The Public Reaction as the Threat Perceived From the D.C. Snipers and a Potential Viral Pandemic



The Public Reaction as the Threat Perceived From the D.C. Snipers and a Potential Viral Pandemic

Introduction

Disaster preparedness consists of those actions taken by individuals, organizations, or communities to ready themselves to respond to and recover from emergency situations. Disaster preparedness is one phase of emergency management. In addition to building safer communities through mitigation and preparedness, emergency managers face the critical challenge of predicting disasters and warning the public. Prediction involves determining the location and time at which a disaster might strike; disaster warnings apply predictive information to communicate potential threats to the public. An awareness of disaster types coupled with effective prediction technologies helps society alert its members to common and not-so-common threats. The social, cultural, and political features of human communities play a fundamental role in the success of disaster prediction and warning systems. Within communities, individual groups face the challenge of communicating and interpreting warning information. This entry discusses types of disaster and prediction methods and the warning communication process.

Disaster preparedness is one of the four phases of an emergency management model, along with mitigation, response, and recovery (Dan, 2001).

Similarly, the Community-level preparedness is concerned with the immediate response to the event as well as the preparedness of the community for the recovery process.

The chronic condition under the D.C. snipers disease can progress to chronic stress in the system, not only impact the operation of the family, but also the evolution of the disease. Throughout this disease process, the family suffers as the patient and can cause catastrophic changes in the family unit.

Specific Role of Agencies in the Threat Communication Process

In the United States, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is responsible for government action in preventing, preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters. It is the mutual responsibility of all state departments in the US to provide relieve to citizens of the United States under the all sort of disasters, emergencies, crises etc. The successful recovery depends on all parties which are involved in recovery and must have a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities before and after a disaster. Principles, roles and responsibilities should be clearly defined on the basis of unity of effort among all partners to identify recovery opportunities together, promoting partnerships and optimize resources.

Federal Emergency Management Agency is developed in collaboration through extensive outreach ...