Edmg509wk6

DefiningQuestions.pdf

Defining Questions The questions then, are these: Can we anticipate and prevent everything that can harm us? At what cost? Are we now anticipating everything that COULD harm us, or are we ignoring or fighting against planning for certain oncoming disasters? (think: global warming) These may become the defining questions of the profession, and worthy of keeping in mind.

Introduction_DepartmentofHomelandSecurity.pdf

Introduction: Department of Homeland Security September 11, 2001, for everything else that it became was also the day when the world irreversibly changed for the field of emergency management. Civil defense was long gone; the focus was largely on natural disasters. Now, suddenly, we were faced with a man-made disaster of a scale that had not been faced in recent memory. Only some earthquakes, such as those in Alaska and San Francisco, provided a similar history with cues as to how to respond. But they lacked the man-made component. In a second, emergency management now had to deal with homeland terrorism--something for which we had little experience. The knee-jerk reaction resulted in the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, and the gathering of various response functions into a single agency, with a singular focus on preventing attacks on the homeland.

However, this may have turned out to be a pendulum swing that was too far in one direction. Following right behind, just four years later, came Hurricane Katrina. We were completely unprepared. Whether or not one wants to attribute that to 9/11 tunnel vision or not can be left to philosophic debates. That fact is that for whatever reason, we took our eye off the ball with respect to natural disasters, and nature explained the shortsightedness of that in very clear terms.

So we reacted once again. We designed command structures and revamped our response organizations to be more effective in responding to natural disasters, while at the same time trying to keep our eye on the ball with respect to thwarting terrorism. The effort by and large seemed to be effective. Responses to natural disasters for the next few years were more effective. There were no more homeland terrorist attacks.

What languished in this context was government regulation and control of hazardous industries such as oil drilling in environmentally sensitive areas such as the Gulf of Mexico. That oversight was pointed out to us when the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform exploded, killing 11 people and releasing uncountable gallons of crude oil into the Gulf. Regulatory malfeasance and corporate malfeasance were established as the facts became known. So we responded again, and a new emphasis on the role of government in controlling dangerous corporate activities will likely reduce the risk of a similar event happening again.

DefiningQuestions.pdf

Defining Questions The questions then, are these: Can we anticipate and prevent everything that can harm us? At what cost? Are we now anticipating everything that COULD harm us, or are we ignoring or fighting against planning for certain oncoming disasters? (think: global warming) These may become the defining questions of the profession, and worthy of keeping in mind.

Introduction_DepartmentofHomelandSecurity.pdf

Introduction: Department of Homeland Security September 11, 2001, for everything else that it became was also the day when the world irreversibly changed for the field of emergency management. Civil defense was long gone; the focus was largely on natural disasters. Now, suddenly, we were faced with a man-made disaster of a scale that had not been faced in recent memory. Only some earthquakes, such as those in Alaska and San Francisco, provided a similar history with cues as to how to respond. But they lacked the man-made component. In a second, emergency management now had to deal with homeland terrorism--something for which we had little experience. The knee-jerk reaction resulted in the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, and the gathering of various response functions into a single agency, with a singular focus on preventing attacks on the homeland.

However, this may have turned out to be a pendulum swing that was too far in one direction. Following right behind, just four years later, came Hurricane Katrina. We were completely unprepared. Whether or not one wants to attribute that to 9/11 tunnel vision or not can be left to philosophic debates. That fact is that for whatever reason, we took our eye off the ball with respect to natural disasters, and nature explained the shortsightedness of that in very clear terms.

So we reacted once again. We designed command structures and revamped our response organizations to be more effective in responding to natural disasters, while at the same time trying to keep our eye on the ball with respect to thwarting terrorism. The effort by and large seemed to be effective. Responses to natural disasters for the next few years were more effective. There were no more homeland terrorist attacks.

What languished in this context was government regulation and control of hazardous industries such as oil drilling in environmentally sensitive areas such as the Gulf of Mexico. That oversight was pointed out to us when the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform exploded, killing 11 people and releasing uncountable gallons of crude oil into the Gulf. Regulatory malfeasance and corporate malfeasance were established as the facts became known. So we responded again, and a new emphasis on the role of government in controlling dangerous corporate activities will likely reduce the risk of a similar event happening again.

DefiningQuestions.pdf

Homepage_VOAD.pdf

EmergencyManagementAssistanceCompact.pdf

Introduction_DepartmentofHomelandSecurity.pdf

DefiningQuestions.pdf

Homepage_VOAD.pdf

EmergencyManagementAssistanceCompact.pdf

Introduction_DepartmentofHomelandSecurity.pdf

DefiningQuestions.pdf

Homepage_VOAD.pdf

EmergencyManagementAssistanceCompact.pdf

Introduction_DepartmentofHomelandSecurity.pdf

DefiningQuestions.pdf

Homepage_VOAD.pdf

EmergencyManagementAssistanceCompact.pdf

Introduction_DepartmentofHomelandSecurity.pdf

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