Disaster management is the process of supporting, preparing, and rebuilding the society, region, or any building after being affected by the natural disasters or artificial disasters. In comparison, emergency management planning is the process of preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery of the region or building from the impacts of disasters. This process is largely dependent on the economic and social conditions of the specific area or region. This paper is focused on planning and dealing with the emergency that can occur in the Ashford University located in the mid –western region of the United States. The paper will discuss the role of politicians, activists, emergency management team, students, and residents of mid-western area in the process of emergency management planning. It will also highlight the responsibilities of each entity, institutes, and government. In addition, it will focus on certain problems that may arise and what measures could be taken to minimize its effects. However, the primary focus of this paper will remain on the point that is to minimize the impacts of disasters on people, and to help the victims coming out of the misfortune .
Ashford University is likely to come across several kinds of natural disasters in its main campus Clinton, Lowa. This region is located in the mid-western area of United States. This area is prone to string storms that can produce flooding and tornadoes. Mid-western area of the United States remains under constant danger for the students of Ashford main campus and its residents. These natural disasters can bring in severe threats for the public. However, they can be controlled with the help of proper management and planning. Strong storm of Tornado is like an air conditioning for the earth that maintains the coolness.
There are several machines and programs being developed that can predict the impending natural disaster. However, the system still needs to be optimized. In certain cases, system fails to provide prior notice about the approaching disasters. Therefore, it must be improved so that it can provide exact results. Besides the improvements, the primary need of the Ashford University and other residents is to make a management plan in case of emergency. They should be ready anytime for the critical situation. If the natural disaster occurs, then in emergency planning management, the primary objective is to provide medical facilities immediately to unfortunate people who cannot afford them. The number of mobile clinics are increasing in the United States due to growing risk of natural disasters and terrorism. Therefore, to fulfill the needs of needy people and manage plans in the time of disasters, mobile clinics are being organized. Although, there are wireless systems and technologies available, but they are not as effective and cannot help in implementing call priority facility .
Scope
The Ashford University in the mid-western area of the United States is a large institution and has high risk of natural disasters and emergencies. In addition to the students in the University, there are large number of residents who live in the area. Although, we cannot stop storms or tornadoes, but we can plan to control the situation and do not let the disaster to damage maximum number of people. This report intends to spread the word about the storms and tornadoes in the mid-western area of the United States. It is important to aware people about the natural disasters and the possible damages that they can cause. This report will discuss the procedures that would be used to notify University community in the period of risk of tornados and what actions needs to be taken during or after the disaster has occurred.
Analysis
In process emergency planning management, the first step is to prepare community for the risk of disaster. Make people aware of the types of risks and what actions they must take when such emergency is built. In such scenarios, the planning staff anticipate problems and discuss the resources required to control or secure people and assets from being damaged.
Some of the common activities that are practiced during the planning and preparation of highly impacted tornadoes are testing; formulating, exercising disaster plans, training residents, and other public. However, emergency actions are not only limited to these practices. In case of Ashford University, it is highly important to make students aware of the natural disasters and the actions that they would have to take. They must be given complete information about how to minimize the impact of disasters as much as they can. These preparatory actions can be taken for the communities and residents of mid-western area of the United States .
Authority and Responsibility
In case of emergency planning management of the Ashford University, different team is designed who would formulate plans related to disasters and risks. The team includes people from each department of the university. In addition, students also takes part in the planning process who are much more active and responsible. This team is selected based on physical tests, knowledge, and sincerity. The primary responsibility of this team is to control disasters and minimize the impact of tornadoes in the region of Ashford University and nearby areas. Other external members are also taking part in the planning process that includes environmental health and safety, and university police department.
The primary objectives of the authority team are:
According to the emergency management plan, residents and students of Ashford University should be offered financial and care assistance after the tornado disaster. Two types of assistances are provided to victims of Ashford University and residents. One is the housing assistance and the other is basic needs assistance. After tornado disaster occurs, victims come across several problems. Among these problems, house structural issues like electrical and gas-leakage are quite dangerous. The authority team is responsible to help victims in recovering from the after effects of tornado. The team provides them with the skilled contractor to fix these problems at home. However, until the problems are resolved, it is suggested to the victims to wear long sleeves, boots, and gloves. Also, instruct them to learn safety procedures regarding gas and electricity before operating them. Before you switch on the main power plug, it is important to check the spilled petrol, inflammable oils, medicines, drugs, and other hazardous material in the house. Poor individual decisions, poor leadership, and inexperience staff can result in failure. Although, it is believed that the camera, flash, and ideas are enough to publish the ad or information. However, in this case, the one has to make pre plans regarding the emergency management. In addition, the staff hired in the authority team must be equipped, trained.
The immediate actions that one can take to be safe from the tornado disasters is the shelter in lower basement or lower floor, interior rooms, and interior corridors. However, in case, if a person is not standing in the large garden, or if you are standing alone then it is better to stay away from the exterior doors and windows. These may break and cause injury on your face or body. In addition, one can lie straight in an open garden to lower down the frightening fears.
Assumptions and Limitations of the Emergency Planning
Ashford University has the limited resources that are effective only in case of small-scale emergencies. These first-aid services are suitable only to provide physical security and escort services to faculty, students, and staff members. These limited resources are not enough to deal with the natural disasters. However, the Ashford University has positive professional relationships with Clinton County Health Department, Fire and Public Works Department, Clinton Police, Mercy Medical Center of Clinton, and Clinton County Emergency Management Agency. These government and private institutes remain the important sources of assistance for the Ashford University in period of disasters. In addition to these institutes, the Ashford University has also made connections with the non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Salvation Army, and American Red Cross to make the emergency plan as effective as possible.
The emergency planning management requires certain commonly accepted and assumed conditions that help in providing the foundation for establishing procedures and protocols. Such conditions are applied in worst-case scenarios planning. It is the case when the building is directly hit by the storm, wind, tornados, or thunderstorms. Ashford University, if is directly hit by the tornados or thunderstorms then it would affect both the Clinton community and the campus. In case if proper emergency planning is formulated, then the region or Ashford University may come across several damages.
- Serious injuries or loss of life due to inadequate planning of medical agencies
- Interruption of important utilities services, like power, water, internet, telephone, microwave communications, cellular networks, and repeater systems.
- Blockage of bridges, roads, river traffic, and rail lines for unlimited period due to wind damage and extensive tornado disasters.
- Regional and local resources may fail for extended period due to exceeded capacity or destruction.
- Suppliers or vendors are not available due to blockage of roads and limited access to the resources.
- Communications among people in the region can be interrupted.
Implementation of the emergency planning management rests with the President, Emergency Management Coordinator, and Director of Security and Safety. The level of Ashford University Emergency Operations Center depends upon the degree and nature of the disaster. However, primary preparations can be initiated any time by those authorities that are designated by the higher emergency management. The emergency operations center activation is carried out at three levels, including
- Level 1 – Monitoring
At this level, environmental conditions are monitored daily so that potential hazards can be identified and basic actions could be taken in time. Monitoring can help in minimizing interruption or damage to campus.
- Level 2 – Partial Activation
In partial activation, the authorities have to call for the help of local or state resources due to increased level of threats.
- Level 3 – Full Activation
Full activation is required, when the threat level is much higher and is uncontrollable for the University to handle itself. Due to this factor, federal, local, and state resources are activated. This level of threat requires 24-hour operations and services of Emergency Planning Committee, Executive Policy Group, and Emergency Response Team .
Recommendations
Getting prepared for the emergency is not the same as to getting prepared for the disaster. Emergency planning requires much more than the disaster management. In emergency planning, one has to consider the after effects of the disasters as well like in case of no road, or electricity, people will get disconnected. For this reason, it is important for the authority team of emergency planning to provide people with necessary assistance. In case of Ashford University, it has recorded from the experience that after Tornados, the communication was lost for weeks. No electricity, telephone, or cellphones were working. Therefore, a technical substitute should be added to the emergency planning in the area of Ashford’s University to keep the communication connected. Certain proactive measures may also be executed, but there are various other issues involved in this process. However, the primary and the most important need is to provide safety and welfare to the victims and remove factors that adds unlikeliness and inability of the community. To ensure that victims would receive help in case of disasters, the emergency planning management team needs to focus on the transports services that are ambulances, fire cars, police, and trucks. Proper routes and efficient services should be planned to ensure that they would not be blocked after the disaster occurs.
The selection of the team members is another important matter. The political appointees usually have limited experience in natural disasters. The process of hiring team members should be based on the experiences and be carried out through proper research and care. Emergency management is different from disaster management. Therefore, the head and the authorities should have working experience in emergency management. Assistance can be requested from the private or nongovernmental organizations as well for the recovery after disasters have occurred. Although, in past governmental organizations and volunteers have always been helping victims of disasters, but the case of emergency planning is a broad challenge requiring legal and practical experience. For purpose of emergency planning, groups may also be hired to train the students and government appointees in time of disasters, storms, or tornados.
Conclusion
After going through all the factors and impacts of tornados and other kinds of disasters, it is observed that the failure occurs not only because of the human failure, but there are many other factors involved. However, good emergency planning management can help in minimizing the impact of disasters, but it cannot be eliminated. The authorities and heads must ensure that the coordination among the activists of the event is preserved. In addition, it requires management of risk factors, efficient network among respondents, sense of urgency, and other factors together help in minimizing the losses and impacts due to tornados and other disasters in the Ashford’s University.
References
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Perry, R. W., & Lindell, M. K. (2007). Emergency Planning. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Schmidt, D. L. (2009). Emergency Management & Business Continuity Preparedness Checklist. Retrieved from http://www.preparednessllc.com/files/Emergency_Management_Business_Continuity_Program_Self-Assessment.pdf
The Univerity of Chicago. (2013). Tornado Emergency Plan. Retrieved from http://safety.uchicago.edu/pp/emergency/tornado.shtml
