Hi David
Your thread is very interesting, and I agree with you that the Boston Marathon bombing
demonstrates all the emergency management cycle. May the souls of all those who perished
through the incident rest in a perfect peace. I believe concerning the Boston Marathon Bombing,
all agencies that plan and coordinated response did a wonderful job to ensure the safety and
smooth operation of the event despite the incident that happened because it could have been very
worse. The 9/11 experience caused the Massachusetts emergency management and response
from many jurisdictions to develop and strengthen much better response capabilities. To mitigate
future terrorist attacks, the planning committee constantly upgrade procedures to reflect changing
circumstances; the Massachusetts’s Statewide Interoperability Executive Committee (SIEC)
came up with the Statewide Communications Interoperability Plan (SCIP) and to fully prepare
for any future incidents, the public safety and private agencies all came together and coordinated
training exercises to improve communication, situational awareness to enhance their readiness
(FEMA, 2013). The coordinated efforts of all the agencies in their response to the bombing was
superb. The Next Generation Incident Command System (NICS) which is designed to help
coordinate and manage event and disasters by promoting situational awareness to emergency
managers was adopted by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) in 2012
and as a result the cooperation and collaboration across agencies, disciplines and jurisdictions
was very immediate and extraordinary (FEMA, 2013).
There was unity from the top all the way down to the first responders and all this was achieved
through long and advanced planning and coordinated exercises by the Federal, State, local,
private-sectors and non- governmental organizations. The Bible says Proverbs 24:27 “Prepare
your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house”.
This verse demonstrates how planning and preparation for any event is crucial in our lives.
References
FEMA. (2013). Boston Marathon Bombings: The Positive Effect of Planning and Preparation on
Response. LLIS.Gov, 1–7. https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=741742
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