The Homeland Security Essay

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Four classical phases of disaster management are mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Mitigation efforts can be described as the efforts that are put for the elimination and reduction of hazard and its impacts/consequences. The traditional lightning rod is an example of such effort. These responsibilities are similar as those involved in any risk management program. In this case, however, they are entirely focused on putting a stop to or curtailing the loss of cataclysmic events. Preparedness is the risk identification and after its mitigation, starting to prepare for the unforeseen and improbable. Preparedness involves steps that are taken to prepare for an unexpected natural or human attack so that in case it occurs, the human, material and fiscal resources are complete, prearranged, skilled and accessible. The Preparedness Cycle consists of certain components which collectively help a nation to be prepared for dealing with any imminent hazard/disaster. They are planning, organization and equipment, training, exercise and evaluation and improvement. Response simply means putting all the plans into action whereas Recovery is the phase that continues for a long time. The best example of a recovery phase is the psychosomatic therapy of those who survive after a calamity and the families of those who lost their lives.
The involvement of the private sector in mitigation and preparedness is crucial for the emergency management. It is the responsibility of the governments to make sure that the vast business networks, industrial sectors, educational and academic institutions, and other non-governmental organizations are treated as equal responsible participants in disaster management. The involvement and participation of the private sector are instrumental to the success of every phase mentioned for the disaster management.
Public education is also very important. There is also a need to develop programs that can bring residents and businesses into the course of action for preparedness. Educational programs should be offered to the communities so that every member in the community can be encouraged to be self-reliant for at least 72 hours. It is important for the residents to know about the threats to the community. They should also have sound knowledge of evacuation routes and probable locations for shelter. A community’s prosperity is dependent on the basic industries as well as the sales and property taxes. These depending factors are greatly affected by natural disasters. Thus, it is exceedingly important for the communities to invest in threat assessment, emergency preparedness, and response capabilities adequately in concert with the major industries in the community. The recovery of the community after a disaster must be speeded up to minimize the damage. All these things are possible if there is collaboration between the private and non-private sectors of the nation. It must be made sure that non-governmental sectors of the nation are given the full opportunities in mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery phases.
It is also important to note here that public-private collaboration is advantageous in a number of ways such as enhancement of situational responsiveness, improvement of decision-making, accessibility to additional resources and facilities, expansion of calamity awareness and relief communications, improvement of coordination, maintenance of strong associations, and advancement of emergency management efforts. To cut a long story short, the private sector involvement in hazard mitigation and preparedness may result in the creation of more pliant communities as it increases the jurisdictional competence for the prevention, response, and recovery from the disastrous events and incidents.