George Haddow and Jane Bullock were among the closest people to James Lee Witt during the period 1993–2001 when he revolutionized emergency management in the United States. The two could have written the definitive history of that revolution. They could have provided an insider’s insights into the political strategies used to make it a reality. I hope that someday they will write that insider’s story. Clearly that was not their intent in writing Introduction to Emergency Management. They call the book a “primer” on the emergency management discipline and note that its focus is on Federal Emergency Management Agency ~FEMA!. The book lives up to that billing. It is a very good text. If I had known nothing about emergency management prior to reading this book, I would have emerged from my reading with a basic understanding of emergency management in the United States from the federal government’s perspective. The book was easy to follow but not an exciting read. Does anyone know of a gripping book on governmental programs? The book has chapters on the history of emergency management; hazards; the four phases of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery; and on emergency communications, international emergency management; the new terrorist threat; and the future of emergency management. The chapter on hazards is minimal, covering 24 hazards in 20 pages. Because this is not a text on hazards but on emergency management, the light hazards treatment is permissible; but the authors could have dropped it entirely without much loss. The chapter on the history of emergency management from 1950 to 2003 picks up most of the twists and turns in the federal program. However, Haddow and Bullock did not cover in-depth the history of Public Law 93-288, the Disaster Relief Act of 1974, which was the statutory basis for the major leaps in disaster benefits during the following 30 years and was, in fact, the first disaster statute using the words “hazard mitigation.” The best of the chapters is on emergency communications, a topic where the Witt administration excelled. Emergency management directors and agency directors should copy this chapter and carry it everywhere. James Lee Witt and his communications director, Morrie Goodman, worked hard to teach the communication fundamentals to the FEMA staff. I had been in emergency management for 25 years and it was new to me. Now, it is hard to think otherwise. I learned that emergency information is a form of disaster relief. Sometimes it is more important to keep people informed than getting disaster relief funds into their hands more quickly. I also learned that it is important to let people know about what their government is doing each step of the way, to bring the media into the process so that it becomes part of the solution, to keep in mind that false information going out to the public must be nipped in the bud, and much more. The chapters on mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery spend too much of the space describing past and present FEMA programs. I would rather have seen a discussion on the effectiveness of techniques in the preparedness and mitigation chapters and on the interplay of local, state, and federal activities in the response and recovery chapters. A comparative analysis of the use of buyouts and elevation to mitigate flood damage would have been useful. It would have been particularly instructive to contrast the federal role as a source of funds and the federal role as a direct provider of assistance. My previous comments raise the question of the intended audience. I am not sure who that is. If I were a new local emergency manager, I would want more about techniques and strategies. If I were a new FEMA employee, the description of federal programs would be great. It was appropriate given current circumstances to devote a chapter to terrorism. Unfortunately, the chapter is too centered on on-going federal organizational shifts. It would have been perhaps even more worthwhile to examine how terrorism might affect the four phases of emergency management. One can argue that preparedness, response and recovery would not be much different. Yet, the approach to mitigating terrorism would present radically new challenges. Such a discussion is missing. Haddow and Bullock conclude Introduction to Emergency Management with three lessons from the past for current and future emergency managers: maintain an all-hazards approach; the Federal Response Plan works, be careful about replacing it; and “continue to practice the concepts that facilitated the U.S. emergency management system becoming the best system in the world.” It might not be wise to scuttle the advances brought about by the Witt revolution.
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Aug 6, 2014
Katja Malovrh Rebec + 1
Open Access