Hurricane Pam Preparedness Exercise Proactive Act
There are 2 discussions here, the second one hinges on the first one but they are both separate. Please use Florida or South East United States.
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Tabletop Exercise
Competencies Addressed in This Discussion
- Competency 1: Apply emergency planning procedures to critical incidents.
- Competency 2: Explain the role of emergency planning within the emergency management field.
Introduction
The first phase in emergency management is preparedness. In the last unit you completed an assignment on this topic. In the assignment you addressed:
- Identification of local resources.
- Establishment a continuity of operations plan for the community.
- Creation of a team.
- Setting outcome-based goals and tracking progress toward those goals.
- Creation of a plan for communicating awareness of the preparedness plan to the community through the media.
In Chapter 4 of your Emergency Planning text, section 4.2, you read about different types of exercises (tabletop, functional, and full scale) that can be performed to ensure that an emergency plan is constructed so as to be effective in the case of an actual critical incident. Participants in a tabletop exercise take a scenario, decide on their roles in the scenario and respond verbally.
In preparation for this tabletop discussion, consider the Hurricane Pam tabletop and other exercises by several hundred emergency managers and planners in Baton Rouge, Louisiana that concluded on July 23, 2004.
Officials Ron Castleman, FEMA Regional Director, and Colonel Michael L. Brown, Deputy Director for Emergency Preparedness, Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, in statements proclaimed that good progress in preparedness and identification of needs were made. The Hurricane Pam preparedness exercise identified many problems that would be faced and the needs that would need to be met if the levees gave way. Transportation for evacuation and shelters were apparently two areas that were covered, as it was estimated that there would be a need for 1,000 shelters with staffing and materials for 100 days (FEMA, 2004, paras. 9–10).
In a radio interview by Robert Siegel for National Public Radio (2005), Mark Schleifstein, Environmental Reporter at the New Orleans Times-Picayune, advised that during the Hurricane Pam exercise, assumptions were made that 112,000 households (according to the last census before this interview) did not have appropriate transportation for evacuation and that 20 percent of the population would remain in the city during a catastrophic hurricane. The gentleman concluded that, even after the scenario study, plans had still not been made to adequately prepare contingencies for evacuation and/or sheltering of these people in all phases of emergency management, and that they would have to be considered in a recovery plan.References
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). (2004). Hurricane Pam exercise concludes. Retrieved from http://www.fema.gov/news-release/2004/07/23/hurric…
Siegel, R. (2005, September 1). New Orleans’ previous plans for hurricanes [Radio broadcast]. In National Public Radio, All Things Considered. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story…Instructions
In this discussion you are going to conduct a tabletop exercise with your peers. In your role as an emergency planning manager, you will provide the first verbal response you would make in a tabletop exercise for this situation.
In your main post, continuing with a focus on preparedness and moving on toward mitigation, complete the following:- Create a short scenario (no more than two paragraphs) of a critical incident that might take place in your region.
- Describe your preparedness planning, referencing the scenario.
- Explain your early thoughts on mitigation should such an incident occur in your region.
Keep your statements brief, but give enough detail to stimulate feedback on the part of your peers. Do not repeat ideas you included in your previous assignment. Instead, using critical thinking, reading and research, and professional experiences, bring new ideas on preparedness and mitigation “to the table.”
Discussion Objectives
The competencies addressed in this discussion are supported by discussion objectives, as follows:
- Apply emergency planning procedures to critical incidents.
- Describe preparedness planning for this scenario.
- Explain mitigation planning for this scenario.
- Explain the role of emergency planning within the emergency management field.
- Create a short scenario of a critical incident appropriate for planning in your region.
Response Guidelines
Respond to at least two other posts. What additional perspective can you share based on the aspects of preparedness planning addressed by other learners? Explain the similarities and differences in mitigation planning between your description and those of your your peers. Suggest other ideas on preparedness or mitigation that would enhance their plans. Describe which of your peers’ ideas you would like to include in your planning.
Resources
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[u03d2] Unit 3 Discussion 2
Protective Actions
Competencies Addressed in This Discussion
- Competency 1: Apply emergency planning procedures to critical incidents.
- Competency 2: Explain the role of emergency planning within the emergency management field.
- Competency 3: Specify evaluation techniques for emergency management response effectiveness.
- Competency 4: Correlate appropriate emergency management response to hazards and threats.
Introduction
When planning for a disaster, an emergency manager must assess many factors when deciding whether to shelter individuals in place, call for an evacuation, or to provide other protective actions. Keeping in mind that sheltering in place could be a family decision based upon the best recommendations at the time of emergency management officials, other possibilities could include evacuation to a public shelter or staying with friends and family out of the danger zone. A high-rise vertical evacuation may be one of your personal considerations or one that needs to be considered for a public evacuation site.
In the Emergency Planning text, Chapter 5, you read about protective actions. One of the ways for an emergency management team to provide for those needing to evacuate would be to consider a high-rise structure and to include a vertical evacuation in the preparedness plan. This discussion will focus on the planning for such an evacuation.Instructions
Continuing with the same scenario you created for the Tabletop Exercise discussion in this unit, your emphasis in this discussion is on how you will plan to successfully implement a vertical evacuation.
In your main post:- Provide a rationale for why the location you have chosen is appropriate. For example, is the structure strong enough for the envisioned use?
- Determine whether there is enough capacity in the structure to contain the predicted number of people who will need protection.
- Suggest a way to provide informed “shelter supervisors” for your chosen site.
- Explain why it is important to estimate the length of time protection will be necessary.
- Summarize ways to implement an orderly movement of appropriate numbers of people from threatened areas to the chosen location.
Use your critical thinking skills, reading and research, and professional experiences to support your ideas.
Discussion Objectives
The competencies addressed in this discussion are supported by discussion objectives, as follows:
- Competency 1: Apply emergency planning procedures to critical incidents.
- Summarize ways to implement an orderly movement of appropriate numbers of people from threatened areas to the chosen location.
- Competency 2: Explain the role of emergency planning within the emergency management field.
- Provide a rationale for why the location you have chosen is appropriate.
- Competency 3: Specify evaluation techniques for emergency management response effectiveness.
- Determine whether there is enough capacity in the structure to contain the predicted number of people who will need protection.
- Suggest a way to provide informed “shelter supervisors” for your chosen site.
- Competency 4: Correlate appropriate emergency management response to hazards and threats.
- Explain why it is important to estimate the length of time protection will be necessary.
Response Guidelines
Respond to at least two other posts. What aspects of preparedness planning for a vertical evacuation were similar to your own? What was different? What additional perspective can you share about shelter supervisors and estimating the length of time protection will be necessary? Suggest other ideas that would enhance your peers’ plans for orderly movement of people from threatened areas to the chosen location. Describe which of your peers’ ideas you would like to include in your planning.
Resources