Municipal Emergency Managers Research Articles

Measuring the Efficacy of a Pilot Public Health Intervention for Engaging Communities of Puerto Rico to Rapidly Write Hurricane Protection Plans.

The efficacy is measured for a public health intervention related to community-based planning for population protection measures (PPMs; ie, shelter-in-place and evacuation). This is a mixed (qualitative and quantitative) prospective study of intervention efficacy, measured in terms of usability related to effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction, and degree of community engagement. Two municipalities in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are included. Community members consisting of individuals; traditional leaders; federal, territorial, and municipal emergency managers; municipal mayors; National Guard; territorial departments of education, health, housing, public works, and transportation; health care; police; Emergency Medical Services; faith-based organizations; nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); and the private sector. The intervention included four community convenings: one for risk communication; two for plan-writing; and one tabletop exercise (TTX). This study analyzed data collected from the project work plan; participant rosters; participant surveys; workshop outputs; and focus group interviews. Efficacy was measured in terms of ISO 9241-11, an international standard for usability that includes effectiveness, efficiency, user satisfaction, and "freedom from risk" among users. Degree of engagement was considered an indicator of "freedom from risk," measurable through workshop attendance. Two separate communities drafted and exercised ~60-page-long population protection plans, each within 14.5 hours. Plan-writing workshops completed 100% of plan objectives and activities. Efficiency rates were nearly the same in both communities. Interviews and surveys indicated high degrees of community satisfaction. Engagement was consistent among community members and variable among governmental officials. Frontline communities have successfully demonstrated the ability to understand the environmental health hazards in their own community; rapidly write consensus-based plans for PPMs; participate in an objective-based TTX; and perform these activities in a bi-lingual setting. This intervention appears to be efficacious for public use in the rapid development of community-based PPMs.

The sources of municipalities’ innovation in the management of weather disaster risks, their relationships, and their antecedents

ABSTRACT This article presents the results of a study on the use of internal and external sources of innovation by municipalities to deal with weather hazards. Using data collected by an online survey of municipal emergency management coordinators in Quebec – Canada, this study shows that municipalities rely primarily on their expertise and, to a lesser extent, on peer organisations and upper levels of governments to develop new solutions to weather hazards. In addition, this study finds weak support for the complementarity hypothesis between internal and external sources of innovation and suggests strongly that these sources of innovation are not substitutable. The capacity and vulnerability of municipalities, as well as political support for initiatives to improve the management of weather disasters, seem to be significant drivers of innovation. Finally, efforts aimed at strengthening public organisations’ internal capacities and creating incentives to facilitate collaborations between public organisations are important levers to stimulate innovation.

Research on Public Safety Emergency Management in Developed Countries and Regions

The process of urbanization has brought convenience to our life. However, the concentration of a large number of population also brings the city too much pressure. All kinds of safety accidents and emergencies often erupt. Therefore, the smart city was established. By studying the wisdom of municipal public security emergency management model in developed countries and regions, help us to eliminate the shortcomings of traditional public safety emergency management. The use of information to solve the problem of municipal emergency management brings us the smart city. It is a safe city.

The inside story: timeline of events and communication leading up to superstorm sandy from the emergency manager perspective

ABSTRACTDuring impending storms, emergency managers (EMs) are tasked with various decisions and challenges, particularly whether to issue evacuation orders for their area. This study aims to understand the timeline of decisions made and actions taken leading up to Superstorm Sandy’s landfall from the EM perspective. A total of 23 in-depth interviews was conducted in New Jersey and New York. All municipal EMs interviewed first heard about what would become Superstorm Sandy between one and two weeks prior to landfall. From then on, municipal EMs monitored the storm using a variety of sources. The communication and information trail is top-down, starting with higher EM levels (i.e. federal and state) and ending with municipal, or local, EMs. Typically, voluntary evacuation orders were issued on Friday or Saturday, while mandatory evacuation orders began being issued on Saturday, two days before landfall, and continued until the day of landfall. Who issued the various evacuation orders depended on location. In New York City, the Mayor has full control of whether an evacuation is ordered, while in New Jersey, the local EMs generally have the authority. Understanding the timeline of decisions is the first step into fully assessing the EM process during events such as Sandy.

Crisis Communication of Local Authorities in Emergency Situations – Communicating “May Floods” in the Republic of Serbia

In May 2014 Serbia and the region of Southeast Europe were hit by the heaviest rain in 120 years of recorded weather measurements, which caused catastrophic floods and landslides. Nine cities and thirty one municipalities declared the state of emergency on their territory. The paper analyses crisis communications of city and municipal emergency management headquarters with different target groups, their relations with the media and the “high politics”, as well as the “lessons learned” which may be applied to new emergency situations. We observed crisis communication on both operative (functionality of the equipment, issuing orders and instructions to citizens etc), and on symbolic level (the shaping of meaning of the event and of the subjects’ actions). A particular attention was paid to the communication problems such as insufficiently trained communicators, inadequate equipment, limited time and excessive expectations, as well as to the analysis of the media reporting that was often politicized and sensationalist.

Municipalities' Preparedness for Weather Hazards and Response to Weather Warnings.

The study of the management of weather-related disaster risks by municipalities has attracted little attention even though these organizations play a key role in protecting the population from extreme meteorological conditions. This article contributes to filling this gap with new evidence on the level and determinants of Quebec municipalities’ preparedness for weather hazards and response to related weather warnings. Using survey data from municipal emergency management coordinators and secondary data on the financial and demographic characteristics of municipalities, the study shows that most Quebec municipalities are sufficiently prepared for weather hazards and undertake measures to protect the population when informed of imminent extreme weather events. Significant differences between municipalities were noted though. Specifically, the level of preparedness was positively correlated with the municipalities’ capacity and population support for weather-related disaster management policies. In addition, the risk of weather-related disasters increases the preparedness level through its effect on population support. We also found that the response to weather warnings depended on the risk of weather-related disasters, the preparedness level and the quality of weather warnings. These results highlight areas for improvement in the context of increasing frequency and/or severity of such events with current climate change.

A comprehensive cartographic approach to evacuation map creation for Hurricane Ike in Galveston County, Texas

Hurricane evacuation maps raise awareness of the risks associated with potential inundation from storm surge and provide evacuation route information to residents leaving their residences for safety. To create the most effective hurricane evacuation map for communicating risk to the public, cartographic best practices must be integrated into the evacuation map visualization. This study addresses a current gap in the scientific literature by integrating cartographic best practices for color choice, symbol choice, and positive messaging, together with a complete GIS-based workflow utilizing LiDAR-derived digital elevation models, Sea, Lake and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) storm surge products, and vector shapefiles for creating hurricane evacuation maps. To evaluate the methodology, the primary study site was Galveston County, Texas, during Hurricane Ike in September 2008. The typical workflow for county and municipal emergency managers is to create pre-hurricane season generalized evacuation maps. This study shows that the probabilistic storm surge SLOSH forecasts can be seamlessly implemented in the 72–48 hours prior to a storm surge event to provide specialized evacuation maps that incorporate hurricane-specific parameters and more accurately show risk to residents. To verify the Hurricane Ike workflow, a secondary study site in Harrison County, Mississippi, was used to evaluate Hurricane Isaac in August 2012. This study provides a comprehensive cartographic methodology for evacuation zone mapping when the US coastline is threatened by a landfalling hurricane.

Explaining local policy choices: A Multiple Streams analysis of municipal emergency management

Abstract: Canadian municipal governments are expected to play a central role in emergency management, which involves developing policies and programs to cope with emergencies and their impacts. But although all communities face potential emergencies, the quality of municipal emergency planning varies considerably from one community to another. This suggests that some municipal decision‐makers have recognized emergencies as a problem and have prioritized this issue relative to others competing for attention and resources. This article examines policy‐making in municipal emergency management through the lens of the Multiple Streams framework, an analytical model that explains how problems are recognized, how and why they are added to the decision agenda, and how they are matched with policy solutions.Sommaire : Les gouvernements municipaux canadiens sont supposés jouer un rôle essentiel dans la gestion des urgences, ce qui implique l'élaboration de politiques et de programmes pour faire face aux urgences et à leurs répercussions. Mais alors que toutes les collectivités font face à des urgences éventuelles, la qualité de la planification des urgences à l'échelle municipale varie considérablement d'une collectivitéà une autre. Cela laisse entendre que certains décisionnaires municipaux ont reconnu les urgences comme étant un problème et ont accordé la prioritéà cette question par rapport à d'autres rivalisant pour obtenir de l'attention et des ressources. Le présent article examine l'élaboration de politiques dans le domaine de la gestion des urgences dans une municipalité par le biais du cadre Sources multiples, un modèle analytique qui explique comment les problèmes sont reconnus, comment et pourquoi ils sont ajoutés au programme de décisions, et quelles sont les solutions en matière de politiques pour les résoudre.

Developing Local Emergency Management by Co‐Ordination Between Municipalities in Policy Networks: Experiences from Sweden

This study aims to increase our understanding of how co‐operation in inter‐municipality policy networks in a Swedish region is established and maintained regarding emergency management. We discuss how a network of five municipalities emerged and took shape. Overall, we conclude that co‐ordination and co‐operation in municipal emergency management are probably relatively easy to develop, because it is easy for the involved actors to see the benefits. Sharing resources is seen as crucial when establishing and, not least, financing efficient, high‐quality emergency management. The municipalities' lack of resources to provide effective emergency services, as required by law, makes them dependent on each other. Limits for co‐ordination were connected to distance and other geographical factors. Other limits of equal importance were linked to factors such as culture/tradition, mutual understanding, size of partners, and unwillingness to give up authority as well as a prior barrier for co‐operation between small and bigger municipalities.

Risk regulation strategies in public emergency management a learning perspective

The aim of this study is to explore how risk regulation strategies in the public sector contribute to learning within emergency management. Strategies applied by the regulator entail diverse activities involving interaction and communication between regulator and regulatee. The paper explores learning aspects related to these activities. The paper is based on a multiple case study within the Norwegian public sector including six municipalities and their regulatory authority, responsible for regulating and inspecting municipal emergency management. The results showed that risk regulation through compliance strategies implied second-order learning processes within those regulated. Risk regulation through deterrence strategies contributed to compliance with regulatory demands, but only implied first-order learning process.

Method for consequence curves as applied to flood risks

This article summarises research intended to expand current study methodologies targeting flood risks with regard to specific issues and emergency preparedness requirements of municipalities. Various methods are currently available to predict the consequences of flooding risks. DOMINO is one such tool used to study flooding risks from natural events or from potential dam breaks. A complementary tool, CONSEQ, was developed to compute the impacts and present them in the form of consequence curves. This tool uses a specific method to assess all tangible and direct damages from exceptional flooding. However, intangible damages and the needs of municipalities downstream of the facility will also be taken into account. This article presents the DOMINO and CONSEQ tools as well as the methodology used to study consequences in relation to these analytical tools. It also describes the requirements of municipal emergency managers in order to draw consequence curves.

The Development of Municipal Emergency Management Planning in Victoria, Australia

In Australia, local government plays an essential role in emergency management, although not a provider of emergency services. The role of supporting emergency services and the community both during and after emergencies has been a traditional role. Added to this is an increasing responsibility as the focal point for the conduct of local mitigation using risk analysis, prioritization, and treatment under the methodology of emergency risk management. This role is part of a shift in the emphasis of emergency management in Australia away from the strong focus on emergencies and the emergency services, towards an emphasis on the sustainability of the community and its life in the context of the risk of loss posed by natural and other hazards. Models of municipal emergency risk management planning are presented to assist municipalities to connect or even integrate their emergency management planning processes with other similar community safety activities such as crime and injury prevention.