masters in emergency and disaster management

masters in emergency and disaster management

Advancing Emergency and Disaster Management: A Comprehensive Study

1. Introduction to Emergency and Disaster Management

The ongoing and increasing theoretical progress and practical developments of various subfields within disaster science, ongoing and novel practical applications, public and private collaborations, and many applicable contemporary tools of humanitarian initiatives are the evidence of the important role of emergency and disaster management in the current political, social, economic, environmental, and technological context. Even though we have yet to achieve a completely resilient community, the current situation and previous disaster events clearly indicate the importance of promoting detailed knowledge and emphasizing the fragile balance of communities, as well as other environmental and social components. The potential for even more devastating events to occur in the future continues to increase.

The field of emergency and disaster management comprises four phases: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Although prevention and protection are presented as distinct from these phases in some studies, we include them in the mitigation, preparedness, and response sections according to the model given during the practical study of disaster events. Laws, plans, technologies, and professional applications for each phase have developed over time. The main goal of emergency and disaster management is to maintain critical capabilities, address the requirements and necessities of disaster survivors, and mitigate and repair the physical, social, economic, and environmental damage inflicted by these incidents. The sustainable development of science and social capacity building should also be approached as additional goals in the long term.

2. Theoretical Foundations and Historical Perspectives

Disaster management is a continuous and integrated multi-sectoral, multidisciplinary, and multinational process. It can be described at several levels – strategic, operational, and tactical – as a series of management activities applied to the problems brought about by a disaster. The goal of disaster management is to ensure that a safe and secure environment, for the prosperity of the community, is established, enhanced, and maintained through the implementation of comprehensive emergency management programs. These include mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery measures. Links between the concept of disaster and the full range of management activities, including the most proactive, are discussed in the following subsections.

Disaster and emergency management have undergone significant development since the 1950s from its roots in the civil defense approach. Building on this traditional responsive orientation, the discipline has advanced toward a more integrative and comprehensive approach, providing a theoretical framework and concept that recognize the issues and phases of prevention, preparedness, and mitigation as central to the practice. It aims to not only reduce the impact of the disaster but also, where possible, prevent or avoid the happening of the disaster. Recent theory and studies have emphasized the importance of proactive disaster management and planning activities.

3. Key Concepts and Terminologies in Emergency and Disaster Management

As first responders, employees have been subject to a number of new requirements and initiatives since September 11, 2001. That event significantly broadened the focus of emergency preparedness from dealing with natural disasters (e.g., hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, H1N1 outbreak, etc.) toward including all hazards, such as terrorist attacks and unattended suspicious packages. These directions, aimed at protecting both worker and public safety, escalate the requirement of employee protection programs within an organization, including general emergency duties assigned to employees who help others during emergencies.

Emergency preparedness management, which advocates to be an accepted and expanded aspect of emergency management, seems to incorporate a wide range of activities focused on planning, organizing, training, equipping, exercising, and evaluation of emergency response personnel at all times. This primarily expands toward natural or man-made disasters, both of which damage properties and injure people inside emergency operational areas. The emergency management operational area can be not only geographically but also organizationally based to cover any specific organization, like a hospital, school, factory, etc. The emergency operational area may also include a team, a division, or an entire organization, even a community. To emphasize the importance of protecting people, consistent with the mission of first responders, this study is written to report the improvement of employee protection programs based on practice at partnering program system sites.

4. Technological Innovations and Tools in Emergency Response

The integrated Digital/Cellular network of the U.S. provides a unique balance between centralized coordination through the National Coordinating Center (NCC) using T1 lines and broadcast capability for the direct dissemination of critical information through participation by four major satellite providers. The necessity of mobility imposed on the Incident Management Team and the huge complexity frequently associated with emergency situations favor the choice of technical solutions that minimize distance and difficulties associated with acquiring additional information required for additional investigations. The desire of making up-to-date timely decisions and the risk associated with the use of outdated, partial, or otherwise inaccurate intelligence make it imperative that such databases be real-time. The Emergency Operation Center (EOC) previously described, thus required that a current, accurate, and scalable Common Operating Picture (OP) be stacked with information using the best available modeling and simulation tools. As of 2006 it remains to be seen whether computer-based alerts will have the expected success. No international protocol has been proposed for the disability impact, graying of the population and the modernization of telecommunications being driven by mobile communication applications and the evolution of the 311 information systems, which are primarily telephony-based. Tele-Health is critical to maintaining a certain minimal esprit de corps between the population and the health services, a problem during major health crises and becoming more of an operational reality because of the rapid worldwide transfer rate of avian or mumps viruses. Tele-Health also helps medics make the right decision on small disasters, by allowing direct access to specialists at teaching hospitals, individual days are often staffed by one or two residents in person, and specialists on call are giving advice on management while given short tutorials on using the necessary options thanks to regular meetings during such parenthesis in the basement. Furthermore, the extensive amount of situational intelligence available remotely on site allows the operative officer to update his Operations Map without which an appropriate follow-up for the affected community cannot be devised.

This essay discusses technological tools and applications that enhance the success of emergency and disaster professionals in rapidly responding to an emergency event, successfully managing the response, and mitigating associated adversities. Many countries permit emergency services to have priority in cellular phone service as a means of landline telephone handle clogging during a power outage, with the FCC even expecting that within 15 minutes following an alert from emergency personnel, cell phone calls in many U.S. locations will be allowed a full set of outbound services even if that would result in a preemption of background loading by others even recently connected.

5. Case Studies and Best Practices in Emergency and Disaster Management

Developed through the ProVention Consortium, this case study reviews the methodology of credit scoring villages and households in the context of the often hypothetical reintroduction of micro-finance institutions into Austin, Texas neighborhoods and households after a disaster and how the after-effects of prioritization might be handled ethically. Addressing complex moral choices in a time of over-reliance on GIS mapping especially for prioritization at the village level, the weight of classifications and optimal use of data generated or saved before and after a hypothetical disaster using managers’ experience is discussed. Also discussed are the plans by micro-finance institutions to reintroduce themselves after a hypothetical disaster has struck Austin, as well as the development of a web-based social science research survey that attempts to identify aspects of households, neighborhoods, and flood risk directly through the self-disclosed perceptions of individuals interviewed, city data, and disaster data.

Case studies and best practices are used to expose the reader to practical application of concepts presented elsewhere in this book. These real-world examples help readers understand how each facet of emergency and disaster management is actually approached, and provide enough detail for readers to understand problems that some of these situations present and how resources were allocated appropriately. These are lessons learned and best practices that are anticipated to allow the reader to apply these real-world examples to engage in professional practice effectively.