Emergency Management



Emergency Management

Introduction

When emergency strikes, all levels of government do what is required and spend but later worry about paying for all the spending. Some governments have contingency or emergency funds for disaster response. It is the responsibility of governments to protect their citizens from disasters but even if a disaster strikes they are responsible for helping them to recover. In most cases emergency funds are exhausted and most governments have to call for some emergency measures. In United States, special session of the legislature is called to seek additional appropriations.

Hurricane Katrina

In case of emergencies like Hurricane Katrina or 9/11 people look towards governments to come to their rescue. Here, Hurricane Katrina has become very crucial for public as emergency response and its management failed. Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast region but the response to this devastation by the world's most developed nation was exposed for the world to see. Response came in a very slow and disorganized manner. Poor planning has been one of the key reasons of poor response in the wake of Katrina (Sarasota Herald Tribune, 2005). Apart from planning other complaints like widespread abuses in government emergency cash assistance programs for disaster victims also came to front. Later reports also found out that late warnings were issued by the officials for mandatory evacuations in the New Orleans area leading to deaths and prolonged suffering.

Emergency Operation Plan for Hurricane Katrina

In order to deal with the disasters and emergencies, an agency was formulated with the name of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This agency was formulated according to the provisions of the Stafford Act which was presented in the year 1988. To meet the needs of the disasters is the main objective of this agency and other such organizations. FEMA joined 21 other agencies in the Department of Homeland Security in March 2003.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina the calls were made to fix FEMA with respect to FEMA's organization and funding. Myriad issues and problems have been identified. FEMA's budget has been cut each year since 2003 as well as their staffs have been cut. Worst move was when one of its three emergency management teams responsible for overseeing federal disaster relief efforts was eliminated (Yates, 2005). Budgeting that was previously done for disaster or emergency management in cases of natural or other disasters was done for managing terror-related activities. They failed to realize that forces of nature can be just as crippling and devastating as terrorism could be. The realization later came that they should manage their funds in a way that they can make a fast, massive and coordinated response.

FEMA disaster assistance was the primary means that individuals and small businesses had to recover from Hurricane Katrina. The SBA denied loan to the majority (72%) of individuals and small business owners who applied for FEMA disaster assistance (Haddow & Bullock, 2003). The process of applying for FEMA disaster assistance was long and complicated. The number of individuals and small business owners who ...