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Importance of Diversity Awareness and Civil Rights in Emergency and Disaster Assistance

Unit 4 Assignment 2

Renee C. Bridgeman

Purdue University Global

CJ598: Applied Research Project Capstone

Doctor Mary Lannon

January 29, 2022

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Importance of Diversity Awareness and Civil Rights in Emergency and Disasters

Assistance

Introduction

A disaster like earthquakes, chemicals explosions, acts of terrorism, hurricanes, and mass

casualty accidents, can hit anyone despite their race, gender, age, ethnicity, culture, or language.

Notably, no one who gets struck by any form of disaster is immune or untouchable to it. More

importantly, people's reactions to disasters, coping skills, and receptivity to disaster counseling

differ remarkably due to their personal beliefs, social and economic status, and cultural traditions

in society. Due to the nature of emergency and disaster assistance and managements programs,

people have growingly recognized the significance of diversity in the delivery and planning of

helpful disaster management processes. The increasing forces on diversity competencies also

stem from the aspiration to adequately serve the country's citizens that are becoming more

culturally and ethnically diverse. To effectively respond to the disaster needs of the survivors,

pre and post crises programs must be quick to respond to each person's distinctive norms. They

must also be sensitive to their values, customs, language, beliefs, experiences, and traditions

regardless of their racial, cultural, or ethnic background. Emergency and disaster management

and assistance programs must be offered in a way that builds, recognizes, and respects the

resources and strengths of communities and survivors. Therefore, the paper will explore the

importance of civil rights and diversity awareness in emergence and disaster assistance. In

addition, it will offer several laws on disaster response and recovery programs that ensure ethical

decision-making and the protection of citizens' civil rights.

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Diversity Awareness

Disasters tend to affect hundreds of individuals in the U.S. For instance, between 2000 to

2020, the American red cross reported having engaged in over 400000 disasters incidents in the

U.S and offered financial help to over 700000 families (FEMA, 2022b). In 2019 only, the

federal emergency management agency (FEMA) responded to around 90 major natural disasters

in different states (FEMA, 2022b). In recent years several natural disasters have occurred. Such

events include the Wildfire in 2021 at Kansas Hurricane Ida that affected New Jersey Louisiana,

among other states. There were also wild storms in Texas and northern Mexico (FEMA, 2022b).

Due to the increase disaster occurrences, the government has put in place disaster management

and response and assistance programs

These programs aim to bring people to disaster regions to attend to survivors' emotional

needs. Over the years, the response tends to be common, with little or no effort to trailer

resources to the characters of certain populations (Stabile et al., 2020). However, with experience

and time, services offered have become highly aware that ethnicity, culture, and race may

profoundly impact the way people respond and cope with disasters. The programs and people in

disaster management have come to recognize the sensitivity of Diversity which is crucial in

offering services to disaster survivors. Including Diversity in emergency and disaster assistance

ensures that the need of those affected is met (Stabile et al., 2020).

Additionally, Diversity in emergency and disaster assistance ensures that linguistically

and culturally diverse individuals are not misunderstood or overlooked. It also tends to be

influential in meeting the community requirements and decreasing people's psychological

distress to recover successfully. More importantly, Diversity allows emergency managers and

public officials to effectively improve the quality of service to meet disaster citizens' needs and

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outcomes after and during disasters. It also provides essential communication associated with the

diverse groups they represent (Young & Jones, 2020).

Civil Rights

Many individuals considered socially vulnerable are protected by numerous civil rights

laws and federal guidelines. Civil rights are necessary as they help the local jurisdiction to

understand how the rules apply to all of the emergency’s management’s actions for mitigation to

recovery (FEMA, 2022a). Civil rights help support people and communities' resilience to natural

disasters. They tend to offer planning and coordination through guidance and work to ensure that

people's rights and liberties are integrated into disaster-related programs and procedures

(Fountain et al., 2019). Civil rights also provide that disaster manager’s representatives within

the affected regions disseminate information to non-government and government stakeholders to

protect immigrants, culturally, racially, and ethnically diverse communities (FEMA, 2022a). The

rights ensure that people whose primary language is not English are provided with disaster

services if they need assistance.

Additionally, suppose a person has a complaint or is discriminated against. In that case, the right

to ensure that the individuals can file a complaint with an agency like FEMA will determine their

authority to investigate the issues and attempt to resolve any violations (Young & Jones, 2020).

Civil rights are fundamental as they offer guidelines on assessing and monitoring the needs of

the public for equal access to programs physical accessibility of efficient and effective

communication. Notably, they ensure no discrimination and equity in programs deliver and

activities.

Laws to disaster response and recovery

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The country has various laws to ensure reasonable attempts and accommodate people

with diverse needs like disability, minority, and of a different race. The laws act as social c

conditions and characters that states should follow regarding emergency and distance responses

(McCarthy, 2011). Thus, by using the laws, states are expected not to wait for civil rights

advocates to sue them to include the diverse needs of the people on emergency plans. These are

federal laws that prohibit discrimination in activities and programs receiving federal aid. They

ensure that no actions will exclude individuals based on race, nationality, sex, religion, culture,

values, and color to prepare for recovery and emergency and disaster assistance (FEMA, 2022a).

The law includes sections 308 and 309 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster relief and emergency

acts of 1998 which explains that people in the U.S shall not be denied the benefits of excluding

from discrimination or participation under federal-funded programs (External Civil Rights

Division., 2022). there is also the Title VI of the Civil rights act of 1964, section 504 and 508 of

the rehabilitations act of 1973 (Moran, 2018). There was also executive order 13166, which

improved access to services for people with limited English proficiency (Moran, 2018). The laws

tend to reinforce the prohibition of any form of discrimination concerning disaster assistance

programs.

Ethical and Consequences

Ethics plays a crucial role in emergency and disasters managements. For instance, ethical

maturity in decision-making doing disasters has profound implications. Despite resource

management, critical decisions will require to be made at critical times. The emergency and

disaster assistance programs, no matter how seamlessly reasonable and urgent they appear also

require ethical justifications (Young & Jones, 2020). Their primary goal is to ensure the safety,

wellbeing, and security of the people receiving and during disaster periods balanced with crucial

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values and civil rights. Ethical considerations are also vital for emergency and disaster recovery

measures since, for the most part, the safety of the people and disaster management

representatives must rely on compliance and good behaviors of the individuals (External Civil

Rights Division., 2022). Notably, ethical reasoning is also crucial during emergency and disaster

assistance programs. One critical consequence when considering ethics during disaster and

emergency management is decision making with incomplete and imperfect knowledge. Another

consequence is the thorough, deliberate, and careful assessments of options during emergency

response and even less pressured situations (McCarthy, 2011). It is also essential to understand

that the prerequisites of ethical decision-making may be compromised during emergency

response.

Conclusion and recommendation

In conclusion, developing diversity competencies is very important as it helps

government officials and emergency representatives better meet diverse populations' needs and

improve survivors' recovery and rescue process during a disaster. Events like Hurricane Katrina

and other incidents have come with reoccurring lessons that call for people to take proactive

steps to ensure everyone with the community is appropriately incorporated in the emergency

management programs. Additionally, when engaging in disaster programs, it's crucial to promote

and safeguard the civil rights of the citizens are upheld. Thus, there is a need for proper

education and massive system changes that should be manifested at all levels of the emergency

process, including direct service provision, administration, and policymaking. Therefore, for

emergency and disaster management to be effective, Diversity and civil rights competencies

must be reflected in disaster management programs and plans. There is also a need to look at

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issues that may lead to low ethical maturity, and people should explore ways to raise ethical

behaviors during emergency and disaster management.

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References

External Civil Rights Division. FEMA.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved January 26, 2022, from

https://www.fema.gov/about/offices/equal-rights/civil-rights

FEMA. (2022, 01 26a). Civil Rights and FEMA disaster assistance. Retrieved from

FEMA.Gov: https://training.fema.gov/is/courseoverview.aspx?code=IS-21.22

FEMA. (2022, 01 26b). Diversity Awareness Course. Retrieved from Fema.gov:

https://training.fema.gov/is/courseoverview.aspx?code=IS-20.22

Fountain, C., Olexa, M., Caracciolo, J., & Grant, L. (2019). [DH200 Minor Revision] Individual

Assistance Programs from FEMA. EDIS, 2019.

McCarthy, F. X. (2011, June 7). Federal Stafford acts disaster assistance: Presidential c

Retrieved September 18, 2021, from https://sgp.fas.org/crs/homesec/RL33053.pdf

Moran, R. F. (2018). Bakke's Lasting Legacy: Redefining the Landscape of Equality and Liberty

in Civil Rights Law. UC Davis L. Rev., 52, 2569.

Stabile, B., Simon, K., Thornton, T. E., & Grant, A. (2020). Diversity and Inclusion in

Emergency Management and First Response: Accounting for Race and Gender in Codes

of Ethics in the United States. Public Integrity, 1-20.

Young, C., & Jones, R. N. (2020). Diversity and inclusion framework for emergency

management policy and practice.