Effects of catastrophes have become widespread and more frequent today, hence difficult to preserve the safety and security of society. The government-centered approach aimed at managing the risks associated with the catastrophes cannot fully meet the challenges posed by catastrophic events. Currently, the government is affected by the changing realities that limit its capabilities, hence making it difficult for the government to improve the nation’s resilience. According to FEMA, substantial access and service gaps exist in even small and medium-sized disasters, which the government is effective at managing. Government resources and capabilities become overwhelmed when catastrophes are large-scale. It is, therefore, crucial to incorporate a Whole Community Approach in dealing with the effects of catastrophic events.
A Whole Community Approach stresses on a collective way of handling effects of disasters as a way of building national resilience. Thus, the approach reinforces that FEMA is not the only nation’s emergency management team, but rather one part of the collective team that deals with managing catastrophic emergencies. The approach leverages all the resources of the collective team when preparing for natural or man-made disasters, protecting against the disasters, responding to and recovering from the disasters or mitigating against all the effects of disasters. The collective team includes FEMA and its partners at the federal level; local, tribal and state partners; communities, individuals, Non-Governmental Organizations and families.
The collective manner of developing the nation’s resilience is the best way of dealing with catastrophes because of several reasons. Firstly, the approach allows for the consideration of community and individual needs during planning and implementation of disaster strategies. FEMA observes that, "When the district is engaged in an authentic dialogue, it becomes enabled to identify its needs and the existing resources that may be used to address them.” Communities, individuals, and families are the first group of people that respond to catastrophes. It is paramount to achieve an understanding of the whole community’s needs so as to know the real-life safety, motivations and sustaining needs of community members. In so doing, the approach manages to use the available resources effectively, irrespective of the scale of the disaster or community constraints.
Secondly, collective development of the nation’s resilience leads to greater empowerment and better integration of resources from across communities in dealing with catastrophic hazards. As such, all partners of the emergency management team put all their resources together in preparing, protecting, mitigating, responding and recovering from catastrophic events. This way, the efforts of dealing with the effects of disasters are not affected, nor are the capabilities of the entire society limited in dealing with hazards. The approach, therefore, allows for the mitigation of hazards and recovery from catastrophic events regardless of the severity or scale of a disaster.
Thirdly, a Whole Community Approach enables the establishment of a stronger social structure and relationships that facilitate better prevention, mitigation, protection, and recovery activities. "Existing structures and relationships that are present in the daily lives of persons, families, firms, and groups before an incident occurs can be leveraged and enabled to act effectively during and after a disaster strikes" (FEMA). By working together, individuals, families, community members, organizations and businesses develop better social relationships, making it easier to empower people to deal with catastrophic events.
Lastly, a Whole Community Approach is beneficial as it leads to greater resilience at both community and national levels. Shared understanding of communal and individual needs of community members enables better use of community resources available in protecting, mitigating and recovering from disasters. Furthermore, greater empowerment and integration of resources enables the entire community to develop the nation’s resilience effectively. In addition, stronger social infrastructure and better relationships lead to an increase in individual and collective preparedness, and facilitates the prevention, protection, mitigation, response and recovery from catastrophes. In general, the collective nature of the Whole Community Approach makes the development of the nation’s resilience possible.
Works Cited
FEMA. Whole Community Engagement. 24 July 2014. 12 November 2014.
Fema, U.s. Department of Homeland Security-. A Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management: Principles, Themes, and Pathways for Action. New York: Createspace Independent Pub, 2011. 12 November 2014.
