Emergency Management 1
The Emergency Management system in the United States, a very broad organization that
reaches from local agencies to federal level agents and operatives. This organization is ran
primarily by a branch of the Department of Homeland Security, which is known as FEMA or
Federal Emergency Management Agency. The mission of FEMA is simple and straight to the
point, “To help people before, during and after disasters” (F. 2020). FEMA has in place a guide
for all organizations to follow, which consist of four main phases. The first being mitigation,
preparedness, response and finally recovery. Each phase holds its own multitude of steps to
better assist the United States when in time of need or crisis. In this paper we will examine each
phase in depth while examining how the Bible gives us perspective in each of these areas.
The first phase is Mitigation in the emergency management system. This is “a type of
long-term, pre-disaster planning which involves sustained expenditures on structural and non-
structural efforts to reduce or eliminate future risks.” (O’Connor, 2004). Mitigation is
responsible for conducting risk assessments to better serve the public when in case of any type of
disasters. This is the phase that people or organizations will take measures to assist in
eliminating the risk or attempting to prevent the effects of the disaster to the public. “Examples
of hazard mitigation include: tying down homes or barns with ground anchors to withstand wind
damage, digging water channels to redirect water and planting vegetation to absorb water, or
constructing levees or permanent barriers to control flooding” (F. 4-3 n.d.) to name a few that
have been done previously in an effort to lower the impact of crisis. A common method of
mitigation that is done with everyone is auto insurance (F. 4-3 n.d.). The overall goal of
mitigation is to “protect people and structures, and to reduce the costs of response and recovery.”
This phase will also establish communications among organizations to ensure effectiveness when
Emergency Management 2
needing to respond to said emergencies. While also examining the risks in each individualized
area to establish which areas may require what resources.
The second phase in the emergency management system is preparedness. In “this phase
the focus is on planning, training, and educational activities for events that cannot be mitigated.”
(F. 4-3, n.d.). This phase can be defined as “a state of readiness to respond to a disaster, crisis, or
other emergency situation.” (O’Connor, 2004) During this phase we can see the round up of
multiple agencies ranging from the local level to federal to conduct joint operations or training to
effectively respond when disaster strikes. The different exercises that are used consist of the
following: “orientation, drill, tabletop exercise, functional exercise, and full-scale exercise”
(O’Connor, 2004). These all cost a large amount of time. Planning joint unit or government
agency training exercises takes months to properly prepare for if not longer. Planning is a very
important aspect in this phase since it can determine the amount of resources that would be
utilized in each location. The risk assessment that was done in the previous phase now is utilized
to determine the designation of emergency facilities and the coordination of resources. The
training that is conducted in this phase is organized by NIMS (National Incident Management
System). The job of this system is to provide a consistent nationwide template to enable partners
across the nation to work together (Nemeth, 2017) efficiently. Another branch of this phase is in
ICS or the Incident Command System which is made up of intelligence, operations, and planning
to be better prepared in a time of need.
The third phase is response. This phase “begins when an emergency event is imminent or
immediately after an event occurs.” (F. n.d.). During this phase, the policies and training that
was previously set into motion by the second phase will now be implemented. “Throughout the
response phase, efforts focus on deescalating the emergency and taking accelerated steps toward
Emergency Management 3
recovery.” (U., 2006) This phase is focused on removing victims from the area, getting resources
out to the affected areas, while still working to maintain and activate more communication that
was previously outlined (U., 2006). To better serve the public, the emergency response team
oversees debriefing regularly, annotating every action taken, and evaluating what worked
correctly and what did not go according to plan. These rapid assessments “enable local
government to prioritize response activities, allocate scarce resources, request assistance,
conduct search and rescues, find the number of individuals effected and assessing the damage
done to the community (F., n.d.). Doing this also will allow the recovery team to have a good
foundation of knowledge to go off, making the next phase that much easier. Without the proper
risk assessment being conducted in the initial phase could lead to catastrophic results when
responding to a disaster. The reasoning is that without a proper assessment the location could be
left with minimal amount of resources and be a very large loss compared to another.
The final phase, recovery. This phase is responsible for the “rebuilding of communities so
that individuals, businesses, and governments can function on their own, return to normal life,
and protect against future hazards” (F., n.d.). This phase moves rapidly to get residents back to
their homes, the community back to normal to restore economic activity. Although that may be
immediate, the process of recovery is long to get the community rebuilt. Some recovery
activities include but are not limited to the following, “preventing or reducing stress-related
illnesses and excessive financial burdens, rebuilding infrastructure based off advanced
knowledge obtained from the preceding disaster and reducing vulnerability to future disasters”
(F. 4-4, n.d.). The recovery phase is a long process, although some areas can be immediate, the
legal, financial and rebuilding side of it can at some points take years to fully recover from,
especially when you lost your home and all that you personally owned. In order for some to
Emergency Management 4
overcome these crises the individual(s) should look into “assistance programs available from the
Federal government” (F., n.d.) this then can assist in leveling out the economic infrastructure in
the area effected by the disaster.
Organizations should be trained up in all aspects of emergency management, whether to
know their role in one specific area or if it is to by prepared more so on an individual level.
Individuals in the emergency response teams should regularly be assessing areas for any
potential disasters whether it be from a fire, flood, tornado, etc. the organization must be
prepared to prevent the loss of assets, economic collapse or human life. We can see in these four
phases that were even just one phase fail in the process, the entire management system would
then collapse. Therefore, each phase is imperative. The United States government must follow
these guidelines to, communicate efficiently and conduct training regularly to ensure that when
disaster does occur, we will all be in good hands. Ensuring citizens are informed on any threats
can assist in preparation of any emergency. From low level fire drills in the local offices to the
corporate level offices in metropolitan areas, ensuring knowledge and training in handling any
natural occurring disaster can assist in ensuring efficiency of the process.
Mitigation’s goals are to “protect people and structures and to reduce the costs of
responses and recovery” (F., n.d.). During the first phase is when the risk assessment is
completed allowing the individuals in the second phase to better serve the community. While
conducting the assessment they are evaluating the cost working to be efficient in every aspect in
the recovery phase when needed. The second phase is the preparedness phase which focuses on
the planning, training, and educational events to better inform the public to handle situations
more effectively when they arise. They do this through drills, and multiple different training
exercises that if not completed regularly, one would expect a failing response and recovery phase
Emergency Management 5
after an event took place. Next phase would be response which again, without the preparation
phase, the response team would be left without training or knowledge in how to address the
situation at hand essentially failing the community. The final phase is in recovery, which can be
a very long and drawn out process. Reason being is that economic infrastructure could have been
directly affected which can potentially take years to get on track again, another is the matter of
finances now being entirely off track for some individuals due to them being displaced and
without a home or much of anything. In conclusion the many phases of emergency management
can not exist without the other, they are all interconnected and must continuously evolve and
work together with local agencies and federal agencies.
The Bible continuously tells its reader to be prepared for the coming of Jesus. To be
watchful, mindful that the Lord will return to judge you for your actions. This can also be
interpreted to always be prepared for the unexpected, put up precautions, be prepared. Another
area they speak of preparedness is the story of Noah. In this story Noah knows not of what
exactly is to come except for a great flood. Noah then prepares an Ark to transport himself and
his family safely through this disaster. The story shouts at the reader to be prepared in case of
emergency again, showing us in the beginning of the old testament that we as man should be
prepared for all things that come our way. Psalms 18:2-6 states, “The Lord is my rock and my
fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of
salvation, my stronghold.” This expresses to the reader that no matter the situation God will
bring you through it. The Lord is with you through all your troubles in life, all your disasters.
The story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead shows the world the God is capable of all
things, so why not trust in the Lord who can do all things. If He can lift a man from his very
Emergency Management 6
own deathbed, how can we not see that he will too lift us out of any valley that we may find
ourselves in. He is with us through all crises no matter the size of the giant.
Emergency Management 7
References
F. (2020, September 18). Training and Education. Retrieved November 23, 2020, from
https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/national-preparedness/training
U. (2006, July). ERCMExpress. Retrieved November 22, 2020, from
https://rems.ed.gov/docs/CreatingPlans.pdf
F. (n.d.). Phases of Emergency Management. Retrieved November 22, 2020, from
file:///C:/Users/tbrk1/Downloads/488295.pdf
F. (n.d.). Emergency Management in the United States. Retrieved November 22, 2020, from
https://training.fema.gov/emiweb/downloads/is111_unit%204.pdf
O'Connor, T. (2004, December 29). MITIGATION AND PREPAREDNESS. Retrieved
November 23, 2020, from
https://www.ics.uci.edu/~ucrec/intranet/miscdocs/HSclassnotes/class10.html
Nemeth, C. P. (2017). Homeland Security: An Introduction to Principles and Practices (Third
ed.). London, New York: CRC Press. Retrieved November 19, 2020, from
https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781498749121/cfi/6/2!/4/2/2@0:0
F. (2020, March 25). Mission & Strategic Plan. Retrieved November 23, 2020, from
https://www.fema.gov/about/mission
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