You must
then post two replies of at least 250 words by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Sunday of the
assigned Module: Week. For each thread, you must support your assertions with
at least two scholarly citations in APA format. Each reply must incorporate at
least two scholarly citation (s) in APA format. Any sources cited must have
been published within the last five years. Acceptable sources include the textbook,
peer-reviewed journal articles, government sources, professional association
websites, etc.
Response 1 (Kayla Hix): Response and recovery are often matters of life and death. Preplanning is part of response and recovery. Your boss loved the work you did in the Discussion Thread: Understanding Mitigation and Preparedness. You have just been appointed the new emergency manager for your agency. Before you, no one did anything in this area. Your boss calls you back in and wants to know where to start and what to do regarding these functional areas. (He or she is concerned with the agency itself, not so much the community or customers you serve at this point.)
Tell us what you would tell your boss and how you would go about this task. Be specific and detailed.
Your boss is going to move forward based on what you tell him or her. This includes many things, such as response, recovery, and all of their sub-components, such as but not limited to redundancy, resiliency, continuity of operations planning, training, equipping, budgeting, etc. You only get one chance to get it right with your boss to start all of this off correctly. Be detailed. (For this post, you do not need to cover mitigation or preparedness functions again.) What does the Bible say about response and recovery?
Response and Recovery
Response is the immediate reaction driven by the effort to save lives. Our ability to respond is a direct reflection of our organization. Implementing proper protocols and procedures will allow for our response to a disaster to be more effective and efficient. Recovery is restoration or the process of repair. An important aspect of this step is enhancing the current state or saving lives. In some cases, people or assets may never completely recover after a disaster. It is our responsibility to aid and provide resources so that communities can begin to rebuild themselves back to where they were before the disaster.
Redundancy and Resiliency
Redundancy is when there are duplicate components that cover similar bases if one course of action fails. Examples of this would be having multiple vendors and trucking companies on standby for logistical resupply in the event of a hurricane. It would be a good practice to not only resource different companies, but also ensure that their suppliers come from different geographical regions. This will not only mitigate the sourcing availability, but also the route clearance on roadways. Resiliency measures the ability in which we adapt to changing conditions and recover from a disturbance. Internally, we must ensure that our critical infrastructure is operable before we can begin to lend aid to those in need (Resilience, 2021).
Continuity of Operations
Continuity of operations consists of six decision elements that will affect how the government will function after a disaster. We will want to ensure we have adequate alternative sites to continue operations in the event we lose the primary sources. There will need to be an abundance of trained and equipped personnel to carry out the mission at hand. As stated previously when discussing mitigation and preparedness, being proactive and efficient in the workplace will play a huge role in our overall success. The welfare of those around us in our community will need to be prevalent and seen as important by those we are here to serve. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (John 4:11). It is our responsibility to be there and help others through trying times. Service to one another is a service to God. We must remain flexible in order to adapt to the current state around us. This could consist of working longer hours or even possibly covering down for another section that needs additional helping hands. There will need to be outlined succession of authority implemented in the event that someone is no longer able to fulfil their duties. Lastly, we must ensure our systems and processes are up to speed and in working order so that we can track trends and logistics to help better prepare us down the road. These decision-making elements feed into the four phases of continuity operations activation. Phase I is readiness and preparedness. Phase II is activation and relocation. These are the plans and procedures put into place receiving full execution. Phase III is continuity operations, the execution of operations at alternate facilities. Phase IV is reconstruction, the conclusion of operations at an alternative facility and normal operations resume (DHS, 2021).
Planning, Training and Equipping
Our ability to plan, train and equip our personnel plays a huge role in the overall effectiveness of our response to the event and the manner in which we recover. Departments will need to ensure training requirements are fulfilled to the lowest level and that refresher courses are completed within the obligated timeframe. While the budget is already in use at this stage, there will be analysis and forecasting continuously to maintain resourcing and projectability. In the event of a disaster, the government or other agencies lend aid that will not play a factor in the initial forecast thus relieving stressors across the affected area. Although we all hope that a disaster will not arise, this step will allow us to better prepare for a similar event in the future.
Christian World View
“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5). We all face trying times in life. We must know that through our suffering, we become stronger and our ability to overcome struggles is greatened. Things will happen in life that will force us to respond, and it will be up to us and our relationship with the Lord to influence our recovery.
Word Count:755
References
DHS. (2021, September 13). Continuity of Operations/Government. DHS. Retrieved May 9, 2022 from https://www.in.gov/dhs/emergency-management-and-preparedness/continuity/
Resilience. Resilience | Homeland Security. (2021, November 13). Retrieved May 9, 2022, from https://www.dhs.gov/topics/resilience
The Holy Bible. (2011). Collins.
Response 2 (Richard Wilson): Response and Recovery
The last two phases of emergency management is Response and Recovery. The Response phase of FEMA’s mission is stated as, “Leading and coordinating efforts to maintain capabilities necessary to respond to and stabilize effects of incidents, regardless of hazard.” This phase is meant to minimize the damage caused by an event such as a natural disaster or a terror attack. Quickly eliminating or containing the threat to prevent loss of life or material and allow recovery operations to begin. The Recovery phase of FEMA’s mission is stated as, “To provide assistance to individuals and communities overwhelmed by all hazards, including acts of terrorism, natural disasters or other emergencies” (FEMA, 2022). This phase is vital for the future security and survival of the community, costing the most financially as well as time intensive.
Emergency Action Plan
As the newly appointed emergency manager for this agency, I would assess our capabilities for the response phase after using the “all hazards” approach. Exploring each course of action of how we would respond to common and more probable hazards, while taking into account the most deadly hazards however unlikely they may be, I would rank the threats by priority. The most probable hazards are specific to our region, taking the highest priority as they threaten our organization. Our organization must take a National Incident Management System (NIMS) approach, it must be flexible, standardized, and unified (NIMS, 2017). These guiding principles can scale our response down to a specific group or area within our agency, will create standard operating procedures (SOPs) that will foster cohesion during the response, and united in achieving our common goals during a crisis.
Redundancy and Resiliency
We must create a culture of redundancy, meaning even if one part of the system fails, the rest can keep going. This can be especially important in transportation, having multiple routes, modes of transpartation (land, air, sea), communication, power sources, etc. In our organization, that would mean coordinating with other agencies to provide multiple evacuation procedures, investing in communications from land lines to hand held radios, and backup generators (Dzigbede, 2020). This also creates resiliency in the organization. There is always another course of action in this culture of preparedness. Establishing clear emergency action plans, advanced notice when possible, and focusing on continuing operations even after the incident has passed (FEMA, 2022).
Continuing Operations
Focusing on continuing operations is at the heart of our response and recovery effort. Establishing an Incident Command spot that is close enough to observe the event while safely away, we will establish communications to make contact with the victims as well as coordinate support for them. Deploying communications equipment, establishing an area for those who are displaced, providing generators to back up our main power source, and cordon the area appropriately would be our primary goals. Once established, plans would be made for alternate locations for command posts, as well as a hierarchy for the designated Incident Commander. Our minimum emergency response personnel can vet people away from the incident, as well as gain information that can be critical to current operations (Dzigbede, 2020). Knowing the extent of injuries on the scene will expedite medical emergency response, as well as details that could be benificial for Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD), Fire Emergency Response, Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Response, and more. Having a mobile command post would be ideal and well worth the investment for the exact reasons stated above.
Training
All personnel within the agency will not only be aware of the plans in the event of a disaster, but will undergo quarterly training as well as an annual week-long rehearsal. Training for Emergency Management Personnel will be very regular as they will rehearse multiple Emergency Action Plans (EAPs) quarterly, with SOPs constantly being updated. The Emergency Management Team will coordinate regularly withoutside emergency organizations to exercise different EAPs. This will of course feed into the recovery efforts of the organization as operations continue. The short and long term goals of our recovery effort is centered around containing the disaster and getting the organization back to its original status before the disaster if possible.
Equipping and Budget
Equipping the Emergency Management Team appropriately based off the most probable hazards is the biggest priority. In the case of an active shooter or terror threat, having bullet proof vests/plates that can stop a commonly used 5.56mm round, giving the team (if accredited with a LEOSA or other form of training) the latest issued weapons with appropriate ammunition, an armored mobile command post for the Incident Commander or lethal shooter situation. Providing emergency response equipment such as fire extinguishers (up to building code), Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs), body bags, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and light towers, etc. (Dzigbede, 2020). This equipment request is a lot to ask at first for the budget, slowly gaining and maintaining it overtime would be the best course of action going off our priority list. What we need right now is too expensive, we must coordinate with other agencies or the federal government. Once we have the core of what we need to meet our top threats, a balanced budget that prioritizes maintaining or replacing old equipment and adding new capabilities should be about 70% to 30%.
Biblical Perspective
When looking through the lens of Response and Recovery, a few key verses come to mind in Isaiah. The response and recovery phase comes across to the victims as hope, as God’s redemption for our struggle. Isaiah 40:31 states, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” God promises not only to restore what was lost but more in Isaiah 61:7, “Instead of your shame you will receive double portion, and instead of your disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.”
References
Dzigbede, K. D., Gehl, S. B., & Willoughby, K. (2020). Disaster resiliency of U.S. local governments: Insights to Strengthen local response and recovery from the COVID‐19 pandemic. Public Administration Review, 80(4), 634-643. https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/doi/full/10.1111/puar.13249
FEMA. (2017). National Incident Management System. FEMA.gov. Retrieved 07 June, 2022, from https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/fema_nims_doctrine-2017.pdf
FEMA. (2021). National response framework. FEMA.gov. Retrieved 07 June, 2022, from https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/national-preparedness/frameworks/response
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