Local Emergency Management Research Articles

Information management and the return-entry process: Examining information needs, sources, and strategies after Superstorm Sandy

The effective management of disasters requires timely and accurate information. Both emergency management (EM) organizations and the public are involved in information management activities during and after a disaster where they seek information from various sources to reduce disaster-related uncertainties. While studies have focused on information needs and source reliance behaviors of EM organizations amid a disaster, the information management behaviors of the organizations during return-entry phase has gained little scholarly attention. This study examines the information management strategies of local EM organizations while managing the initial return-entry movement following Superstorm Sandy. Using a qualitative research design, the researchers conducted semi-structured telephone interviews with 25 EM officials from New Jersey. The data analysis yielded five themes that highlight the information management strategies of the EM organizations – information needs, information sources, information seeking behavior, information exchange, and applying information for return-entry decisions. This paper discusses these findings and provides proactive strategies to gather and manage information to facilitate return-entry decision-making and risk communication in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.

Modeling the Factors Influencing the Adoption of a Map-Based Disaster Application in Indonesia: A Case of SIKK Magelang

Indonesia has high exposure to natural hazards, frequent disaster events, and a highly vulnerable population. Hence, risk communication and disaster information dissemination are crucial to reducing risks. Numerous disaster mobile applications (apps) with location-based services or maps already exist for facilitating risk communication to the public; however, availability does not automatically translate into use or adoption. Therefore, to understand the factors influencing the adoption of a map-based disaster app, the factors that affect the adoption of a local government-initiated map-based disaster app in Indonesia, namely Sistem Informasi Kebencanaan Kabupaten Magelang, or Disaster Information System of Magelang Regency (SIKK Magelang), were examined through the theoretical lenses of a combined information system (IS) success model. Partial Least Squared – Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), with the help of Smart-PLS, was used to examine the hypothesized relationships among the proposed constructs (latent variables). Nine exogenous latent variables were proposed as the antecedents of intention to use a map-based disaster application (the endogenous latent variable), including information quality, system quality, familiarity with online maps, perceived usefulness, user satisfaction, facilitating conditions, risk perceptions, information seeking behavior, and perceived quality of the Internet connection. Information-seeking behavior was also predicted to be influenced by risk perception. A questionnaire survey with an app trial was conducted in Magelang Regency for data collection. The study results confirmed the applicability of the combined IS success model frameworks in predicting the adoption of this map-based disaster app by the public. Although new constructs representing disaster-related online maps and familiarity with those maps were initially proposed in the contextual model, the model validation results showed that intention to use SIKK Magelang was significantly influenced only by perceived usefulness and user satisfaction. Practically, this study’s results offer guidance to the local emergency managers in Indonesia, especially Magelang Regency, regarding how to develop strategies to increase the app’s adoption.

Disaster policy and emergency management reforms in China: From Wenchuan earthquake to Jiuzhaigou earthquake

The article addresses policy changes and reforms in emergency management system in China comparing two major earthquakes. The Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 helped to uncover problems with the Chinese emergency management system. Almost a decade later, the Jiuzhaigou earthquake in 2017 also mobilized a national disaster response. These two major disasters provided opportunities to analyze changes in the disaster policy of China. This study adopted policy text and social network analyses to compare the emergency response plans used for both earthquakes. Policy learning and administrative reforms, including changes in the local disaster response organizations and emergency support functions, of local emergency management practices after the Wenchuan earthquake were highlighted. At the local level, the interorganizational collaboration network was better coordinated in 2017. The findings suggest some improvements for the disaster policies and practices of the local governments of China.

OPERATING IN A COVID-19 ENVIRONMENT FROM SHUT DOWN TO REOPENING: INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

OPERATING IN A COVID-19 ENVIRONMENT FROM SHUT DOWN TO REOPENING: INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

Representative Bureaucracy in Emergency Management: Attitudes About Contemporary Emergency Management Policy and Politics in Local Agencies

AbstractThis article expounds upon the experiences of local emergency management professionals to determine if there is a pattern in the attitudes that these managers exhibit regarding the centralization of policy and operational control during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. Responses to a 2016 survey described beneficial and detracting features of the federal requirements, which affected the department's ability to meet their jurisdiction's demands. This article describes these attitudes and determines whether jurisdictions that were favorable to or against policy changes made during Obama's administration represent jurisdictions that voted Democratic or Republican in the five previous presidential elections. Doing so tests the theory of "representative bureaucracy", which suggests local bureaucrats will represent their constituents' background and beliefs in their actions or attitudes. The findings suggest that elements of "representative bureaucracy" exist, but also that disappointment over the actions taken by both administrations persist.

Improving Evacuation Compliance through Control: Implications for Emergency Management Policy and Disaster Communications

ABSTRACT Federal and local emergency management agencies and policymakers often ask: Why do individuals refuse to leave their homes when emergency evacuations are mandated during life-threatening natural disasters? In three experimental studies, the current research establishes that during a natural disaster, individuals become aware of their mortality. Existential anxiety is high and a need for control is instantiated. This makes following the directive to evacuate relatively less appealing. If, however, individuals can meet their need for control while in the process of making the evacuation decision (e.g., choice of shelter), the likelihood of evacuating increases. In light of increasing concerns related to global climate change, terrorist threats, pandemics, and other natural disasters, calls for more interdisciplinary work in understanding human decision-making in emergency situations have been made. The current work has timely implications for emergency management agencies, policymakers, and those required to communicate during natural disasters.

Integrating Government Silos: Local Emergency Management and Public Health Department Collaboration for Emergency Planning and Response

The United States arguably faces the most serious disaster it has faced since World War II: the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic itself has created further cascading economic, financial, and social crises. To date, approximately 114,000 Americans have died and approximately 2,000,000 (as of this writing) have become infected. American emergency planning and response, including for pandemics, begins at the local (city, town, and county) level, close to the individuals and communities most impacted. During crises like COVID-19, natural and other disasters, best practices include “whole of government” and “whole community” approaches, involving all parts of the government, community organizations, institutions, and businesses, with representation from diverse individual community stakeholders. Local emergency management and public health agencies are at the heart of emergency planning and response and thus warrant further examination. While collaboration between the two is recognized as a best practice, in reality there appear to be silos and gaps. This Commentary describes the American emergency planning system and the roles of local emergency management and public health departments. Closer examination illuminates similarities and differences in practitioner demographics, professional competencies, organizational goals, and culture. The Commentary reviews the limited research and observations of collaboration efforts and suggests areas for integrating the two practice areas in future research, education, professional training, and practice. Breaking down the silos will strengthen local emergency and public health preparedness planning and response, ultimately leading to stronger community health, well-being, resilience, and more efficient local administration.

Measuring Community Disaster Resilience in the Conterminous Coastal United States

In recent years, building resilient communities to disasters has become one of the core objectives in the field of disaster management globally. Despite being frequently targeted and severely impacted by disasters, the geographical extent in studying disaster resilience of the coastal communities of the United States (US) has been limited. In this study, we developed a composite community disaster resilience index (CCDRI) for the coastal communities of the conterminous US that considers different dimensions of disaster resilience. The resilience variables used to construct the CCDRI were justified by examining their influence on disaster losses using ordinary least squares (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models. Results suggest that the CCDRI score ranges from −12.73 (least resilient) to 8.69 (most resilient), and northeastern communities are comparatively more resilient than southeastern communities in the study area. Additionally, resilience components used in this study have statistically significant impact on minimizing disaster losses. The GWR model performs much better in explaining the variances while regressing the disaster property damage against the resilience components (explains 72% variance) than the OLS (explains 32% variance) suggesting that spatial variations of resilience components should be accounted for an effective disaster management program. Moreover, findings from this study could provide local emergency managers and decision-makers with unique insights for enhancing overall community resilience to disasters and minimizing disaster impacts in the study area.

Strategic Planning in Emergency Management: Evaluating the Impacts on Local Program Quality

Abstract This study examined the strategic planning practices of county-level emergency management agencies (EMAs), with a specific focus on strategic planning adoption and its relationship to local program quality. The study utilized a descriptive, cross-sectional survey design to collect planning- and program-related data from more than 300 county-level EMAs across the United States. The study findings revealed that most of the county EMAs included in the final sample had previously engaged in strategic planning activities, with nearly all of them continuing to use strategic planning as part of their general management practice. The study findings further revealed that strategic planning had a direct and significant impact on the overall quality of local emergency management programs, and that the strategic planning EMAs had significantly higher mean quality scores across all program dimensions when compared to the non-strategic planning EMAs.

Social vulnerability and disaster: understanding the perspectives of practitioners.

This paper seeks to understand how local emergency managers perceive and define social vulnerability. There has been a significant increase recently in the amount of research on social vulnerability, yet little is known about the extent to which that knowledge is being translated into practice. To address this void, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with a sample of local emergency managers (N=24), asking them to describe what social vulnerability means to them. The analysis identified four primary perspectives on social vulnerability prevalent in the sample, pertaining to: (i) culture and poverty; (ii) a moral imperative; (iii) a lack of security; and (iv) a lack of knowledge and awareness. Although these practitioner viewpoints may not align perfectly with the definitions of social vulnerability predominant in the hazards and disasters literature, the results of this study do suggest a possible narrowing of the gap between research and practice as it relates to social vulnerability.

Using Preparedness Exercise Tools to Train Public Health Teams to Address Access and Functional Needs During Emergencies in Rural Appalachia.

Local public health agencies are a critical component of communities' ability to respond to and manage emergencies. This article outlines one public health agency's process for developing an all-inclusive, all-hazards public health plan to guide preparedness activities. The plan is interactive and searchable to enable it to be applied practically during an emergency. The new plan was developed using a collective action approach and is consistent with the whole community framework. It represents the perspectives of people with access and functional needs and better prepares local emergency management and response teams to anticipate these needs during emergencies. We created both a tabletop exercise and a full-scale exercise to train public health practitioners on the plan contents, as well as an exercise planning and implementation workbook that includes agendas, sample exercises, sample slides, and supporting documentation. These materials provide specific suggestions for supporting people with access and functional needs during emergency mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. In October 2017, more than 110 people participated in the tabletop exercise as part of the annual staff training at our local health department. One year later, we delivered a full-scale exercise. Nearly all relevant staff (95%) participated in both exercises, and 98% of participants reported that they had greater knowledge and resilience in mitigating and responding to public health emergencies as a result of their participation. We aim to include additional community members in future exercises to assure the plan meets everyone's needs. The current plan has increased the confidence level of local public health practitioners in responding to emergencies.

South Texas coastal area storm surge model development and improvement

The intensification of climatic changes, mainly natural geophysical hazards like hurricanes, are of great interest to the South Texas region. Scientists and engineers must protect essential resources from coastal threats, such as storm surge. This study presents the development process and improvements of a hydrodynamic finite element model that covers the South Texas coast, specifically the Lower Laguna Madre, for the aid of local emergency management teams. Four historical tropical cyclone landfalls are evaluated and used as a means of verification of the hydrodynamic model simulation results. The parameters used to improve the accuracy of the model are the tidal harmonic constituents and the surface roughness coefficient, or manning’s n value. A total of four different scenarios that use a variety of tidal constituent combinations and nodal attribute files were developed to identify the best case. Statistical evaluation, such as regression analysis, normalized root mean square error, and scatter index, was used to determine the significance of each hydrodynamic computational storm surge result with observed historical water surface elevations. In an effort to improving all models locally, using seven tidal constituents combinations along with a surface roughness nodal attribute grid that assigns values with respect to bathymetric data improves the accuracy of the storm surge model and should, therefore, be implemented for future hydrodynamic studies in the South Texas region.

Are we better off? Emergency management policy implementation since September 11.

As public policy continues its evolution, so do theories about policy implementation. One policy field that changed during the twenty-first century is emergency management and homeland security in the United States. Since the September 11 attacks, the federal government attempted to centralize the way government agencies at the federal, state, and local level prepare for and respond to natural, accidental, and terror-related disasters. However, research in the field is split about the effectiveness of this effort during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. While some feel federal actions taken to prepare for and respond to incidents of natural, accidental, or purposeful intent have been fruitful in preparing the nation for catastrophic events, others say it detracts from the core mission of emergency management. This study considers if the policy changes that occurred during those administrations created a disparity between the policy expectations of the federal government and the actions of local officials in emergency management. The findings show that local emergency management professionals generally reported the implementation of federal policy expectations, and that the odds of doing so increase where respondents report greater "clarity" in the federal policy language. However, differences exist in terms of how local managers view the requirements of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) versus other federal policy demands. This signals that experienced actors may nominally comply with federal policy demands by downplaying those requirements seen as useless in favor of functions that meet jurisdictional needs.

USING SPATIAL ANALYSIS TO OPTIMIZE DISASTER PREPAREDNESS FOR FRAIL OLDER ADULTS

The Florida Department of Elder Affairs (DOEA) provides programs and services for over 65,300 older people and adults with disabilities. These individuals are uniquely vulnerable and may be disrupted, displaced, and disoriented during the natural disasters common to Florida. DOEA clients are homebound or dependent upon community-based services to provide supervision or direct assistance to perform basic self-care. Often, clients are unable to complete personal care independently, which makes sheltering in place a unique challenge, yet they can only evacuate with special transportation and support arrangements in the shelter. It is critical to DOEA to accurately predict clients likely to be seriously affected by storms, plan for relocation before an event, and arrange for the provision of extended care after. DOEA responded by utilizing ArcGIS mapping software to join client residence locations to evacuation zone polygons and developed a methodology to prioritize clients with personal and functional barriers to evacuation. Proven during Hurricane Michael (2018), local emergency managers were able to use this tool to complete wellness checks on survivors before outside aid arrived. This initiative is evolving with the challenges posed by each storm season. Hurricane Dorian (2019) required the addition of latitude and longitude of client locations for when traditional street navigation became unavailable. Importing and overlaying primary data on secondary emergency management resources is a strategy that could be replicated by other organizations that have similar needs to reconcile individual locations in context of local threats, making this methodology transferrable to other disaster and flood-prone communities.

Hurricane Impact on Emergency Services and Use of Telehealth to Support Prehospital Care.

The impact of hurricanes on emergency services is well-known. Recent history demonstrates the need for prehospital and emergency department coordination to serve communities during evacuation, storm duration, and cleanup. The use of telehealth applications may enhance this coordination while lessening the impact on health-care systems. These applications can address triage, stabilization, and diversion and may be provided in collaboration with state and local emergency management operations through various shelters, as well as during other emergency medical responses.

Urban Settlements and Road Network Analysis on the Surrounding Area of the Almirante Alvaro Alberto Nuclear Complex, Angra dos Reis, Brazil

Nuclear power plants accidents should be seen as very complex issues, once they encompass environmental and social aspects that must be integrated to sustain appropriate management measures in a potential disaster event. Therefore, emergency plans require sounds spatial information knowledge and the interactions of their environments. The herein study aims to contribute to the emergency plans, especially to the possible evacuation routes identification for a Nuclear Power Plant located in Angra dos Reis, Brazil. The study was conducted within 120 km radius around the power plant. Results indicate that evacuation plans should be elaborated for the urban cores with low roads availability, or even for high population density areas, that in spite of being well served by alternative routes, exhibit increased road traffic and population flow. These results present important information to provide support to local emergency management actions and guidelines, playing a key role to assist on the evacuation planning.

Making Syndromic Surveillance Relevant and Valuable for Emergency Managers

Making Syndromic Surveillance Relevant and Valuable for Emergency Managers

Surge Capacity Planning to Inform the Need for International and Domestic Emergency Medical Team Deployments Following a Severe Wellington, New Zealand Earthquake

Introduction:Wellington, New Zealand has a significant earthquake risk with unique response challenges posed by its geography and limited road, rail, and sea access. In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Medical Team (EMT) initiative published minimum and technical standards for EMTs in response to failures by responding teams to deliver appropriate and ethical clinical care during a number of disasters (Norton, 2014). The initiative has evolved to develop national and International EMTs in addition to a support capacity building within Ministries of Health to better coordinate clinical capacity during an emergency.Aim:Over the last two years, the WHO EMT Coordination Cell (EMTCC) course has trained over 300 health personnel globally to coordinate clinical surge capacity using a three-step Impact Assessment, Needs Assessment, and Tasking process informed by disaster epidemiology and mass casualty ratios.Methods:EMTCC planning methodology was applied to the “Wellington Earthquake National Initial Response Plan” (MCDEM, 2017) to develop a Health Action Plan for a significant Wellington earthquake. Known earthquake impact modeling for injuries was applied against predicted capacity in receiving hospitals in the affected region, and the ability to transfer patients nationally to determine unmet response needs. EMT minimum standards and operational insights from recent disasters were then used to determine the number of EMTs required for optimal tasking.Discussion:The surge planning methodology provided a theoretical framework for national and local health emergency management staff to engage with clinical colleagues. This allowed likely EMT assistance to be pre-planned, which facilitates further planning with national and local emergency management, border, and registration agencies for rapid entry into NZ, including onward transport and logistical support. While injury treatment ratios had to be refined to reflect NZ context, the methodology proved useful for Ministries of Health to pre-identify the need for international assistance in national emergencies.

The Role of Primary Health Networks and General Practitioners in Disasters: Nepean Blue Mountains Primary Health Network’s Preparedness Guide

Introduction:Disasters are part of the Australian landscape. Bushfires, floods, cyclones, and drought reoccurring consistently across the continent. Primary Health Networks (PHNs) and general practitioners (GPs) are scattered across Australia and are inevitably involved when disasters strike their local communities. Limited guidance exists to guide their systematic involvement within the broader disaster response system. In October 2013, large bushfires swept through the NSW Blue Mountains. The response was unusual in its inclusion of NSW general practice networks within the response system, most crucially the local (now) Nepean Blue Mountains Primary Health Network (NBMPHN).Methods:The lessons learned by GPs and NBMPHN during the fires highlighted the need for GP preparedness to improve recovery outcomes. This led to the development of a living discussion document “Emergency management: the role of the GP,” created with input from the various GP groups. More recently, a PHN emergency preparedness guide aimed at strengthening communication and formalizing the role of the PHNs and GPs before, during, and after a natural disaster.Results:Clarity and implementation of a process for disaster preparedness have enabled a more proactive and coordinated approach to local emergency management with a distinct role for both the PHN and local GPs when responding to a natural disaster.Discussion:This presentation discusses lessons learned and the preparedness strategy now in place in the Nepean Blue Mountains PHN region, and launches the emergency preparedness guide that can be used and adapted by GPs and other PHNs across Australia.

Flooding disaster resilience information framework for smart and connected communities

This paper presents the research challenges of designing a combined physical sensor- and social sensor-based information framework to collect heterogeneous flooding disaster data, and then to fuse those data and generate actionable understandings. Our overall objective is to improve the response preparedness of critical infrastructures, contributing to the goal of smart and connected communities. We propose methods to model physical and social sensors, and open demographic data integration with regional knowledge, and to leverage these fused data for understanding impending events and conditions deleterious to lives and properties. In addition, the proposed system will predict the disaster events and provide knowledge-based recommendations to inform emergency management personnel to enable the resilience of the smart and connected communities. Preliminary experiments for the framework are promising. Further work is needed to validate the framework in collaboration with the local emergency managers.