Description
Emergency Management has reemerged as a key focus of local, state, and federal government entities throughout the decade. Now more than ever, there is the need for comprehensive emergency management planning and coordination efforts to respond to natural disasters as well as complex humanitarian disasters stemming from areas of prolonged conflict. Recently, the presence of a new, highly infectious and deadly disease has sprung into the forefront of life around the globe. Global climate change has been blamed for a perceived increase in the frequency of high-impact and complex natural disasters such as wildfires, hurricanes, coastal flooding, heat waves, drought, and extreme weather further demanding the need for Emergency Management planning and response. These large and complex events require more sophistication and planning for the response, especially as many of the disasters have overlapping challenges such as heat waves, drought, and wildfires or hurricanes and coastal flooding such as from Hurricane Ian in the Fall of 2022. This paper will discuss lessons learned from areas of conflict, natural disasters, and manmade disasters that should be considered when developing Emergency Management plans. Specifically, this paper will analyze operational coordination, planning considerations, training and exercise, and logistics and supply-chain management. Based on these components, final recommendations will be made to increase the process of preparing and responding to emergencies through the lens of continuity of operations. This includes consideration of the new FEMA guidelines for Equity as Goal 1 and other related concepts such as Social Justice as reflective of the US society and its national leadership.
