Disaster management

            A city in Midwest U.S has been hit by a tornado that has destroyed four major hospitals and the emergency services dispatch center in the area. As a member of the emergency and crisis response team, the first priority is to guarantee the safety of the people present in the area and ensure that any person injured gets the appropriate medical attention in the shortest time possible, however, due to the destruction caused by the tornado, especially to the hospitals and emergency center, it will be rather difficult to offer fast emergency assistance and to coordinate efforts to ensure that everyone is safe and those injured are attended to. Therefore, as part of the emergency and crisis management team, the first step will be to develop and implement a response plan followed by a mitigation plan that will help in identifying all the people present in the area when the tornado hit; create a system to identify those that need urgent medical attention; giving first aid to those injured; offering counseling; and even trying to restore the city to functioning position so as to speed up the recovery process.

            The response plan will include measures taken to protect the lives of the people in the area; prevent any further damage of property and ensure that the people do not come to any further harm; create a system to identify the injured, those that can assist in the recovery; and ensure that the disaster preparedness plan are well implemented (FEMA, 206). The first step in the response plan will be to create an emergency service dispatch center. Since the city’s dispatch center was destroyed by the tornado, establishing a new one will be crucial to ease the flow of operations. The dispatch center will act as an information collection point where city residents and visitors will be required to give personal information as well as the whereabouts of their family and friends (Alexander, 2015). The information will be used to keep track of all the people in the area, how many have been identified and how many are still missing. The center will also be responsible for trying to find medical institutions to treat those in need of medical assistance and keep records of where each individual is taken.

            The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National response Framework (NRF) will assist the crisis management team in implementing the response plan. The organizations will bear the responsibility of reviewing and coordinating emergency plans, supervise the disaster response and recovery activities carried out by the disaster and crisis management teams as well as creating guidelines on what procedures will be followed (FEMA, 2018). They will also be responsible for allocation of funds and seeking medical institutions to assist the injured as well as take care of the costs.

            The disaster management will also include a mitigation plan which will focus on reducing the damage caused by the tornado even after it has passed. As a safety precaution, the mitigation plan will start by moving the rescued civilians to a more secure location, preferably away from the affected area (Alexander, 2015). To prevent further damages, all houses still standing after the tornado will be examined and those likely to collapse will be market to help people identify buildings that are not safe. The mitigation plan will also focus on creating a better tornado warning system. Since it is impossible to prevent the occurrence of a tornado, the best mitigation efforts will be focused towards warning people early in advance so that they seek shelter in secure locations.

            Further mitigation will include building shelters aimed at housing people during a tornado event. While warning citizens about a tornado threat is important, providing a place for them to seek shelter will greatly reduce the loss of life and bodily damage that they may endure when the tornado strike (Alexander, 2015). The shelters should be well stocked and equipped with all the basic necessities that people will need as they wait out the tornado. The mitigation plan will therefore factor in guidelines on what people ought to do when a tornado occurs so as to ensure they get to the shelters safely as well as be comfortable as they wait for the danger to pass.

            FEMA will also work with the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF) to come up with mitigation strategies that will help the city to be better prepared for future disasters. Their duties will include providing subsidies to the local and state government to assist in managing crisis management programs, train the crisis management teams in the area on how to prevent or prepare for disasters so as to ensure that the least damage and loss of life occurs in case of a disaster and offer financial assistance to help in preparedness of disasters and implementation of the mitigation plan (Labrador, 2018). They will also bear the responsibility of training crisis management teams to prepare them to tackle future disasters as well as sourcing capital to fund the disaster mitigation plan.

            The main difficulties that the community is likely to encounter have to do with accessing basic amenities such as shops, schools and medical institutions. The destruction experienced in the whole city greatly damaged the infrastructure and thus making it difficult to access such amenities. The destruction of the four major hospitals for instance will make it difficult to get quality medical care and solutions need to be found to remedy the situation (SE, 2018). Another difficulty has to do with utilizing funds allocated to assist with the relief after the tornado. With the destruction of the emergency dispatch center, it will be difficult to assess which areas need the most assistance and distributing funds will experience great challenges as a result. However, as part of the disaster management plan, the emergency response plan will try and find a solution for the problem so as to aid in giving relief to those who need it the most.

            The difficulties experienced when offering relief after the tornado are mainly caused by the lack of an emergency dispatch center. To remedy the situation, the best approach will be to set up a temporary dispatch center that will handle all responsibilities during the calamity and after it is resolved until a permanent dispatch center is set up (Alexander, 2015). The center will be established in a strategic position, near to the area most affected by the tornado and at a place that is easily accessible. The location will also be selected in consideration of the safety and security that will guarantee its survival in the event of another tornado (FEMA, 2015). The emergency dispatch center will be equipped with the guidelines needed to educate disaster and crisis management teams on how to cope with future disasters in case they occur.

            With the destruction of the four major hospitals, the new dispatch center will also follow up and keep records of where injured patients are sent to seek medical assistance. Due to the chaos and confusion caused by the tornado, the dispatch center will bring order by making records available to all interested parties so as to assist them in finding their loved ones (Alexander, 2015). The center will also keep records regarding disaster response and mitigation practices undertaken to cope with the damages caused by the tornado as well as measures taken to restore the city to the state it was before the tornado. The records will act as a basis of reference not just to prepare the city and disaster response teams react to future disasters but also help to structure the guidelines on what needs to be done when training disaster and crisis management teams.

            Although tornadoes and other natural disasters cannot be prevented, it is important to prepare for what approaches to take when they do occur in order to limit the damage to property and loss of human life experienced as a result. Crisis management plans must therefore be put in place to respond to disasters as well as set up mitigation plans to prevent further damages from being experienced in future. The aim of the disaster management plan should therefore be to offer assistance to those affected by the tornado; attempt to restore the city to its original state; and prevent further loss and damages from occurring not only after the disaster has struck but also in future.

 

 

References

Alexander D, (2015) “Disaster and emergency planning for preparedness, response and    recovery” Natural Hazard Science, retrieved from,             http://naturalhazardscience.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389407.001.00   01/acrefore-9780199389407-e-12

 FEMA, (2016) “Emergency support functions” retrieved from, https://www.fema.gov/media-            library/resources-documents/collections/533

FEMA, (2018) “National disaster recovery framework” retrieved from,      https://www.fema.gov/national-disaster-recovery-framework

Labrador C, (2018) “U.S disaster relief at home and abroad” Council on Foreign Relations,          retrieved from, https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-disaster-relief-home-and-abroad

South Eastern University, (2012) “Emergency preparedness and crisis management plan”