Emergency Management Professionals Research Articles

Why do people not prepare for disasters? A national survey from China

Limited studies investigated the reasons for not adopting specific preparedness actions. This paper addresses this gap using national survey data from China. Seven disaster preparedness actions are used to measure preparedness behaviors, including “preparing food and water at home,” “paying attention to disaster-related information,” “making emergency plans,” “being aware of nearest shelters,” “being aware of building codes,” “participating in exercises or drills,” and “volunteering for emergencies.” The primary reasons for not adopting are “lack of awareness,” “not knowing where to buy or reach resources,” and “perceiving the action as unnecessary.” Other less chosen reasons ranking from high to low are the “financial cost,” “need for special knowledge,” “lack of time,” “need for collaboration with others,” “human energy consuming,” and “not feeling responsible.” Trust in government, relocation due to disasters, living in urban areas, and higher socioeconomic status are positively correlated with higher probabilities of adopting all seven preparedness activities. These findings emphasize the importance of community outreach by emergency management professionals to increase public awareness of disaster preparedness.

Code of Ethics and Professional Standards of Conduct for Emergency Management Professionals.

The Code of Ethics and Professional Standards of Conduct for Emergency Management Professionals (2022) was recently created to further delineate the ethical boundaries and conduct expectations for professional emergency management practice. Significantly, the code of ethics provides an essential foundation toward recognition as a profession with hallmarks of monopoly, autonomy, and authority. The code and standards of conduct establish a clear definition of the role emergency management has in overseeing a complex, diverse risk portfolio that protects lives, livelihoods, and quality of life. The document captures the intent, challenges, dimensions, and significance of emergency management practice in a rapidly changing world and brings ethics to the forefront of decisions. This article speaks to the discursive dialogue toward, methodological development of, and future tools for integrating into practice the Code of Ethics and Professional Standards of Conduct for Emergency Management Professionals.

Representative bureaucracy and COVID‐19 among local emergency response professionals

AbstractThis article considers the opinions of local emergency management professionals with regard to the response of the US federal government to the COVID‐19 pandemic. The responses to a survey from May/June 2020 demonstrate that these feelings, ranging from highly successful to extremely poor, are reflective of the culture at large in the nation. The study will examine whether the feelings expressed by local officials are reflective of prevailing political leanings of their constituency, measured as the presidential voting habits from 2000 to 2020 in the respondent's jurisdiction. This will extend Hildebrand's (2020) testing which linked the emergency management field to the theory of “representative bureaucracy.” This theory surmises that government actors will be reflective of their body politic in their behavior and attitudes toward federal initiatives. The findings suggest that those who represent “Strong Republican” jurisdictions have greater odds in rating the federal response as being effective, and that those from “Strong Democrat” locations will have greater odds in rating the federal response as not effective at all. Statistical testing also suggests that as the population of the jurisdiction increases, the less likely the respondent was to consider the federal response to COVID‐19 effective.

Challenges in managing emergency offshore: A comparison of offshore and onshore perspectives

Three segments, which are the upstream, midstream, and downstream, make up the oil and gas business. At each stage of these oil and gas operations, there are differences in hazard and risk management that affect emergency management. Offshore emergency management presents more challenges compared to onshore emergency management, this is largely due to the remote and harsh environment, limited resources, and potential risk to human lives. The type of emergency also affects the level of challenge faced by offshore and onshore emergency management. The Covid-19 pandemic has had a major impact on effective emergency management in the oil and gas industry, requiring companies to adapt and adjust their emergency response plans, procedures, and technology to ensure the safety of personnel and the public while maintaining effective emergency management capabilities. The main objective of this study is to identify the challenges of emergency management and compare the offshore and onshore emergency management processes based on the element of effective emergency management. Document review using the PRISMA analysis was applied to compare offshore and onshore emergency management based on a review of 22 articles. The PRISMA analysis identified 22 relevant studies that covered a range of topics related to emergency management, including command structures, planning and information management, communication, situation awareness, and resources and logistics. Thereafter, the face validity method was used to examine the perspective of 10 emergency management professionals to validate these findings. Offshore and onshore facilities both possess different risks in emergency situations. Based on the results, it is essential to manage command structure, planning, information management, communication, situation awareness, resources, and logistics during disaster response and recovery stages. These five elements are critical to emergency management. Both offshore and onshore emergency management have their own unique challenges in resource constraints, weather conditions, accessibility and communication.

Resilience in complex disasters: Florida's hurricane preparedness, response, and recovery amid COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic and active hurricane seasons posed complex challenges for coastal communities, requiring innovative and adaptive emergency management approaches. Using in-depth interviews with Florida emergency management professionals, this study examines emerging challenges and strategies implemented by governmental and nonprofit agencies during the hurricane-pandemic compound disasters of the 2020 and 2021 hurricane seasons. Our findings reveal the interconnectedness of challenges across different disasters and their interplay with existing vulnerabilities. We find that social distancing due to COVID-19 strained human and financial resources for hurricane preparedness, response, and recovery. Moreover, the increased remote work due to COVID-19 increased reliance on information communication technologies (ICTs), which intensified the negative impacts of the existing urban-rural digital divide in Florida. These ICT challenges impeded inter-agency collaboration and external funding for rural communities, further amplifying disparities in hurricane response and recovery. Our study also uncovers multifaceted strategies addressing competing priorities between hurricane evacuation and COVID-19 prevention, resource limitations, information and communication gaps, and collaboration challenges. These insights provide practical guidance to coastal communities to enhance future preparedness and response efforts in hurricane-pandemic compounding disasters.

An Emergency Management Building Resilience Using IBM SPSS Statistics

Emergency Management, Introduction: You will learn about emergency management throughout this four-week course, which will help you better plan for, handle, and recover from crises.You will be given examples of risk and disaster response throughout the course to assist you acquire familiar with the underlying ideas. Moreover, Massey University-affiliated emergency management professionals with an international reputation will teach you. Several of the specialists you may encounter have experience with crises like the 2011 Canterbury earthquake. Research significance: Despite its name, emergency management does not actually concentrate on managing crises, which are generally thought of as minor incidents with minimal effects that are handled through routine community activities. The management of catastrophes, that are events that have more effects than what a society can manage on its own, is the primary focus of emergency management. It is common for disaster management to involve efforts from a variety of groups, including households, organizations, local governments, and/or higher governments. Although there are numerous terminology used in the emergency management field, the operations can generally be divided into preparation, response, mitigation, and recovery. Other phrases like risk reduction for disasters and prevention are also. Methodology: The brand name for the most recent versions is IBM SPSS statistics. The "statistical package for the social sciences" (SPSS), a set of software tools for changing, analyzing, and displaying data, is commonly used. Multiple formats are available for SPSS. Evaluation parameters: Hazard Analysis, Capability Assessment, Emergency Planning, Emergency Response, Capability Management, Recovery Efforts Results: The Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability result. The overall Cronbach’s Alpha value for the model is .529 which indicates 52% reliability. From the literature review, the above 50% Cronbach’s Alpha value model can be considered for analysis. Conclusion: the outcome of Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability. The model’s total Cronbach’s Alpha score is.529, which denotes a 52% dependability level. The 50% Cronbach’s Alpha value model mentioned above from the literature review may be used for analysis.

WHEN DISASTER STRIKES: ADDRESSING THE UNIQUE NEEDS OLDER ADULTS FACE IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS

Abstract Older adults are more at risk for harm in emergency situations (e.g., pandemics, natural disasters, extreme weather events) and often require more assistance in response and recovery efforts. The COVID-19 pandemic and the increase in climate related emergencies has emphasized the critical need to prepare and respond more effectively to the unique needs of older adults in emergency situations. There is much that community-based seniors serving (CBSS) organizations, emergency management professionals, and local governments can do to develop and implement policies, programs, and practices to effectively support the needs of older adults in emergency preparedness and response. In British Columbia, the COVID-19 pandemic and recent extreme weather events (i.e., forest fires, flooding, and heat waves) have prompted the development of an intentional network strategy for emergency preparedness and response. This innovative approach, which is coordinated by United Way British Columbia, has allowed for increased communication, coordination, collaboration, peer learning, and knowledge translation among CBSS agencies, as well as partner organizations, allied professionals, and other stakeholders. This presentation describes our comprehensive approach to supporting communities to understand and address the specific needs of older adults in emergency planning and management, including: 1) community grants and capacity building; 2) tools and resource development; 3) policies and rights-based strategies; and 4) fostering collaboration between CBSS agencies, emergency management professionals, and all levels of government. Examples are also provided illustrating how these approaches have been utilized in British Columbia to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and severe weather events.

Infrastructure planning emergency levels of service for the Wellington region, Aotearoa New Zealand – An operationalised framework

‘Planning Emergency Levels of Service’ (PELOS) are goals for the delivery of infrastructure services following a major hazard event, such as an earthquake or flood. This paper presents an operationalised PELOS framework for the Wellington region based on interviews with emergency and critical infrastructure managers and discusses important changes from the preliminary to the operationalised framework. A shared understanding of these PELOS will help Wellington region infrastructure providers, emergency management professionals and the potentially impacted communities plan for major events. PELOS for the energy, telecommunications, transport, and water sectors have been developed, and high-level interdependencies considered. The PELOS framework can be updated for other regions, by the critical infrastructure entities and emergency managers, using locally relevant hazard scenarios. In turn, this approach can inform the end-users (communities) of the goals of the critical infrastructure providers following a major hazard event.

Surveying mental health stressors of emergency management professionals: Factors in recruiting and retaining emergency managers in an era of disasters and pandemics.

Emergency managers are responsible for managing crises and disasters, and while their work is essential, it can be stressful and impact their mental health, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to examine the mental health of professional emergency managers and factors associated with their intent to leave the field before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 903 respondents completed an online survey assessing their secondary traumatic stress, emergency reaction strategies, organizational culture, age, length of time in primary position, the highest level of education as well as other metrics. The Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS) was used to determine scores of secondary traumatic stress symptoms, and the Emergency Reaction Questionnaire (ERQ) index was used to evaluate levels of predominant personality types and its tendency towards "fight or flight" reactions in emergency situations. Results revealed significant differences among respondents who reported considering leaving the field before or during the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of secondary traumatic stress scores, ERQ levels, perceived organizational culture (OC), age category, length of time in primary position, and the highest level of education (p < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis indicated that respondents with higher secondary traumatic stress scores, poorer organizational culture, younger age, less experience, and a bachelor's degree had nearly three times the odds of reporting considering leaving the field (p < 0.05). Additionally, respondents with a graduate degree had nearly four times the odds of reporting leaving the field (p < 0.05), while those who had directly managed between three and five disasters had nearly two times the odds of reporting and considering leaving the field (p < 0.05). These findings underscore the importance of addressing secondary traumatic stress, promoting positive organizational culture, and providing support for emergency managers now and in the future. By addressing the factors identified in this study, such as secondary traumatic stress symptoms, promoting positive organizational culture, and providing adequate support, emergency management organizations can improve the mental health and well-being of their personnel, reduce attrition rates, and ensure that they are better equipped to respond to future crises.

Leadership in collaborative emergency management for compound hurricane‐pandemic threats: Insights from practitioners' experiences

AbstractEmergency management is a key government function for mitigating risks and reducing the impacts of disasters. Emergency management leaders play a critical role in preparing for and responding to disasters whose impacts are exacerbated by a pandemic. Using the example of the compound threat of hurricanes and the COVID‐19 pandemic, this qualitative research uses insights from emergency management professionals to describe collaborative approaches and leadership skills that help balance the needs for stability and flexibility. Data collected using focus groups and one‐on‐one interviews with emergency management professionals highlight that collaboration involved existing and new partners in a changing and uncertain environment that challenged traditional leadership of emergency management. The study develops understanding of how emergency management leaders navigate the tension between stability and flexibility in this different collaborative emergency management context involving a compound hurricane‐pandemic threat. Findings show that emergency management leaders leverage the stability of established partnerships, plans, and processes to bring in new partners with needed expertise, adjust based on new information, and meet specific COVID‐19 information needs. They utilize several skills to balance stability and flexibility including developing shared vision, stakeholder engagement, strategic thinking, adaptability, communication, and coordination.

The cycle of disparity: A gap analysis of emergency management and information technology.

Emergency management (EM) requires an appropriate understanding of its situational context in real time. This involves constant communication between emergency operations and administration, so that informed, coordinated decisions can be made in a constantly changing environment using the most critical and updated information. Challenges in EM include adapting to rapidly changing technologies, adoption, and communication. The goal of this needs assessment is to examine how the effective collection and communication of information has been affected by the technology developed to support it, to identify critical disconnects between emergency management professionals and information technology and telecommunications (ITT) professionals, and to identify opportunities for improved application and user interface development. The methods for this qualitative analysis enumerate and categorize some of the communication challenges faced by the EM community as identified by interviews conducted with subject matter experts using the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats technique. This study finds that the absence of ITT professionals with experience in emergency response and, conversely, the absence of EM professionals working in EM application development create a "cycle of disparity," where the key findings of this study both arise from one central input and feed into to each of the other key findings in a continuous cycle, reinforcing what threats and weaknesses already exist.

Evaluating the “whole community” concept based on the national response to COVID‐19

AbstractThis article summarizes an 18‐month study of the national response to the COVID‐19 pandemic as viewed from the individual perspectives of a team of local emergency management professionals. The research project evaluated the COVID‐19 response based on a concept articulated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a “whole community approach” to disaster preparedness and public health, which became the de facto organizing structure for the COVID‐19 national response. The research project identifies significant deficiencies in implementation of that concept, and offers some recommendations for defining a true “whole community approach” to public health and safety as a mitigation strategy against future national‐scale civic emergencies.

Stressors and Mental Health Survey of Emergency Management Professionals

Emergency Managers (EMs) have a unique set of mental health stressors compared to other professions. Early 2019 anecdotal information from the field combined with data from a Journal of Emergency Management (JEM) Higher Ed Survey conducted in 2017 suggested an accelerating rate of Emergency Managers leaving the field for other professions or leaving the field completely. Additional communication from practitioners in the field, before and during the pandemic, suggested that these unique stressors on EMs were compounding the exodus from the field.&#x0D; Trained seasoned EMs do not emerge from higher ed but are the product of years of higher education and experiential knowledge. The current rate of departure portents a shortage of trained EMs in the near future.&#x0D; The JEM Stressors and Mental Health Survey (SMHS) was designed to quantify the mental health of emergency managers using the validated Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS). The Emergency Response Questionnaire (ERQ), a validated survey, is used to confirm personality type of the respondent. Organizational type, education, and many other factors are assessed to determine their effect on the EM’s mental health, their ability to function efficiently and effectively, and their propensity to leave the field.&#x0D; The data collected will be used to establish baselines and support analysis and research on how we can better lead, support, recruit, retain, and grow as emergency management professionals and organizations capable of meeting the increasing demands of tomorrow.

Supporting the Emergency Management Pipeline: How Institutions of Higher Education can Increase the Emergency Management Career Goal for Students to Enhance Disaster Preparedness and Response Globally

Introduction:The local, national, and global disasters have increased the demand for Emergency Management professionals. Institutions of higher education can play a key role to support and respond to this demand. One institution of higher education responding to this demand is Anna Maria College (AMC). AMC is a four-year, independent, Catholic institution accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, which was formerly known as the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Established in 1946 by the Sisters of Saint Anne, the College was founded to increase access to quality education, educational innovation, and respect for service to others through development of the total human being. AMC offers exceptional professional programs at all degree levels, especially in community-oriented professions, propelling students to lives of civic, spiritual, and personal consequence. Based on the number of public safety majors and their networks, an area of interest has become how the college could contribute and respond to the demand for emergency managers.Method:These search resources were used: Chronicle, HigherEd jobs, Indeed, GoogleScholar Emergency Management majors curriculum, with searches from 2012 onward. Keywords used included emergency management jobs, higher education emergency management curriculum, public safety and community networking, disaster, and emergency preparedness, and filling the emergency management pipeline.Results:Data collection and analysis planned for completion by February 2023.Conclusion:Higher education can support the pipeline to narrow the gap and respond to the demands for trained and educated community members in disaster and emergency preparedness. Higher education responses include strategies such as, creative emergency management curriculum and community networking.

Integrating Response Plans for Burn Mass Casualty Incidents

Introduction:Across the United States (US), there are approximately 2,000 burn beds in 133 burn centers, only 72 of which are verified by the American Burn Association (ABA). As such, many areas in the US are hundreds of miles from the closest burn center. Eight states do not have a burn center, and another 11 do not have an ABA-verified center. Further, the average center has 15 beds, and, on average, there are 90 available beds across the US. Therefore, in addition to patient care complexities, the broader infrastructure for burn patients is severely limited. These constraints suggest the burn healthcare system is particularly vulnerable to disasters, where the needs will exceed the resources available.Method:A literature review was conducted of available burn mass casualty incident (BMCI) plans from stakeholders in each level of a response. These response partners included prehospital agencies, hospitals (those with and without trauma center designations), emergency management agencies (local, state, and federal), healthcare coalitions, public health (district, state, and federal), regional coordinating burn centers, and the ABA.Results:The amalgamation of the BMCI plans yields a tripartite infrastructure not unfamiliar to emergency management professionals. The burn care agencies integrate into a response, similar to the way in which public health integrates into the emergency management infrastructure. The local to state to federal escalation of assets is reflected by an escalation from the local burn center to the regional coordinating burn center to the ABA. However, gaps remain in the communication between response partners. Few plans, particularly at the local level, reflect the integration of the burn system response.Conclusion:The burn healthcare infrastructure in the US is constrained and therefore is particularly vulnerable to a BMCI. Emergency responders should preemptively examine their plans and systems to specifically integrate the burn care and response infrastructure.

Use of analytic hierarchy process and four-component instructional design for improving emergency response exercises

Emergency response exercises are a common means for improving the preparedness and resilience of organizations and communities in the face of disasters. It is important to develop an instructional design that can facilitate evaluation and the learner's approach. This study introduced a model based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process to optimize instructional designs for emergency response exercises. This study aimed to propose a procedure to identify the necessary exercise targets and select suitable implementation methods by objectively summarizing the knowledge of emergency management professionals. This model was tested using fire and rescue exercises in a traditional market and an apartment complex in early 2021 in Hai Phong, Vietnam. Our model enables practitioners to determine the need for improvement in any element, allowing for continuous improvements in exercise programs.

Enhancing flood susceptibility modeling using multi-temporal SAR images, CHIRPS data, and hybrid machine learning algorithms

Flood susceptibility maps are useful tool for planners and emergency management professionals in the early warning and mitigation stages of floods. In this study, Sentinel-1 dB radar images, which provide Synthetic-Aperture Radar (SAR) data were used to delineate flooded and non-flooded locations. 12 input parameters, including elevation, lithology, drainage density, rainfall, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), curvature, ground slope, Stream Power Index (SPI), Topographic Wetness Index (TWI), soil, Land Use Land Cover (LULC), and distance from the river, were selected for model development. The importance of each input parameter on flood occurrences was assessed via the Mutual Information (MI) technique. Several machine learning models, including Radial Basis Function (RBF), and three hybrid models of Bagging (BA-RBF), Random Committee (RC-RBF), and Random Subspace (RSS-RBF), were developed to delineate flood susceptibility areas at Goorganrood watershed, Iran. The performance of each model was evaluated using several error indicators, including correlation coefficient (r), Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE), Mean Absolute Error (MSE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), and the Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Curve (AUC). The results showed that the hybrid techniques enhanced the modeling performance of the standalone model, and generally, all hybrid models are more accurate than the standalone model. Although all developed models have performed well, RC-RBF outperforms all of them (AUC = 0.997), followed by BA-RBF (AUC = 0.996), RSS-RBF (AUC = 0.992), and RBF (AUC = 0.975). Generally, about 12 % of the study area has high and very high susceptibility to future flood occurrences.

Is there coercion in local emergency management policy implementation?

American governance in the twenty-first century continues down a path of enhanced coercion and direction from the federal government. Emergency management policy is no different from any other policy field in this aspect, especially in the time following the September 11 attacks. Throughout the Obama administration, the federal government continued these policies and created additional mandates that required local compliance with federal policy demands. Failure to do so would put grant funding at risk in a field where budgets are typically stretched to the limit. However, an earlier study by Hildebrand (J Homeland Secur Emerg Manag 12(2):273–298, 2015) showed that this coercive threat had no statistical significance in predicting the reported implementation behaviors of local emergency management officials during the George W. Bush administration. This study seeks to determine if attitudes of local emergency managers changed during the Obama administration, and if the potential impacts from coercion had any predictive effect upon the local agencies decision to implement policy demands from the National Response Framework (NRF), National Incident Management System (NIMS), and Incident Command System (ICS). The findings once again show that coercive threats (the potential loss of grant funding) play little-to-no role in the actions and attitudes of local emergency management professionals when reporting compliance with federal policy demands.

Soft skills in a hard world: Why emergency management and business continuity leaders must update their professional toolbox

In today’s rapidly changing threat environment, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the roles of emergency management (EM) and business continuity (BC) professionals are continuously evolving. Today’s EM/BC professional has become more mission-critical than ever, with their position placed under a spotlight as companies of all sizes prepare themselves for the next unknown, but inevitable, crisis. A common problem, however, is that many professionals with the requisite hard skills lack a light touch when it comes to communicating the goals they are striving to achieve. This paper discusses the importance of soft skills for the crisis management guru. The paper lays out which of the multitude of soft skills are the most critical, outlining ways for EM/BC professionals to build, utilise and maintain their soft skills, with case studies that exemplify the use or misuse of such skills.

Infrastructure planning emergency levels of service for the Wellington region, Aotearoa New Zealand – A preliminary framework

Elements of a potential emergency response to a major hazard event can be identified early in the response planning process. Having goals for emergency provision of services, particularly infrastructure, would provide clear planning goals and actions for emergency responders. Agreed goals would also help residents more fully understand the likely nature of the service provisions following a major hazard event, allowing them to plan for events and resulting infrastructure outages. This paper proposes a set of ‘planning emergency levels of service’ based in literature and developed by practitioners that could be used to understand post-event planning and actions, across the critical infrastructure sectors. The resulting framework contains proposed planning emergency levels of service for the energy, telecommunications, transport, and water sectors. With potential local adjustment, this framework may be more widely applicable for other high-income regions. Limitations of the framework include that it has been developed based on literature and emergency management professionals' opinions and requires more research to ascertain its operational applicability.