Term Paper on "Emergency Management and Public Safety Communications"
Term Paper 4 pages (1056 words) Sources: 5
[EXCERPT] . . . .
Katrina CommunicationsFailures in Public Communication Responses to Emergency Situations: A Return to Hurricane Katrina
Though Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States more than half a decade ago, the nation, its populations, and the many agencies and organizations involved in responding to emergency situations are all still learning from the lessons of this major natural disaster. Heavy criticisms have been levied against the federal government, certain specific individual leaders, and the organizations involved in providing disaster relief for this affected by Hurricane Katrina, and the emergency response and disaster preparedness structures and systems that were implemented in the wake of the hurricane have been cited as needing major adjustments. A variety of problems, from a lack of adequate resources to their inefficient deployment, have been cited as specific problems with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other agencies involved in disaster response and relief.
One of the specific problems that has been noted when it comes to the response to Hurricane Katrina is the lack of effective communication that occurred following the disaster. Better communication would have resulted in a more accurate initial assessment of the situation and a better coordination of available resources once the extent of the disaster was known. The following pages will examine the communications systems that were in place during the response to Hurricane Katrina and the failures and successes of these communications systems and their utilization in order to determine how better public communications systems can be developed.
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Communications Failures and Infrastructure Issues
Communications are extremely important during disaster response and relief efforts for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is ensuring that the right resources are deployed and implemented in the most effective manner possible. Many specific instances of communications failures in this regard have been cited in the response to Hurricane Katrina that might seem simple and rather mundane but that truly have profound and far-reaching effects. Generators that had been requested to restore function to pipelines, for instance, were diverted by FEMA agents to power hospitals, and while this represents a proper assessment of need it did not reflect the most efficient use of resources -- FEMA agents should have been aware that there were plentiful generators available, and that other business infrastructure could have been maintained and supported while emergency measures were implemented (U.S. Congress 2006).
Ineffective resource use at this basic level contributed to further miscommunication and mis-assessments of the situation, making relief and response efforts far less prevalent and effective than they could have been. Other large scale communication deficiencies contributed to making Hurricane Katrina a bigger disaster than necessary; lack of solid and comprehensive local, regional, and federal communications systems as well as a lack of integration between the various communications systems and protocols that did exist were noted as specific and widespread communication failures during the entire disaster response (Mountjoy 2005). Had local resources been able to communicate with federal agencies more easily, the response could have been much more effective.
Failures in communication were not limited to the direct response of the various federal, state, and local agencies involved in the response to Hurricane Katrina… READ MORE
Quoted Instructions for "Emergency Management and Public Safety Communications" Assignment:
“I requested a total of 5 pages because I have to have an abstract page. I*****'m in my first year of college, I don*****'t know what degree you bear, however, if you could keep my paper a little toned down from what you*****'re used to writing and more on my level I*****'d appreciate it. I*****'m studying Homeland Security with emphasis on Emergency Management, my term paper is to be on any subject dealing with Public Safety Communications. Therefore, emergency headlines that have encompassed success and/or failures are welcomed; 9/11, Hurricane Isabel, Katrina, the lack of cohesiveness concerning the Incident Command System. I*****'m just throwing some ideas out there, if you think of something better that will be great! Afterall, you are the professional. I*****'m sorry for the short notice, I would have picked from the already prepared papers, but we have this program at school where the instructors can search written papers. We had a student get burned for it last semester. Anyway, I thank you for your service!
How to Reference "Emergency Management and Public Safety Communications" Term Paper in a Bibliography
“Emergency Management and Public Safety Communications.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2011, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/katrina-communications-failures-public/2592225. Accessed 29 Jun 2024.
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