Module #11 – Emergency Preparedness
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Overview
• Community and economic development are closely linked with Emergency
Management (EM). Once a community is developed, it needs to be maintained.
EM is one of the means to that end and is the focus of this presentation.
• The approach to EM presented here is the “all hazards” approach or an “action orientation.”
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• Do No Harm
(paraphrased from the Hippocratic
Oath)
• Save Lives
• Limit Property
Damage
• Aid in Recovery
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• EM is a process not an event
• EM is continuous
• Nothing is Unimportant in EM
• A thorough working knowledge and training with the
National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the
Incident Command System (ICS) is critical at all levels of the EM network.
<http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/>
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• Four Phases of EM:
1. Mitigation: Actions taken that prevent an emergency or lessen its effect.
2. Preparedness:
Plans/preparation designed to save lives in an emergency.
3. Response: Any actions taken that are apt to save life and property.
4. Recovery: Actions taken to bring back a sense of normalcy to citizens ’ lives.
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• The Master EM Plan must cover all four phases previously mentioned.
• The four EM phases need to be tied to the goals and objective in your Community Development
Plan.
• Together the Master EM and the Community
Development Plans become the Comprehensive
Master Development Plan for your community.
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• The Comprehensive Land Use Plan
• Zoning
• Subdivision Regulations
• Building, Fire, and Safety Codes
• Public Health Regulations
• If the EM Plan is incorporated into all of these other plans, it makes for a smoother transition into the overall community plan.
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Potential Problems:
1. Public Apathy: The “not in my backyard” attitude
(NIMBY) can kill community development plans and activities.
2. Politics: Encroaching on other peoples ’ turf can be detrimental to effective planning (Community
Development and EM).
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Solutions to these Problems: Involving the Public, the Media, and Elected Officials
• Continuous communication with the Public through town hall meetings, articles, and educational activities.
• Involvement with Government : Most elected officials are realizing that they must pay attention to emergency preparedness or they tempt political suicide.
• Actively seek funding support for your EM projects. It is important to become well versed in grant writing whereby you seek out the support of federal and state government, private foundations and corporations.
• Be active, be visible, be involved, and be responsive .
In other Words: Involve all the aforementioned as stakeholders
(owners) in your community ’s EM Preparedness Plans.
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Types of Resources
• Information: Provided by the Public Information
Officer.
• People: EM personnel integrated with community leaders.
• Money: Constantly be on the lookout for additional revenue sources (Grants, startup money, etc.).
• Buildings and Land: Look for donations for each of these types of resources.
• Equipment: Remember, equipment has a life cycle; therefore, plan accordingly.
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Working with Volunteers
• Finding Volunteers: Religious organizations, nonprofits, and other civic organizations provide a great deal of relief during emergencies.
• Staging Volunteers: Having a plan of operation that includes when, where, and how to stage volunteers is essential to your plans.
• Communicating with Volunteers:
Your EM plan needs to ensure that all operational personnel providing relief are able to efficiently and effective communicate with one another.
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• First, you have to have them so make them effective. Remember, these agreements and statements of understanding are about relationships.
• MAAs and MUOs sets forth who is going to do what, when, where, how.
• The agreements provide the details and should allow for flexibility.
• These agreements should involve cross-training units (like Special Forces) in case one unit fails, another can still perform the mission.
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Your Checklist Should Include the Following
Items:
• Immediate Action: When an emergency happens, what are the actions that are taken immediately? Who do you contact?
• Personal and Personnel: Set up alert notification rosters listing who needs to contact whom.
Where do family members of responders go and how are they taken care of during the crisis?
Otherwise, you will have severely distracted personnel.
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• Legal: Contact legal advisers and review legal responsibilities.
• Political: Provide for accountability of public officials. Ensure they have a station from which to operate government.
• Public Information: It is vital to keep rumors to a minimum; therefore, ensure you have a plan of who will communicate with the public and how. The
Public Information Officer (PIO) is critical to success!
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The Plan:
• Work the plan, yet do not be surprised if the plan changes within the first few minutes of the emergency. This is where flexibility comes into play.
• Train with the plan, yet add scenarios that cause you to readjust the plan.
• Plan the exercise and exercise the plan.
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According to Luther Gulick (in Shafritz and Hyde
2007, 79-87), the chief executive is responsible for the following:
• Planning: Purpose is translated into the program.
• Organizing: All operations into a structural process.
• Staffing: Recruiting and selecting qualified personnel.
• Directing: Is the giving of orders and accepting the responsibility.
• Coordinating: Developing a functional team that is held together by a set of core ideas.
• Reporting: This requires informing all personnel involved in the process.
• Budgeting: This requires financial oversight, accountability on the part of government, and the continuous acquisition of resources.
Known as: POSDCORB
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Training: The Basics
• Develop and write the plan,
• Train with the plan,
• Critique the Plan,
• Revise the Plan,
• Train Again.
Note: This process can overlap.
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• Introduction
• Purpose
• Situation and
Assumptions
• Concept of
Operations
• Timelines
• Organization and
Assignment of
Responsibilities
• Administration and
Logistics
• Maintenance of
Operations
• Authorities and
References
• Finance and Budgeting
• Documents and
Definitions
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• Tabletop Exercise: The purpose is to review the EM plan, the implementation strategy, and the coordination needed to implement the plan.
• Functional Exercise: Once familiar with the process, then you must move onto a realistic evaluation of the EOC activation. FEMA wants to test stress factors (type of activity, true constraints, problem complexity, multiple events, etc.) in all operational areas.
• Full-Scale Exercise: The entire capacity of the Emergency Operations Plan
(EOP) will be tested. FEMA requires jurisdictions accepting FEMA funds to conduct a functional exercise in each of three years of a four-year period.
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Who and What are the Targets of Financial Support?
 Federal Government: The largest pocketbook.
 State Government: On source an pass through funding.
 Local Government: Under-funded and overstretched.

Grants-in-aid: A more competitive source of revenue.
 Philanthropic/Foundation Support:
Attractive source, yet this areas is becoming more competitive.
 Charities/Nonprofit Organizations:
Probably the most willing, yet the source with the least resources.
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What are the Essentials:
• Liability Insurance: “Murphy’s Law” is rather optimistic when it comes to emergencies. Get insurance.
• Contracts: Personnel, operations, and equipment require contracts to protect all involved in the EM process.
• Emergency Declaration: From local ordinances to national declaration, all EM action extends from this item.
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• As all politics are local, so is emergency management, until a state or national emergency is declared by the appropriate authorities.
• Keep in mind that you will have to survive and operate on your own for a time until additional assistance arrives.
• The local Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is key.
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The Organization:
• DHS, FEMA and other organizations have produced organizational charts, graphs, and designs that will enable you to design your organization to fit your needs and budget.
• Note: funding can change the makeup of your organization. Communication systems are dated when you take them “out of the box.” Finally, technology is ever changing as are the costs.
Organize in such a way that if technology/communications fail, you can still accomplish the mission.
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• EOCs have a physical location
• EOCs provide multi-agency coordination
• EOCs help to form a common operating picture
• EOC core functions include:
1.
Coordination (above)
2. Communications
3.
Resource Allocation & Tracking
4.
Information Collection
5.
Analysis
6.
Dissemination
Pre-planning & Training cannot be overemphasized
Systems like WebEOC can provide a valuable tool for organizing and running an EOC
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• While having your local EOC in order is important, access to equipment in an emergency is paramount. Not all equipment that is needed may be stored and maintained in your own facilities.
• Where are the things we will need for an emergency?
• Who can operate this equipment and do we have backup personnel?
• Cost—what are the costs of operation?
• Contacts, who are the key points of contact (name and phone numbers of local personnel, other cooperating governments and nongovernmental resources) for the equipment?
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*Sample EOC Organizational Chart
Liaison
• Agency Representatives
• Community Based Organizations
EOC Director
EOC Coordinator
Safety Officer
Security Officer
Public Information Officer
Operations
Fire & Rescue
Law Enforcement
Construction/Engineering
Health & Welfare
Planning/
Intelligence
Situation Analysis
Documentation
Advance Planning
Demobilization
Technical Specialists
Logistics
Communications
Transportation
Personnel
Supply/Procurement
Facilities
Resource Tracking
Finance/
Administration
Time Keeping
Cost Accounting
Compensation/Claims
Purchasing
Recovery
* Adapted from <http://www.oes.ca.gov/Operational/OESHome.nsf/PDF/SEMS%20ACI%20-%20EOC%20COURSE%20-
%20EOC%20LG%20Handbook%20-%20Finance/$file/EOC%20LG%20Handbook%20-%20Finance.pdf>

• Chain of Responsibility: you must consider the viability of having a sign in/out roster for the equipment in order to know where the equipment is and who is responsible for it.
• Upgrades and Repairs: You must maintain a maintenance schedule for all of your equipment and designate personnel who have authority and responsibility for maintaining the equipment.
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 Governor or President makes declaration
 The National Response
Framework (NRF), Federal
Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) & the National
Incident Management System
(NIMS)
 State & National coordination
& integration
 Stay informed and trained in the larger response apparatus.
You may need it someday!
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LouisianaCommunityNetwork.org
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