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School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic compromised access to essential meals for many children. In response, a public/private partnership known as the Emergency Meals-to-You program was established to deliver meals in affected rural areas of the United States. This study builds on this using a scorecard approach adapted from the United Nations Ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient to identify and prioritize actions for strengthening food system resilience. A pilot food system resilience scorecard facilitated data collection from five workshops with professionals familiar with the program, emergency management, public health, or food systems. Data analysis and interpretation identified nine priority actions. These included integrating the food sector and schools within emergency management, mapping local food sector capacities, working with schools to receive de-identified data about nutritional, allergy and other health needs, developing disaster plans for sustaining food access at the school district level, and protecting ecosystem services and agricultural areas. There is an urgent need to embed the food sector and schools within emergency management. These systems are local, designed to coordinate complicated tasks in crises, multidisciplinary, and are used in many countries. Providing a ready-made framework for locally driven initiatives to strengthen food systems now and into the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The manuscript reports the results of a study that explored what facilitates and hinders local emergency management program pursuit of accreditation by the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP). This research question is of significance for several reasons, including, (1) leading national emergency management organizations have endorsed The Emergency Management Standard promulgated by EMAP; (2) very few programs are accredited; and, (3) there are only two studies related to accreditation in emergency management and neither examines accreditation in a local context. Analysis of semi-structured interview data from local emergency management program leaders representing some of the largest municipalities in the United States revealed a variety of key themes regarding what facilitates or hinders accreditation pursuit. The complexity of these themes and the context which produces them suggests that widespread accreditation at the local level is not likely in the near future even though many leaders valued the Standard and accreditation. This conclusion is discussed and a variety of avenues that might be pursued if more accreditation of local programs were the goal is offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic planning is a critical element in the strategic management of any public organization, including local emergency management agencies (EMAs). However, while the importance of strategic planning in emergency management is well founded, even codified in the national standards, little is known empirically about its actual use, and even less is known about the impacts of the planning process on local programs. As such, this study examined the strategic planning practices of county-level EMAs throughout the United States, focusing on the strategic planning process and its underlying dimensions. A composite index for strategic planning comprehensiveness was developed, based on five planning process dimensions, and then analyzed to gauge its relative impacts on local program quality. The findings revealed that the strategic planning process had a direct and significant impact on the quality of local emergency management programs, with the regression model explaining about 60 % of the variance in the local program quality index scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impacts on human lives as well as economic and social stability. The United States has a complicated history with biosecurity. The September 11th terror attacks uncovered various weaknesses in the national biosecurity infrastructure that have persisted into the current pandemic. This study explores the implications of framing the infectious disease biothreat as a security threat to improve our capabilities while protecting against the potential accelerated threat of bioterrorism in the post-COVID-19 era. To counter the increasing biothreats, the United States must invest in revamping the biodefense infrastructure to increase our resilience to various biothreats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010 was a major test of the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which the United States federal government mandates for response to all disasters. At the time, this disaster was perhaps the greatest event in scope and duration under NIMS disaster management guidelines since they were revised in 2008 (the third edition was published in 2017). Ten years later, NIMS provides procedures for operating a joint information center (JIC), but still offers no guidelines for ethical communication. This case study examines the ethical implications of 178 news releases distributed by the Deepwater Horizon Incident JIC. Qualitative analysis found that communication was conducted in an open, ethical manner, with few exceptions. Conflicts emerged, however, that may have compromised ethical standards. The authors conclude with recommendations to inform ethical decision making by JIC communicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As emergency management evolved to encompass a focus on supporting safe growth and development for communities, the role and responsibilities of government became increasingly complex with aspects of emergency management becoming quintessential. Issues with communication uncovered the need to understand how managers collect, disseminate, and adapt critical information through understanding crisis type and local community needs. This paper examines the use of crisis communication strategies in emergency management practice and how these strategies have been impacted by Situational Crisis Communication Theory. This theory's prescriptive approach connects leaders' response to strategies emphasizing adaptation to local community needs and crisis type. Utilizing structural equation modeling and qualitative analysis, results from a nationwide survey of county, and county-equivalent, emergency managers in the United States is included. The survey focused on the relationship between crisis communication strategies, local community needs, crisis type, and perceived resilience. The paper concludes with a discussion of the significant indicators impacting use of crisis communication strategies by emergency managers along with critical importance of adaptation to local community needs and crisis type. In addition, the paper unveils practical recommendations for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers in the field of emergency management and its counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A critical component of successful public health emergency responses is the availability of appropriate numbers of personnel with emergency response expertise. To achieve this, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) focused on strengthening training, personnel database systems, and responder outreach. To ensure availability of well-trained public health emergency responders, CDC and external partners coordinated training, planning, exercise, and evaluation activities; established the School of Preparedness and Emergency Response; and implemented Responder Training Tiers for response roles with defined functional competencies. For personnel information, CDC developed interoperable databases to streamline the search for specific staff expertise for a response. To improve responder outreach, CDC developed various mechanisms to efficiently identify and assign potential responders to responses. These measures work together to sustain a qualified workforce for public health emergencies, and may be helpful to other public health agencies for staffing and training of their response workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that mass media can influence response operations by influencing the way that information is disseminated to the public before, during, and after disaster. After the 2014 Ebola event, the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) conducted an After Action Review that proposes the need for government to ensure that the media does not control the narrative of response. The goal of this study is to understand if and how the media did attempt to control the narrative of response. To achieve this goal, we conduct a content analysis of three major newspapers, from July 26, 2014 to November 1, 2014, that focuses on Adaptive Governance in response to Ebola's debut in the United States shortly after September 20, 2014. The results indicate that articles are more likely to focus on federal agencies and response efforts that follow established federal guidelines. However, the mention of local government, the boots on the ground first responders, is not significant to the mention of Adaptive Governance. This suggests that print media is controlling the narrative of the response and local government needs to provide the print media more access to emergency management professionals for more effective dissemination of effective local response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the strategic planning practices of county-level emergency management agencies (EMAs), with a specific focus on strategic planning adoption and its relationship to local program quality. The study utilized a descriptive, cross-sectional survey design to collect planning- and program-related data from more than 300 county-level EMAs across the United States. The study findings revealed that most of the county EMAs included in the final sample had previously engaged in strategic planning activities, with nearly all of them continuing to use strategic planning as part of their general management practice. The study findings further revealed that strategic planning had a direct and significant impact on the overall quality of local emergency management programs, and that the strategic planning EMAs had significantly higher mean quality scores across all program dimensions when compared to the non-strategic planning EMAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexity of large-scale disasters requires governance structures that can integrate numerous responders quickly under often chaotic conditions. Complex disasters – by definition – span multiple jurisdictions and activate numerous response functions carried out by numerous legally autonomous public, nonprofit, and private actors. The command operating structure of the Incident Command System (ICS) is a hierarchical structure used to manage complex incidents. Increasingly, complex disasters are seen as networks of multiple actors. Improving our capacity to respond to large-scale, complex disasters requires moving beyond the "hierarchy versus networks" debate to understand the conditions under which governance structures can best serve disaster response goals. Understanding the capabilities and limitations of the governance structures embedded in our national policy tools and frameworks can enhance our ability to govern effectively in networked contexts. In this article, we suggest the need to shift focus to build greater capacity for hybrid and network governance approaches, including a more sophisticated understanding of the conditions under which these governance forms are most effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vulnerability to extended power outages stemming from grid collapse triggered by terrorism, technological accident, cyber attack or geomagnetic storms is understood to mean the widest possible spectrum of immediate and downstream consequences for our nations critical infrastructure. Regrettably few realistic plans are in place for dealing with this risk especially as it pertains to three primary energy systems of strategic significance to the United States – nuclear power, chemical manufacturing and natural gas supplies. The author argues that greater sustained attention is needed to upgrade the resilience of these systems, foster greater sharing of remedies among them to offset the worst effects of grid collapse which exceeds 15 consecutive calendar days and build collective avenues of enhanced risk mitigation against such scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A federal emergency was declared in Flint, Michigan on January 16, 2016 because of elevated lead levels in the city drinking water system. Resulting from a number of technical mistakes and a lack of oversight by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, this crisis may have implications for the professional practice of emergency management. This paper explores the relationship between critical infrastructure and disaster theory, reviews the Flint crisis as a representative case study, and presents recommendations for emergency managers to begin to assess the drinking water systems within their own communities. As this is a still-evolving event, the discussion is based on the extent of the information available to both researchers and the public primarily as of late Fall, 2016. Future researchers will need to evaluate records from upcoming court proceedings and file additional FOIA requests after all subpoenas have been lifted in order to analyze how both a large public water system and a state government could allow the omission of corrosion control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communities with well-developed animal response plans, along with trained and equipped animal response teams, are typically better able to protect resident livestock and companion animals during a disaster, with fewer animals lost, higher human evacuation compliance rates, and a greater percentage of pets staying with their families. The NCARE Study is a cross-sectional descriptive survey designed to assess, among US states and counties, the level of preparedness for managing animals in an emergency. Overall, 65% of participating states (31/48) reported having a State Animal Response Team (SART), while 48% (16/33) of counties with >1 million population (large counties) and 23% (131/565) of a random sample of counties with <1 million population (small counties) reported having a County Animal Response Team (CART). Only 50% of small counties reported having plans for collocated or cohabitational emergency shelters, compared to 73% of states and 80% of large counties. In stratified analyses, the proportion of counties with a CART ranged from 2% in FEMA Region X to 69% in Region II. Our results demonstrate that many regions of the US have taken some important initial steps towards establishing the capabilities necessary for managing animals in a disaster, while other regions have areas for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human security and vulnerability theoretical frameworks are utilized to examine willingness of seniors living in independent living centers (ILCs) in two counties of southern New Jersey (United States) to follow voluntary and mandatory evacuation orders from a number of sources. The sample, mostly White (73.3%) and female (81.8%) indicated the most willingness to follow both categories of orders when delivered by military, law enforcement, and/or fire officials. The least level of willingness was noted with orders delivered by neighbors, church leaders, and media (TV and radio) outlets. No significant difference was found based on county residency, level of preparedness, or previous evacuation experience. Those with previous disaster experience, however, indicated a significantly increased willingness to follow voluntary evacuation orders from military or National Guard, fire department, and the state governor. No significant association was found between willingness to evacuate and self-reported generalized self-efficacy. A human security framework is suggested to be beneficial for analysis given the potential for increased community frustration, anger, or anxiety based on physical, social, and economic vulnerabilities identified for senior communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The responder community must be ready to respond quickly and effectively in the event of a disaster. In order to maintain readiness, many disaster response communities exercise their response capabilities on a regular basis. The critical challenge is to design, conduct, and evaluate exercises in a manner that effectively tests responders' readiness and generates lessons that can improve readiness. This paper describes a framework to enable assessment of response readiness through evaluation of critical capabilities in exercises. It was developed for oil spill response based on the observation and analysis of four response exercises. The framework (1) identifies critical capabilities that lead to readiness for spill response, and maps them to (2) exercise design components that test each capability and (3) evaluation measures to evaluate each capability within an exercise. The framework enables continuous improvement by linking the evaluation of exercises to the critical capabilities required of an oil spill response organization; by evaluating the performance of specific capabilities, areas for improvement are clearly identified and can be re-tested in a future exercise. While the findings are necessarily specific to oil spill response, the principles apply to any disaster response context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media (SM) are socio-technical systems that have the potential to provide real-time information during crises and thus to help protect lives and property. Yet, US emergency management (EM) agencies do not extensively use them. This mixed-methods study describes the ways SM is used by county-level US emergency managers, barriers to effective SM use, and recommendations to improve use. Exploratory interviews were conducted with US public sector emergency managers to elicit attitudes about SM. This was followed by a survey of over 200 US county level emergency managers. Results show that only about half of agencies use SM at all. About one quarter of agencies with formal policies actually forbid the use of SM. For both disseminating (sending out) and collecting information lack of sufficient staff is the most important barrier. However, lack of guidance/policy documents is the second highest rated barrier to dissemination via SM. Lack of skills and of the training that could improve these skills is also important. For collecting data, trustworthiness and information overload issues are the second and third most important barriers, which points to the need for appropriate software support to deal with these system-related issues. There are few differences associated with agency characteristics. By understanding important barriers, technologists can better meet the needs of emergency managers when designing SM technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyber security tends to only address the technical aspects of the information systems. The lack of considerations for environmental long-range implications of failed cyber security planning and measures, especially in the protection of critical infrastructure and industrial control systems, have created ecological risks that are to a high degree unaddressed. This study compares dam safety arrangements in the United States and Sweden. Dam safety in the United States is highly regulated in many states, but inconsistent over the nation. In Sweden dam safety is managed by self-regulation. The study investigates the weaknesses and strengths in these regulatory and institutional arrangements from a cyber security perspective. If ecological and environmental concerns were a part of the risk evaluation and risk mitigation processes for cyber security, the hazard could be limited. Successful environmentally-linked cyber defense mitigates the risk for significant damage to domestic freshwater, aquatic and adjacent terrestrial ecosystems, and protects ecosystem function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to ascertain the self-reported preparedness levels of a rural population in the US before and after an exposure to preparedness education materials from the Ready Campaign and the Texas "Ready or Not?" Campaign. Design and Methods: A before-and-after design was used for the study of people who attended a Medical Outreach held in rural east Texas. Results: Participants were significantly more prepared for an emergency after the educational program (M=17.1; SD=6.43) than before the educational program (M=13.21; SD=6.33; t(41)= -4.28; p<0.001; 95% CI [-5.74 to -2.06]; ES r=0.57). Conclusions: Increases in the incidences of disasters have significantly affected the attention given disaster planning and preparedness measures, yet preparedness efforts in the US have not achieved preparedness goals. It is vital that emergency preparedness education measures be assessed for effectiveness so that evidence-based approaches to conducting them can be utilized. The improvement in preparedness among participants supports providing preparedness education at public health events similar to the one in East Texas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All regions of the US experience disasters which result in a number of negative public health consequences. Some populations have higher levels of social vulnerability and, thus, are more likely to experience negative impacts of disasters including emotional distress, loss of property, illness, and death. To mitigate the impact of disasters on at-risk populations, emergency managers must be aware of the social vulnerabilities within their community. This paper describes a qualitative study which aimed to understand how emergency managers identify social vulnerabilities, also referred to as at-risk populations, in their populations and barriers and facilitators to current approaches. Findings suggest that although public health tools have been developed to aid emergency managers in identifying at-risk populations, they are not being used consistently. Emergency managers requested more information on the availability of tools as well as guidance on how to increase ability to identify at-risk populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The second edition of the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR) was issued in June of this year. A Congressional mandate requires each QHSR to examine the nation's homeland security strategy and explain how this can lower risks from terrorism, natural hazards, and other challenges. The intended audience is not only Congress and the department of homeland security (DHS), but also the Homeland Security Enterprise (HSE)--stakeholders comprising federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), private sector partners, as well as communities, families, and individuals. The first QHSR institutionalized homeland security fundamentals and presented a set of missions and goals, but questions have been raised about the strategic benefits of the document and its value to all homeland security stakeholders. Will the second QHSR effectively build upon the first and function as a strategy that ensures homeland security programs will align with mission priorities? What improvements can be made in DHS's efficiency and effectiveness as expressed in both documents? Will the QHSRs serve the entire HSE, particularly those below the federal level? What are future expectations for this series of documents? This article analyzes the QHSRs, with the objective of and illuminating these and other questions of interest to the homeland security community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the fall of 2014, the US was faced with the reality that a deadly, foreign virus had entered its borders. Ebola, a disease thought to be of little threat to the US yet classified as a major bioterrorism agent, became a reality for the American government and its citizens. The introduction of Ebola unveiled many deficiencies in the country's health care system, international travel policies, and ability to control or restrict the movement of exposed individuals in order to protect the larger population. The need to review and establish legal guidelines and policies to deal with these deficiencies is paramount: the inherent lack of training and education; weaknesses in monitoring, maintenance, and treatment; and the lack of uniform guidelines to isolate international travelers have all demonstrated that the country may not be able to control a larger-scale threat in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines what motivates local emergency management officials to implement federal emergency management and homeland security policies within their own departments since the September 11 attacks. Pre-existing research claims there is confusion among local governments about potential changes to the role local emergency management services play before, during, and after natural, accidental, or terror related incidents. Meanwhile, additional research claims the federal disaster management policies (The National Response Plan, National Incident Management System, and Incident Command System) lack flexibility in implementation expectations, and there is limited cohesion among the layers of government, actors, and interests involved. This study asserts that something must spur local actors to comply with federal policy demands in their daily operations given how the post-September 11 policies change the field. The study specifically examines the effects of coercion, defined as actions taken by the federal government to force state and local implementers to comply with federal policy demands. Available federal grant dollars for emergency management and homeland security practices could make a dramatic difference to local emergency management operations, forcing these actors to comply with federal policy demands, even if it is in a begrudging fashion that deviates from traditional Comprehensive Emergency Management (CEM) principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homeland Security continues to struggle to define itself as a field of practice and scholarship. The difficulty in defining the field has led to a variety of conflicts over membership, content, and focus. This article reviews some of the prominent debates over the meaning of homeland security as a field of study and practice. It then defines a simple schema for definitions of homeland security inspired by the academic and legislative debates over the issue. A frequency cataloging of definitions from US state agencies illustrates the continued relevance of a 'partial membership' approach to defining the field. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the diversity of homeland security definitions for the development of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Once, a walrus and a carpenter were walking along the beach, chatting about many fundamental issues affecting the security of the nation, including the workings of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The last line is not in the original poem. However, it represents the subject of this analysis, which not only gives the history of and rationale for the need to restructure the DHS at the regional level, but also presents a proposal for how to do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Congress mandated the Department of Homeland Security to regulate chemical facilities with the goal of increasing security at these facilities to prevent future terrorist attacks. In 2007, DHS issued an interim rule known as the chemical facility anti-terrorism standards (CFATS). This paper takes a look at CFATS 5 years after implementation and discusses the achievements and the challenges confronting this important piece of legislation. In addition, this paper poses several questions and discusses some CFATS issues and concerns that have far-reaching implications for CFATS stakeholders, homeland security, and emergency management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emergency managers are embracing the Whole Community approach described in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) preparedness policy, doctrine, and guidance. The Whole Community approach entails broad collaboration and integration of effort among multiple disciplines and preparedness partners to coordinate solutions for all threats and hazards. Potential public health emergencies - to include foodborne and animal disease outbreaks - are issues on the emergency management agenda requiring such broad coordination. Scientists and public health practitioners across multiple disciplines describe a philosophy very similar to 'Whole Community' known as 'One Health,' linking efforts to address the shared threats to human, animal and environmental health. This paper recommends a coordinated strategy for FEMA to link 'Whole Community' and 'One Health' tenets as part of a national preparedness effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Department of Homeland Security has funded an array of threat, risk and vulnerability assessment methodologies for use by law enforcement jurisdictions throughout the US. Yet, in spite of this effort, many law enforcement agencies either do not conduct assessments or do not understand and use operationally, the information gathered in assessments. This article discusses a practitioner/researcher partnership model which successfully developed and delivered a training course to assist homeland security professionals in understanding and using operationally, information gathered by various threat, risk, and vulnerability methodologies. The model takes into consideration not only what participants needed to learn but also how they were going to learn it. This article discusses initial background research, course development, implementation, delivery, and lessons learned. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of a model which incorporates the strength of both practitioners and researchers and can be replicated to provide effective training throughout homeland security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the US Department of Homeland Security Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program, a plan was developed for a region-wide public-private sector communications strategy for the Illinois-Indiana-Wisconsin combined statistical area (CSA). Key to this plan is the implementation of a governance structure and web-based communications platform for the entire CSA. A governance structure is outlined at the organizational, operational and technology levels. This governance takes the form of a coalition of public agencies, private companies, and non-profit organizations throughout the CSA. One of the responsibilities of the coalition is to coordinate situational awareness and resource requests among participants during a catastrophic event. A web-based portal is developed to facilitate this kind of information exchange, overlaid on cloud computing infrastructure for extra resiliency. The portal services and architecture are outlined, along with actual views obtained from a prototype that was developed. Evaluations conducted using a simulated disaster drill showed that a portal concept can be highly effective in establishing common situational awareness and consolidating resource requests across public and private organizations during adverse events. Implementation of a portal within the CSA would be best accomplished on a gradual basis using a phased approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective port emergency evacuation could reduce the potential damages and losses caused by a predictive natural disaster. Thus, most U.S. ports have evacuation plans or guidelines established for predictive natural disasters, especially hurricanes. However, hurricane Katrina still revealed that these existing emergency evacuation plans may not be as effective as originally expected. The objective of this study is to provide a quantitative approach to evaluating the effectiveness of port emergency evacuation plans for hurricanes. A discrete-event simulation model is developed in this study to capture the dynamic evacuation process in a complex port environment when a hurricane approaches a port. Using this simulation model, an experimental study is conducted to compare the effectiveness of 80 port hurricane evacuation plans in the two public container terminals within the Port of Houston (POH). These 80 plans include the current POH hurricane evacuation plan and 79 variants of this plan. The simulation results indicate that an effective port hurricane evacuation plan should require prohibiting inbound and outbound traffic when the hurricane is forecast to be 12 hours away from landfall, and consistently securing port facilities, equipment and containers during the entire evacuation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Department of Homeland Security has funded an array of threat, risk and vulnerability assessment methodologies for use by law enforcement jurisdictions throughout the United States. Yet, in spite of this effort, many law enforcement agencies either do not conduct assessments or do not understand and use operationally, the information gathered in assessments. This article discusses a practitioner/researcher partnership model which successfully developed and delivered a training course to assist homeland security professionals in understanding and using operationally, information gathered by various threat, risk, and vulnerability methodologies. The model takes into consideration not only what participants needed to learn but also how they were going to learn it. This article discusses initial background research, course development, implementation, delivery, and lessons learned. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of a model which incorporates the strength of both practitioners and researchers and can be replicated to provide effective training throughout homeland security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When Hurricane Katrina struck the United States in 2005, unified commands were established in several states under the principles of the Incident Command System (ICS). These unified commands helped to steer relief efforts. In Louisiana, however, a true unified command was never established, leaving mitigation efforts confused, chaotic, and ineffective. This article looks at the general concept of an ICS unified command; the attempt to establish a unified command in Louisiana; and reasons that the command never materialized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined whether there are empirical evidences of organizational learning in the U.S. emergency response system and how the strategic uses of lessons enabled organizations to upgrade system’s capabilities and interaction structure to respond to major disasters. For this, this study conducted comparative analysis of Hurricane Katrina and Gustav response systems and analyzed data from semi-structured interviews with the managers of 36 leading organizations that actively participated in both response systems. To address challenges from complex and uncertain circumstances of disasters, organizations need to collaborate and their joint operations should be nicely coordinated. The findings of this paper reveal that, through effective communications, organizations could secure timely, accurate, and valid information and create a common knowledge base that is critical for collaborative response to disasters. In addition, organizational capacity to detect, process, and transmit information could increase through appropriate training and retention programs. Importantly, the collective capacity of organizations to collaborate in coherent ways could be strengthened through the development of organizational culture that facilitates face-to-face interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a brief history and overview of FEMA's Higher Education Program and the role it has taken in shaping the emergency management higher education community and the field of emergency management; details the process undertaken to arrive at the most recent effort focused on curriculum outcomes and introduces the substance of that effort; and, suggests next steps in the forward movement of emergency management higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The education of professional emergency managers has been the subject of workshops by the National Science Foundation and the National Academies. There is general agreement on the content of curricula, except for components related to Homeland Security. This article looks at the broad issue of professional education and the need to include information on Homeland Security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focused on the uniformity of Web sites operated by local emergency management agencies (EMAs) as they pertain to the availability of relevant emergency preparedness and response information. Of the 3,128 counties (or county equivalents) in the United States, we found Internet homepages for 1,612 local EMAs (51.5%). We reviewed each homepage to document the presence (or absence) of nine elements deemed to be essential for effective communications during emergency or disaster situations. Local EMA Web site homepages had a mean of 4.5 (± 1.5) elements. Among the findings, this review revealed that about four out of five (82.3%) of the local EMAs included the agency phone number, more than half (52.0%) provided links to other agencies with emergency preparedness information, and about two in five (38.3%) listed an agency email address. A few more than one in five (21.1%) of the local EMA homepages reviewed allowed visitors to sign up for automatic alerts or notifications. The nine communication elements identified in our study provide a minimal standard for content. We suggest that these results be used as a starting point in developing a uniform template containing the nine homepage elements. Such a template compliments National Incident Management System (NIMS) protocols and can provide a recognizable source of consistent and reliable information for people during emergency or disaster incidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of an increased incidence of complex natural disasters around the world, the international donor community plays a critical role in mobilizing support to fragile and weak states, lacking adequate emergency response capacities, infrastructure, and health service. The United States and the European Union are two of the most important players in these efforts, both in terms of supporting the UN system and by providing resources and personnel at disaster sites. But to date, few studies have assessed what challenges and opportunities the U.S. and the EU face when mobilizing for international disaster relief. This article sets out to fill this gap by studying the response to the January 2010 Haiti earthquake. In so doing, this article draws on three categories of capacities: "public leadership," "inter-agency coordination," and "civil-military cooperation," to identify common challenges and opportunities in response capacities and in order to generate recommendations for strengthening transatlantic disaster responses in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States Department of Defense (DoD) is a well-equipped and well-trained federal agency capable of providing assistance to relief efforts in a domestic disaster. However, the existence of several different levels of civil response, the variety of the agencies that become involved in the response, the regulations governing the DoD’s involvement, and a lack of understanding of the services the DoD can provide during a disaster lead to confusion which hinders the effectiveness of the response efforts. The concern this paper addresses is the lack of understanding by a number of disaster relief professionals of the exact role of the DoD, as well as the boundaries within which it must operate, during a domestic disaster response. This paper addresses this concern by outlining the recently standardized civil response process for small- to large-scale disasters involving local, state, and federal government organizations, as well as explaining the processes for requesting DoD support and the roles DoD organizations can play. Insights and further research opportunities are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study described and explained the current implementation behavior of counties in the United States with respect to the National Incident Management System (NIMS). Data were collected in two phases: 1) an internet survey was sent to a national random sample of county emergency managers and 2) a mail survey was sent to emergency managers in the sample that had not completed the internet survey. When data collection ceased, 355 randomly selected county emergency managers had participated in the study providing a nationally generalizable study. It was discovered that NIMS may be limited in its usefulness as the foundation for our nationwide emergency management system as well as its potential for use in large-scale disaster situations because of the wide variation in the manner in which NIMS is currently being implemented in counties across the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A mail survey designed to explore perceptions of the Incident Command System (ICS) and the National Incident Management System (NIMS) was sent to volunteer fire fighters and department chiefs in Spring of 2008. The data demonstrated that both ICS and NIMS were not well perceived among responding volunteer fire chiefs and volunteer fire fighters in North Dakota. Rather than indicating issues with the ICS or NIMS systems themselves, respondents' comments revealed concerns with the systems to be rooted in their status as volunteers and their residence in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The creation of a continuity of operations plan (COOP) by organizations is widely recognized as a key element of disaster preparedness and disaster response strategies and has been an accepted part of the emergency preparedness landscape since 1955. In 2009, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued Continuity Guidance Circular 1 (CGC 1) as a means of reducing the content variability of COOPs developed by non-Federal entities. FEMA's CGC 1 does not offer an effective means of translating the content guidance into practical information gathering and presentation. The South Central Center for Public Health Preparedness (SCCPHP) assisted the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) to develop a template for COOP development conforming to CGC 1 to meet the needs of Alabama state agencies. The State of Alabama COOP Template has two parts: 1) a set of work sheets to be completed by the COOP Team and 2) the document shell into which completed work sheets will be inserted. The template consists of 22 work sheets designed for preparing for all-hazards, some of the work sheets have special considerations for responses to emergencies with significant worker absenteeism, such as influenza pandemics, and those that affect access to facilities and transportation resources, such as hurricanes, floods, and acts of terrorism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hazardous material releases, some with serious consequences, are a common occurrence in the U.S. Of late, the hazards posed by releases caused by terrorist attacks or natural disasters have been of particular concern. Although terrorism directed at hazardous material handling industries within the U.S. has not yet resulted in a significant incident, there is much recent experience with serious accidental releases resulting from natural disasters. Case studies are developed from a number of recent natural disasters and severe weather events that resulted in large releases of hazardous materials. These case studies are used to illustrate parallels between the risks posed by hazardous material releases resulting from terrorism and natural disasters; examples include the presence of a dominant mechanism for physical damage, difficult-to-control and unforeseen scenarios of releases, limited specific regulation of the risks, and a complex and difficult response environment. Hence, lessons learned from previous experience with releases during natural disasters can be used to increase the resilience of industrial facilities and to improve the planning for hazardous material response in the face of terror threats. Routes to improve hazardous material industry preparedness for terror attack and natural disasters include physical hardening of facilities and equipment, utilization of passive safety devices, greater consideration of facility layout and siting, application of inherently safer design principles, and additional legislation at local, state or federal levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

John Odermatt has been the Commissioner of the New York City Office of Emergency Management and Executive Officer of the NYC Police Department’s Intelligence Division. He is currently the Global Director of Business Continuity for Citigroup, Inc. Since 9/11, large numbers of managers have been added to the field of emergency management; however there is still a dearth of leaders. Leadership is not a course to be taken. It is a quality of character. John Odermatt embodies both management and leadership. It was an honor and a pleasure to talk with Mr. Odermatt in his office in New York in mid-June 2011. This article is a summary of the salient points from that conversation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States stands at constant risk of attack from naturally occurring, emerging or intentionally released biological or chemical agents. Our fragmented and underprepared health care system must rely on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) when a public health emergency occurs and surging patient populations overwhelm resources and reserves. While the SNS offers, a robust capability and logistical infrastructure, there are still concerns over the allocation of these resources when needed. As the health care system adjusts to economic and political influences, health care organizations are reexamining their investment in the market, and as facilities close and consolidate, health care resources become increasingly scarce. When needed, what ethical questions does the SNS force us to make? Can we make these decisions along a path of social justice and still turn away an emerging pandemic? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes a closer look at the United States’ domestic preparedness program. Beginning in the mid-1990s, the domestic preparedness program has served as the United States’ disaster response and management option in the case of a biological or chemical weapons attack. In its early years, the program focused solely on chemical weapons, but eventually expanded to cover the threat of biological weapons as well. The program, however, is fragmented, leaving authority in the hands of over a dozen different agencies. This leaves the authorities, capabilities, and resources needed to effectively implement the program divided across multiple bureaucracies. In addition, the program is essentially made up of a series of legislative initiatives, causing it to be desperately uncoordinated. Given this organizational fragmentation, we ask: does the domestic preparedness program really prepare the United States for a biological weapons attack? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The initial development of the Incident Command System (ICS) and the Multiagency Coordination System (MACS) was conducted through an extensive research, development, and application program initiated by the United States Forest Service in the 1970s and 1980s. Known as FIRESCOPE (Firefighting Resources of California Organized for Potential Emergencies), the complex development process produced these two major management systems that are now central to the Department of Homeland Security’s National Incident Management System (NIMS). Despite the prominence of NIMS, very little information is widely available regarding the original research and development of ICS and MACS. This paper explores the extensive product development and consensus process used to create ICS and MACS, plus the implementation process that propagated these landmark systems that continue to expand in prominence for incident management and coordination during emergencies and disasters. Through analysis of historical documents and interviews with professionals centrally involved in FIRESCOPE, this paper chronicles the evolution of ICS and MACS, including a summary of their varied courses following the end of the original 10-year FIRESCOPE Program initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The government and people of the United States were profoundly affected by the terrorist events of September 11, 2001. Despite the rapid succession of surveys and polls focused on people’s reactions to 9/11 that were conducted shortly after the event, much remains unknown about the details of how it affected people’s behavior and readiness for future events on a national scale. This study is based on a survey of a nationally representative sample of 3,300 households. It describes specific actions that people took to prepare for terrorism or to reduce exposure to terrorism risk during the years following 9/11, either exclusively because of the terrorism risk or for other reasons. The results show that while many individuals became more vigilant and learned more about terrorism, the threat of terrorism alone did not motivate them to take basic preparedness actions. It did, however, motivate a substantial number of people to avoid places and other things that might expose them to terrorism risk. These results elucidate the impact that 9/11 had on individual behavior and national preparedness, helping to inform future efforts to strengthen the nation’s resilience to terrorism and other extreme events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skilled support personnel responding to national disasters are at great risk to develop physical and mental health problems that can cause short- and long-term disability and prove to be fatal. Health issues endured by these workers can be attributed to a lack of pre-deployment training. Costs accrued for health care from hazardous exposures in disaster zones continues to increase as symptoms manifest years after the event. Illnesses could be prevented if workers received comprehensive training prior to deployment at the site. Pre-deployment occupational safety and health training is critical to protect the well-being of disaster site workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States has invested significant resources toward creating a surveillance capability that can detect emerging diseases or acts of bioterrorism. While this is a timely pursuit — the WHO states new diseases are being detected at an unprecedented rate — the effort remains disjointed and oriented toward "high-tech" solutions, often at the expense of potentially readily apparent solutions. This article examines extant surveillance efforts and proposes that a more mundane approach to biosurveillance may actually be more productive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States (U.S.) military’s ability to respond to humanitarian assistance/disaster response operations in support of other states remains a hallmark capability of the force. However, as other global requirements continue to place demands on the military force, it is in the interest of both the U.S. Government and participating Partner States to improve a Partner State’s own capacities for disaster response so as to decrease the future demand on U.S. military forces. A major step forward in this effort is a new, highly participatory effort labeled Provide International Disaster Emergency Support (ProvIDES). ProvIDES is an outgrowth of original work conducted through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Civil-Military Emergency Preparedness engagement with partner states. Combining the efforts of USG interagency partners, the Partner State, and other international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and private voluntary organizations, ProvIDES makes available a robust, quantitative tool suite that supplies a measurable baseline assessment of a Partner State’s readiness level to respond to man-made and natural disasters. It also supplies assessments of the supporting organizations and develops training plans and scenarios for continued improvement. ProvIDES is an important step forward in the effort to improve disaster readiness around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term recovery from disasters presents a formidable challenge to affected communities, requiring sound strategies to restore the health and livelihoods of those affected. This paper examines exemplary practices related to long-term recovery and redevelopment from disasters in other countries, and identifies key themes and promising practices relevant to the United States and other countries. From the eight disasters examined, we find that successful recovery efforts emphasized local empowerment, organization and leadership, and planning for sustainability – three broad approaches that characterized the practices employed by other countries. We believe these practices offer examples that can help to inform disaster management within the U.S., whether contributing to the forthcoming legislatively mandated National Disaster Management Framework or to implement such policy once the document is released. Our analysis suggests three key approaches to enhance disaster recovery: (1) Incorporate long-term recovery goals into disaster response and pre-disaster planning; (2) Expand the knowledge base by incorporating research into recovery and harnessing lessons learned from international experiences; and (3) Develop an outcomes-oriented approach to disaster recovery planning, including the measurement of community-level outcomes. Our findings are broadly relevant to disaster recovery in the United States and in other countries, including Haiti in the wake of its January 2010 earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]