification and class, race and

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Introduction The American government is not the only important contributor to emergency management. This is because the American government is not the only influence on its citizens. Throughout or history private citizens and organizations have been a driving force in preparing for, and responding to emergencies of every type. There have been many examples of private-public partnerships, but the Federal Reserve and the War Industries Board are worth examining.

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Although storms like Hurricane Katrina occur once in every one hundred years, being prepared and storing water, food, medicines, and other supplies keep families ready for any disaster. Natural disasters can leave communities without power for days and even for weeks. Being prepared in the event of severe weather and disasters like Hurricane Katrina, can reduce fear and anxiety that accompanies disasters. A crucial element of self-sufficient living is survival. Our government does not have all the resources to be totally prepared to take care of the vast numbers of people in a disaster.

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These natural disasters can drive distrust within communities. For example, in an analysis of natural disaster data, evidence was found by Dawn Brancati and Rakhi Bhavnani that “...natural disasters result in a high likelihood of conflict because victims compete with one another for scarce resources such as relief aid, housing and so forth” (Kang 1-2). Due to the scarcity of essential resources, those affected are fighting over them promoting conflict within a community. Instead of connecting, the people are competing against each other to survive. However, the use of the resources in a more efficient way can help to reduce fighting over resources.

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More and more authorities continue to be taken away and have been spread across many agencies within DHS. “FEMA no longer manages a comprehensive emergency management program of mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery and the agency function that President Carter and the Governors envisioned in 1979 no longer exists” (FEMA, 2013). The sole focus has turned to terrorism disaster preparedness and FEMA has become somewhat dismantled and lost its ability to provide the command and control that it had prior to the move to DHS. This will prove to be a major flaw and will again, show the failure of FEMA in the next occurrence of natural disaster the United States faces. There are other agencies within the DHS that need to be scrutinized as

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Introduction This informational interview was conducted with Dr. Pamela Aaltonen, a Homeland Security instructor at Purdue University, and active member at the Tippecanoe Board of Health. Her role here is to frame issues in the concept of Homeland security and emergency management. Dr. Aaltonen holds a key role in Homeland Security, as many disasters contain human health issues, such as mass causalities, pandemic outbreaks, and sanitary issues following natural disasters. Dr. Aaltonen’s flavor of Homeland Security differs from the work that I normally see, but as displayed during the interview, Homeland Security is a multi-disciplinary field that requires cooperation across all fields.

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At their peak hurricane relief shelters housed 273,000 people. Later, approximately 114,000 households were housed in FEMA trailers” (“Hurricane Katrina”). Even the Governor of Louisiana projected the downfall of the safety camps. “The shelters will end up probably without electricity or with minimum electricity from generators in the end (United States et al.). Consequently, countless numbers of people needed to look for help elsewhere, whether it meant to uproot and settle down within another state, fend for themselves in a harsh and dangerous time or even wait it out and hope for

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967 Words | 4 Pages

Emergency management describes the process of preparing for disasters, responding to their occurrence and putting in place both structural and nonstructural measures to mitigate against them. Emergency management has come a long way in terms of evolution in the United States of America. In terms of evolution, there have been a number of changes with evidence in shift from state to federal and local involvement in disaster management. This paper will thus discuss the evolution of emergency management as well as the lessons that have come as a result of this evolution. The evolution can be traced back to the biblical times, Moses himself tried to manage floods by splitting the Red Sea (George et al, p. 1).

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Thomas Jefferson “To the Chiefs of the Cherokee Nation” In Thomas Jefferson’s speech to the Chiefs of the Cherokee Nation he talks about how he is proud of the Cherokee’s for learning new things such as farming and focusing on new jobs other than war. The occasion of this speech to the Cherokee Nation is in 1806 after a visit the Cherokee’s had to see Thomas Jefferson. This is at a time when Thomas Jefferson is trying to bring peace to America; peace between the Cherokees, Americans, and other tribes. At the time the Indians and Cherokees had been attacking one another.

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FEMA’s mission and priorities were changed so that, “terrorism prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery became central to the emergency management mission” (Haddow 325). As a result of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 the country’s focus shifted completely from natural disasters to an outright major assault on all things terrorism with no second glance at the potential emergency’s natural disasters presented. There might be a possibility that because of the nation’s extreme obsession with terrorists and terrorism that Hurricane Katrina was not given full priority nor given as much thought as it should have been because the whole focus of the government was on terrorism. When an agency and governmental structure, such as the defense agencies, undergoes an extreme shift within the course of a few years brought on so suddenly, there are bound to be weaknesses. Hurricane Katrina was the most challenging threat that tested the DHS as well as FEMA’s preparation and mitigation of natural disasters since the shift of focus.

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