When it comes to preparing for, mitigating, and responding to both man-made and natural disasters, there are various important aspects of the United States’ Emergency Management System. Between planning, command, preparedness, management, and communication, there are many factors that go into emergency response. In the United States, the National Incident Management System (NIMS) has guided the way law enforcement responds to such events since 2004 (Department of Homeland Security, 2004). In deciding which component is the most important, preparedness is key. In order to prepare for, mitigate, and respond, it all depends on how the preparation phase went. When considering how to best respond to any disaster event, the most important aspect is how prepared government agencies and civilians are. Using the NIMS model, preparedness should be based upon levels of capability, a unified approach, NIMS publications, and mitigation (Department of Homeland Security, 2004, pg. 33-34). Preparedness is an all-encompassing aspect of organizational management that incorporates plans of action with actual duties in advance, such as training and exercises, personnel qualification, equipment certification, and mutual-aid …show more content…
The NIMS highlights five key principles of resource management- advance planning, resource identification and ordering, categorizing resources, use of agreements, and effective management of resources (Department of Homeland Security, 2004, pg. 44). Without the proper resources, first responders are unable to do their job, so when preparing for such an event, resource management must be included. In the same way, personnel management is an integral part of preparing so that government entities know where and how to respond when an event