Hurricane Katrina Research Papers

Hurricane Katrina. The World Trade Center Attacks on 9/11/01. Daily responses to critical incidents across the nation. Each of these things is a unique incident, in itself, but they all have something in common: those responding to incidents like these need to have a plan in order to be successful. Benjamin Franklin has been credited with saying, "by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. ” A good, organized plan can often mean the difference between failure and success, or even life and death. A thorough, organized plan is good, but a plan that is adaptable to almost any emergency situation is something that will be used more regularly and therefore be more likely to succeed when the time comes. Major organizations, cities, even
states have Emergency Operations Plans that they can fall back on when emergencies occur. On the national level, we have the National Incident Management System. “NIMS provides a systematic, proactive approach to guide departments and agencies at all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to work seamlessly to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of incidents, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity, in order to reduce the loss of life and property and harm to the environment. ” From NIMS, responding agencies have the Incident Command System (ICS) which is the base plan from which we can prepare for, mitigate, and respond to natural or man-made disasters, terror attacks, or Weapons of Mass Destruction attacks.

Preparation is the key to success in operations. A haphazard or unorganized response to any emergency situation will only meet with limited success and could meet with dire circumstances. ICS helps responders pre-plan for emergencies, catastrophes, or terror attacks on the nation. Responding organizations can use intelligence and other information gathering to perform risk assessments, surveillance (when deemed necessary), and check for vulnerabilities in structures, security, and other areas. “Within NIMS, preparedness focuses on the following elements: planning; procedures and protocols; training and exercises; personnel qualifications, licensure, and certification; and equipment certification. ” A good plan that prepares an agency to respond to a natural disaster (tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes for example) can be used to help plan for a response to just about any other major incident (like concerts, professional football games, active shooter situations). Preplanning can also include the hardening of targets in a specific area. NIMS and ICS give a good base for these plans in that there is an emphasis on pre-planning, training, and personnel/equipment certification. With this type of preparation before a major incident, responding agencies can have the personnel and equipment/resources in place and ready to respond.

Mitigation is just as important a preparation and response. This part of NIMS and ICS provides for things like education and training in the time before a disaster strikes. An example of this is the old earthquake drills that many had to go through during school in California in the 70’s and 80’s. In these drills, students would be given the command to “drop.” They would respond by getting under their desks in a semi-fetal position with their heads near the ground and hands covering their heads. This was a simple drill, but one that every school-aged child in California know and would no doubt perform perfectly if an earthquake struck while they were in class. This drill was part of the training used in the mitigation of the effects of earthquakes on children and teachers in schools in California. It was meant to help save lives in the event of a major earthquake. “Mitigation activities are essential elements of preparedness and provide a critical foundation across the incident management spectrum from prevention through response and recovery. ” Another example of mitigation would be the hardening of possible terrorist targets using information gathering and intelligence. By using the intelligence gathered, commanders can decide on how to harden specific targets and prioritize which potential targets would be the ones that terrorists would benefit from the most. Through this mitigation process, administrators can educate the public, change or retrofit buildings as necessary, and even use local zoning laws to ensure that the public they serve is ready in the event of a major incident. With this mitigation, the potential for saving more lives and properties is multiplied.

Sometimes an emergency comes with some warning, like a hurricane coming in from the coast.
Other times, emergencies come without any warning, like a terrorist attack. In any case, once the emergency has begun, it is time for responders to act. ICS helps responding agencies perform in a coordinated and effective manner. This response ranges from the initial response to the emergency, adjustments during the days after the initial response, and the on-going coordination of efforts, resources, and supplies well after the initial portion of the response. The plan helps federal, state, local, and tribal agencies work together smoothly and with an extensive list of other agencies that depends on the severity and circumstances of the situation at hand. “ICS is the combination of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures, and communications operating within a common organizational structure, designed to aid in the management of resources during incidents. It is used for all kinds of emergencies and is applicable to small as well as large and complex incidents. ” With the use of ICS during an emergency response, plans are developed, implemented, reviewed, and rewritten as necessary to get the mission completed in a safe and efficient manner. NIMS and ICS both help administrators to identify, categorize, deploy, and maintain the personnel and resources needed to accomplish the
mission.

Every organization needs to have a good plan in place for dealing with emergencies.
This plan needs to be flexible and applicable to many diverse types of situations to help coordinate and facilitate the proper response to different emergencies. Law enforcement teams and military units have operational orders. Companies and cities have Emergency Operations Plans. Since the late 70’s federal, state, local, and tribal agencies have ICS. “The Incident Command System (ICS) is a standardized management tool for meeting the demands of small or large emergency or non-emergency situations. It may be used for planned events, natural disasters, and acts of terrorism. ” ICS is comprised of numerous parts including Planning, Operations, Logistics, usually run out of an Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Each EOC is split into different sections, with each section responsible for its own part of the operation (IE: Planning, Operations, Logistics, Administration, and Finance). ICS deals with the “who, what, where, when, why, and how” of emergency response. It starts with preparedness before a major incident. This involves identifying the different types of threats to a community (natural and man-made disasters, terrorist attacks, etc.). In mitigation, agencies work with communities prior to a major incident. These communities often receive training in the proper response to threats. They may also receive help in hardening potential targets of terrorist acts. In responding to
major incidents, agencies can rely on the plans within ICS to help with a smoother response and coordination of resources. With this type of planning system, emergency responders can better respond to different situations, whether they be “daily” emergencies such as fires or traffic collisions or major incidents like earthquakes, hurricanes, or a WMD incident.