Disaster Coordination Issues Disaster Jefferson C
I have 3 of my classmates posts. I need you to respond to each one separately. Also, one source at least for each one of them. Don’t write about how good their posts or how bad. All you need to do is to choose one point of the post and explore it a little bit with one source support for each response. The paper should be APA style.
the question was: How would you as an Emergency Manager:
- prevent corruption following a disaster;
- manage compound emergencies;
- ensure equality in assistance and relief distribution.
Choose one.
this is the 1st post from my classmate SAMI need to responded :
How an Emergency Manager can ensure equality in assistance and relief distribution
One of the roles of an Emergency Manager is to facilitate the equitable distribution of relief resources. In many cases, however, victims of disasters are not responded to and assisted equally. Disasters do not hit everyone in equal measure. Many times, vulnerable groups suffer more when disasters occur. Effective humanitarian aid, therefore, requires the Emergency Manager to pay keen attention to the factors that make specific populations vulnerable. Without this, some communities will be excluded from the response and recovery resources.
The Emergency Manager must have full knowledge of preexisting vulnerable groups. Vulnerable groups may include children, expectant mothers, senior persons, minority ethnic groups, impoverished persons, and prisoners. Vulnerable populations are often left out in government plans, and they are less likely to benefit from disaster response and recovery (Hoffman, 2008). Vulnerable populations often have preexisting conditions that expose them to the worst impacts of natural and human-made disasters. For example, older persons may not be able to run as fast, even if evacuation orders are issued. Children, too, may not even know when disasters hit. As a result, these populations are the hardest hit. To make sure these populations get a fair share of emergency support, the Emergency Manager must be aware of their existence, and he/she must have full knowledge of their locations and vulnerabilities.
Ensuring equal distribution of emergency resources goes beyond the identification of vulnerable populations. The needs of these groups must be determined within the broader framework of the aftermaths (Garcia-Ortega21 et al., n.d.). Equitable distribution of relief resources should bear in mind that these populations are hit heavily. Their post-disaster needs are, therefore, more than those of the general population. The Emergency Manager must develop a framework for ensuring the best outcome for the least well off (Hoffman, 2008). Affluent communities, for instance, may have money saved in banks, and they can afford to buy themselves food and other basic needs. Impoverished populations, however, may have nothing. Humanitarian aid must, therefore, determine a framework for delivering assistance to both communities. While the affluent people may only require emotional support and psychological help, the impoverished and marginalized populations may need food, medical care, and housing. The role of the Emergency Manager is to ensure every population gets the help it requires.
Various are available for helping Emergency Managers ensure equitable distribution of emergency resources. Vulnerability mapping tools, for instance, are very useful in identifying and documenting preexisting vulnerable populations (Raskar-Phule and Choudhury, 2015). These tools can help to identify social vulnerabilities based on political, geographic, and economic factors, and they can help to reduce disparities is emergency distribution. ArcGIS tools and techniques are excellent examples of mapping tools that can be used in vulnerability mapping. While vulnerability tools are more useful before disasters strike, inclusion monitoring tools are handy during disaster relief. Inclusion monitoring tools generate crucial vulnerability information to responders, thereby allowing them to target aid to areas where it would naturally not reach. Also, these tools help in the assessment of relief service reception across populations, and they can alert the Emergency Manager of existing disparities.
In summary, disasters often hit hard on vulnerable populations. One of the significant roles of an Emergency Manager is to identify susceptible people, and this can be done using vulnerability mapping tools. Once identified, the Emergency Manager needs to prioritize these populations, which is done using inclusion monitoring tools. Emergency services should be distributed in proportion to the suffering experienced, such that those who are hit hard get more help than the general population.
References
Garcia-Ortega21, I., Kutcher22, S., Abel23, W., Alleyne24, S., Baboolal25, N., & Chehil26, S. Support for vulnerable groups following a disaster. Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Disaster Situations in the Caribbean, 73.
Hoffman, S. (2008). Preparing for disaster: Protecting the most vulnerable in emergencies. UC Davis L. Rev., 42, 1491.
Raskar-Phule, R., & CHOUDHURY, D. (2015). Vulnerability Mapping for Disaster Assessment using ArcGIS Tools and techniques for Mumbai City, India. In 15th Esri India User Conference.
this is the 2nd post from my classmate SWIDAN need to responded :
Disaster Coordination Issues
Disaster response involves many parties to alleviate suffering during an emergency. The number of organizations and frameworks affect the quality of the response. Organizations should manage the number of parties while using appropriate technology to control their data. Hence, issues of technology, information flow, and bureaucracy impact coordination efforts.
Firstly, the flow and accuracy of information influence disaster management. Noisy channels and inaccurate data lead to inefficiencies and duplication of roles. Hossain and Kuti (2010) contend that the structure of communication may create confusion while increasing the costs of communication. Crowdsourcing may be a cheaper approach of collecting information from areas afflicted by a large disaster. However, the media may distort the narrative as they capitalize on the spectacular nature of catastrophes. Hence, information management is essential in disaster coordination.
Secondly, bureaucratic issues undermine the coordination of disaster. Calamities may cover large areas of a state, country, or regions. Collaboration between different jurisdictions is challenging due to multiple centers of power and decision making. Besides, the federal government, state government, and civilians may attempt to offer response. Pinkowski (2008) notes that individual federal departments and local governments struggle to maintain their autonomy. A civil-military conflict may occur if independent responding agencies are excluded from a disaster site. In this regard, many disaster response teams tend to work independently and in an uncoordinated manner.
Thirdly, technical capacity, including technology, affects disaster coordination. For instance, the responders may have radios with different frequencies, which will affect communication. According to Chen, Sharman, Rao, and Upadhyaya (2008), decision support technologies enhance the outcomes of disaster response. Managers require resources to maintain effective communication systems, coordination, and data assessment. Hence, information technology systems will enable responders to collect information from different sources.
In conclusion, disaster coordination requires an efficient flow of information. Technology will ensure that the data will be disseminated to the relevant parties quickly and cheaply. However, dealing with bureaucracy is a major challenge. Hence, an interactive information system will enhance coordination efforts.
References
Chen, R., Sharman, R., Rao, H. R., & Upadhyaya, S. J. (2008). Coordination in emergency response management. Communications of the ACM, 51(5), 66-73.
Hossain, L., & Kuti, M. (2010). Disaster response preparedness coordination through social networks. Disasters, 34(3), 755-786.
Pinkowski, J. (Ed.). (2008). Disaster management handbook. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
this is the 3rd post from my classmate ALI need to responded :
Disaster Coordination Issues
One disaster coordination issue is that the different agencies that work in a disaster are not often trained together. In fact, they are usually trained quite separately. For example, the military is prepared to respond to emergencies, and they have the right training to do the work required. However, they do not take into full account all the civilian agencies that will participate. This causes an issue in coordination when the disaster appears (Salmon et al., 2011). In order to address this situation, it is important to coordinate the different disaster relief agencies since the time of training so that each group knows what to do and how to communicate with others.
The second issue in disaster coordination is related to the coordination of the public and the private sectors. For example, if there is a natural disaster, firefighters, the military and the Red Cross will be stakeholders in the disaster response process. However, there will also be private organizations and civilian volunteers working in the efforts to save people, search for survivors, and bring supplies to the victims. In this case, managing this coordination between the different stakeholders from various places in society has to be planned in advance by emergency managers from the government (Quero, 2012). There has to be a plan laid out for volunteers and private organizations to follow so that it is established who will lead the response efforts.
The third issue in disaster coordination is communication. It is not always easy to communicate because of different factors, which include infrastructure and human limitations. For example, a natural disaster can destroy the cell phone and radio towers used in everyday emergency communication. Therefore, it is crucial to have different alternatives for means of communication in case one or more fails. Another issue with communication is the language barriers that exist when there is a disaster in a country, and agencies from other countries come to respond to the issue. It sometimes happens that people in the agencies do not know the local language, which makes it very hard to communicate with local agencies and therefore hinders the coordination.
References
Quero, R. A. (2012). Reframing Coordination Challenges for Public-Private Partnerships in Disaster Preparedness. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 57, 440–447. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09.1209
Salmon, P., Stanton, N., Jenkins, D. and Walker, G. (2011), “Coordination during multi‐agency emergency response: issues and solutions”, Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 140-158. https://doi.org/10.1108/09653561111126085