Abstract
Emergency Planning as a Profession
In this paper, I will bring forward arguments that emergency planning and emergency management are progressively being recognized as a profession in most parts of the world.
Emergencies are usually linked to natural disasters or events caused by humans. In these cases, a need arises to mobilize the population for humanitarian action or self-defense against natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, fires, or human conflict, such as military attack or terrorist threat. The importance of emergency planning is also reflected in the International Humanitarian Law, for instance, in the Geneva Conventions on Protecting the Vulnerable in Wars (Summary of the Geneva Conventions).
In various parts of the world, organized response disasters has acquired different names: emergency management, civil defense, civil protection. The initial aim of emergency actions, and in particular civil defense was to “mitigate the loss, damage and suffering inflicted on civilians as a result of the dramatic development of the methods and means of warfare” (Civil Defense in International Humanitarian Law). With the years, the concept developed to include emergencies of any character, which result in civilian loss, damage or suffering.
The main focus of emergency planning is “to keep an eye on the future” (The Role of Urban Planners in Emergency Management). Considering the large ratio of people inhabiting urban areas, urban planning becomes an important part of emergency planning. As a profession, urban planners are tasked to anticipate civilian needs and to prepare for emergency management in cases of natural or manmade disasters. This type of emergency management includes such aspects as risk assessment, hazard vulnerability, and emergency planning has to take into consideration all that, in order to make sure that citizens are out of risk in the times of eventual disaster. For instance, emergency planners have to draft evacuation plans and safety routes, set up collection centers, location of hospitals, fire stations.
Importantly, according to the American Planning Association, about two-thirds of all urban planners are professionally employed by the government in city or regional planning agencies. They are also employed at state and federal level, including the Department of Transportation, the Federal Emergency Management Association, The National Park Service, The Environmental Protection Agency, The Housing and Urban Development (The Role of Urban Planners in Emergency Management).
Professional emergency planning is included both in the public and the private sector. According to the American Planning Association, 27 percent of all planners responded to a survey that they were employed with private consulting firms and enterprises. In their majority, they are highly qualified, with at least a bachelor’s degree, and many of them have a master’s degree or a major recognized by the American Planning Association. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of emergency planning jobs has increased by 15 percent between 2006 and 2016. Urban planners have been ranked as one of the “best careers” (The Role of Urban Planners in Emergency Management). In terms of salary, professional emergency planners, such as the urban planners receive an annual salary of $71,000 on the average. Those of them who are in possession of a professional certification awarded by the American Institute of Certified Planners receive $16,000 more that non-members of the Institute.
The need to fully recognize emergency planners as professionals with appropriate qualification also comes from the necessity to look for the best professional help and medical care in cases when emergencies have resulted in mass casualties.
In terms of education and training, emergency management is a profession in which individuals must upgrade the formal education with a lot of practical experience and in-service training. This is only possible in a professional environment rather than in ad hoc volunteering situations. Therefore, emergency planning courses offered by Universities preferably include periods of internships and practical learning at workplaces and emergency planning offices.
As mentioned in the beginning, emergency planning historically began as an immediate response to war conflicts, so that it could develop later towards emergency planning and response to natural disasters. The profession gained further evolution and importance after the tragedy of 9/11/2001, to include emergency response plans against terror attacks. The role of the New York firefighters in the post-9/11 events indicated the importance of professional civilian emergency planning, which comes to assist law enforcement and army forces during a disaster. In the past few years, this particular threat has turned the profession of emergency planning ever more important, in view of the developments related to terror attacks in major capital cities in Europe and worldwide.
The purpose and logic of political terror is to scare the civilian population and create insecurity, chaos and instability in the political system by causing unexpected, irrational and unjustified human casualties. Therefore, it is becoming clear that only a professional force with well-developed emergency planning and response techniques can respond effectively to professional acts of terror.
The United States have responded by establishing a network of homeland security organizations, and by urging the governments at state and local level to draft emergency management plans. The purpose of these plans is to refocus from emergency planning to emergency awareness and preparedness in each community. In a useful post 9/11 study, Perry and Lindell (2003) review these new concepts of community preparedness and emergency planning. The authors further offer a variety of planning schemes in response to natural and technological disasters, which can be applied to any environmental threat.
Homeland Security is the third in size federal department of the United States Government. It includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the United States Secret Service (Homeland Security). Efficient and emergency planning is not possible without intensive coordination between these professional agencies.
Emergency planning must be understood as a professional process, which must involve the participation and gradual learning by larger parts of the population. As David Alexander (2005) points out, “We are all part of a civil protection process. Emergencies can be planned for by experts, but they will be experienced by the community and the general public (Alexander, 1)
We have seen too many occasions around the world in the past one year only, when inadequate emergency planning leads to mass human casualties. This makes the need for emergency planning and preparedness a moral and a legal responsibility for all – for the professionally employed, for the government decision-makers and for the public (Alexander, 5). In order to be efficient, emergency response requires long-term professional planning (Alexander, 8).
Research and practice show that efficient emergency management can only be achieved by well-functioning professional emergency organizations. Specific emergency management problems related to communication, chain of command and co-ordination can be tackled successfully only by professionals rather than volunteers. On the other hand, planning can address these management issues but can hardly resolve them all (Quaratelli, 1988). Other authors add that rigid and bureaucratic command and control in professional emergency planning organizations might turn the whole process inefficient. They suggest that strictly professional emergency planning should be combined with “flexible, malleable, loosely coupled, organizational configurations”, which “can create a more effective disaster response” (Neal and Phillips, 1995).
In her extensive study, The Profession of Emergency Management: Educational Opportunities and Gaps, JoAnne De Rouen Darlington (Darlington) supports the view of emergency management as a profession and argues that the need for professional training for emergency managers has been increasing. Darlington offers statistics of the increased number of emergency management graduate and undergraduate programs launched in US universities. The number of professionals looking for a career job as emergency management has also increased.
The profession has received added value with the inclusion of specialized training for leadership and management competencies. The profession itself has diversified to include more disciplines and a variety of new participants from the corporate business as well as from non-governmental organizations.
Darlington further argues that despite its obvious rapid development as a profession, emergency planning and management still lacks a systematic approach and structure and most of the emergency planning activities are being conducted in a non-coordinated manner by different organizations. Darlington proves this with instances where the Emergency Management Institute (EMI), offers emergency management training based on skills and performance, some academia offer theory based training but the coordination between the two types of qualification is still insufficient. Emergency management is obviously a profession in development.
References
Civil Defense in International Humanitarian Law. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2017, from http://bit.ly/2jKztIF
Darlington, JoAnne DeRouen. (n.d.). The Profession of Emergency Management. Retrieved January 14, 2017, from https://training.fema.gov/hiedu/downloads/prof_em.pdf
David Alexander. (2005). "Towards the development of a standard in emergency planning", Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, Vol. 14 Iss: 2, 158 – 175. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09653560510595164
Homeland Security | whitehouse.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2017, from https://www.dhs.gov/
Neal, D. M. and Phillips, B. D. (1995). Effective Emergency Management: Reconsidering the Bureaucratic Approach. Disasters, 19, 327–337. doi:10.1111/j.1467- 7717.1995.tb00353.x
Summary of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Their (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2017, from http://rdcrss.org/2iXdSbU
Perry, R. W. and Lindell, M. K. (2003). Preparedness for Emergency Response: Guidelines for the Emergency Planning Process. Disasters, 27, 336–350. doi:10.1111/j.0361- 3666.2003.00237.x
Quarantelli, E. L. (1988), Disaster Crisis Management: A Summary of Research Findings. Journal of Management Studies, 25, 373–385. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6486.1988.tb00043.x
The Role of Urban Planners in Emergency Management. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2017, from http://www.emergencymanagementedu.org/urban-planners-in-emergency- management/
