International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) Disaster Zone Column, August 2022
Disaster Response can be Improvisational
For anyone paying attention, last month’s Disaster Zone Column was on the topic of planning. One of the most common activities that emergency managers engage in. When not planning there are other activities that consume our disaster preparedness phase of emergency management. Namely, training and exercises. These three activities, planning, training and disaster exercises take up the majority of our time. Then there are all the administrative functions that can suck productive time away from our principal duties.
When you look at the percentage of how we spend our time in a calendar year, disaster response might be at zero or only a very small fraction of our total work time. Even if you were activated for two weeks solid, that would only be 4% of your total work hours for one year.
Lumped into the planning mentioned above is considerable effort at becoming prepared to respond to a disaster. Likely there is at least one person who focuses much of their effort on preparing the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). This means being ready both functionally and procedurally to quickly activate and begin executing the mission of responding to a disaster.
Within the EOC there can be a wide variety of mechanical and digital systems that all need to be kept at a high state of readiness. I was always surprised how something that worked before, all of a sudden is no longer working! It is why I didn’t mind small activations that caused us to assemble and “boot up everything” and then find out if someone unplugged this or that. You can also quickly find out how up to date your recall roster is for people and organizations.
Besides the mechanical aspects for an EOC you need procedures for every organizational element in the EOC and the individual positions that make up that function.
I’ll just use the example of the Joint Information Center (JIC). Public information Officers (PIO) are used to being the Lone Ranger. They collect information, verify it, write a news release, talk directly to reporters and organize news conferences—all by themselves. When you group these individuals together to now function as a single coordinated team you have to divide up the duties and ensure they know the protocols for how to operate in this new environment. They are no longer going back to their Department Director to get a news release approved, instead they are reporting to the JIC Manager/Director who in turn is going to the EOC Manager/Director to coordinate the release of information to the public.
In the end, the EOC is being configured to be flexible and respond to any disaster following general guidelines established by the EOC procedures.
My point then is this…it is all a framework. The disaster could be a flood, snowstorm, tornado, and earthquake or maybe…even a pandemic. Depending on the disaster, the damages and the impact to people and property you may have to shift your operations significantly to meet the challenges of the moment.
Think about all the curve balls that the pandemic threw our way. Emergency management got involved in personal protective equipment (PPE) and its warehousing and distribution. Was that ever envisioned in the way it rolled out—no. Mass testing and vaccination operations were two elements that we did not anticipate in all our pandemic planning. What? You are saying it is not safe for all us to be crowded into one smaller space and we need to “go virtual?” Where were the procedures for that new reality?
My point here is that for all our planning and preparing, many times our disaster responses will be what I call “improvisational” at best. We need the framework that our preparations provide, but sometimes those are only a launching point from which we will need to pivot the organization, the facility and the response in order to be more effective.
It would be wrong to say, “This is the way we have always done it.” The hazards, damages and overall risks are increasing. Be prepared to turn on a dime and reorient your organization to become more effective in meeting the disaster reality that you are presented with. As they say, “Semper Gumby!”
###
by Eric E. Holdeman, Senior Fellow, Emergency Management Magazine
He blogs at www.disaster-zone.com His Podcast is at Disaster Zone.
