Foundations of Emergency Managers’ Commitment

Communication is a vital resource for emergency management, and still, it may fluctuate during disasters. Emergency managers (EM) process a lot of information coming their way to absorb, decipher, and disseminate. Contact may include information concerning alerts, warnings, evacuation, curfews, protection, status, family, assistance, etc. Critical knowledge has the potential to impact response and recovery.

Plans and preparations help to mitigate responses and recovery. It is essential to include crisis communication in the continued development of a readiness program. The degree to which people respond to a warning becomes shaped by numerous circumstances, including personalities and opinions, whether the information originates from a trustworthy expert, the way the news denotes presented, and the words themselves.

Do not reassure people unfoundedly, be honest, ‘we do not know, we are sorry we do not know, we feel terrible we do not know and we are all in this together,’ is a better message than trying to act like one knows something they do not (U.

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S. DHHS, 2012).

One needs to have impeccable communication skills when managing an emergency incident. Test messages so when people listen to them, there is little to no margin for error, there may exist countless different ways to interpret or respond to them. Inadequate internal and external communications can cause an operation and its responses to crumble. It is imperative that the public understands what is occurring, resources offered, needed, and how to implement procedures. One objective is for stakeholders to know what is happening to avoid growing confusion, anger, or adverse reactions.

Communication issues will extend the resolution time and add to the stress of the shareholders; possibly negatively affecting the economics and infrastructure of the area. The goal is to save lives, reduce injury, preserve the environment, protect property, educate, inform, reunite families, instill confidence, inspire trust, acquire cooperation, aid in a strategic response, etc.

The communications team should remain aware that communications in an emergency with stakeholders involve efficient two-way exchanges through public safety,  radio, television, interviews, web, and media (U.S. DHHS, 2012). Preparedness ProgramReadiness requires constant and consistent implementation, improvement, and updates of plans, resources, training, exercises, and organizations. An EM needs to have the skills and ability to form and create long-lasting partnerships with those in the area that may add to the preparedness processes. Many levels of government play a role in emergency management by supplementing resources at the local, tribal, state, or federal levels including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), etc.

Nonprofit and Private Sectors also play a role in supplementing resources; some provide food, shelter, equipment, communication, technical, infrastructure, economic, emotional, medical support, etc. In an incident, there are Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), Citizen Corps, Fire Corps, Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), USAonWatch, Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS), etc. who add to supplementing resources. Individuals and households play their role by being prepared and self-sufficient, disaster proofing, planning, emergency kit, sharing information with friends and family, by taking emergency response training courses, etc.

The whole community is a means by which residents, emergency management practitioners, organizations, neighborhood leaders, and government officials may collectively understand and assess the needs of their respective communities to decide the best way to organize and strengthen their assets, capacities, and interests (FEMA, 2018). Continuity of Operations (COOP)One of the operation plans used is the COOP. The goal of the COOP is to make sure that all the essential emergency operations are still available after the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) incident has occurred. Planning out the hospital, fire, police, emergency medical services (EMS) operations, etc. to do duties for the public and to continue 911 use. The incident action plan (IAP) bases the COOP method on significant developments such as preparedness, management, equipment, communications, technology, information, resources, and maintenance.

By efficiently implementing planning, training, exercises, qualifications, certificates, acquisition, accreditation, and publication management processes, standards, and activities. It is essential to know what teams are necessary to do fundamental duties throughout a WMD incident. Preparation may include working with surrounding cities counties, states, etc. in situations where there are not sufficient resources. Testing and training help to support 24/7 and 365 awareness and preparedness creating a shared consciousness that is not just on paper. Interagency cooperation and cohesiveness among roles and leadership are further practiced and maintained (PublicResourceOrg, 2008).