Collaborative emergency management: better community organising, better public preparedness and response

Abstract

Community coordination requires communication and planning of precautions to take when faced with a severe threat of disaster. The unique case of the four Florida hurricanes of 2004--Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne--is used here to assess community responses to repeated threats of hurricanes. The paper examines how effectiveness in coordinating community disaster response efforts affects future public preparedness. The findings suggest that pre-season planning, open communication between emergency managers and elected officials, and the use of technology all had a significant impact on community responses. The repeated threat scenario indicates that emergency managers must work vigilantly to keep residents informed of the seriousness of a situation. The study describes how emergency managers in Florida countered public complacency during four hurricanes in six weeks. The strategies identified as useful by public managers in the context of hurricanes are applicable to other natural and man-made disasters.

Factors Contributing to Social Risk Management in China: Evaluation in the Context of SSRA Initiative

“…In a similar manner, administrative supervision assists officials in distributing risk information to affiliated sectors, and reduces uncertainty in treating the functions of stakeholders for ensuring effective risk management. To involve more public servants in risk management, enhanced participation and citizen-oriented management networks are critical (Kapucu, 2008;Wu et al, 2015), and during the process administrators can deeply engage local citizens to build trust in terms of decision-making project-related programs. Additionally, appropriate government intervention in risk management contributes to creating an environment of information communication on the state-society level and strengthening risk-coping capacities for local administrators.…”

The Folk United Operational Mechanism for Disaster Rescue in Southwest China —— by the Case Study of Yiliang“9m7” Earthquake

“…With the help of NGODPC (NGO Disaster Preparedness Center) 3 , Huaxia Commonweal Service Center and some other NGOs, Yiliang earthquake folk relief joint workstation was formally founded. The strategy of the united relief workstation was to cooperate with enterprises and other non-profit partners to form a sustainable relief work platform, establish folk disaster relief supportive network, and build a disaster rescue linkage and echo mechanisms so as to reconstruct a warm home under the guide and support of the authorities.…”

“…In recent decades, spontaneous disasters have soared partly because of the changing climate and geology. However, various ways and scenarios could be witnessed in every process of rescue work, such as hurricane Sandy in the United States [1] , the 9.0 earthquake in Japan [2] , the tsunami in India Ocean [3] , the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti [4] , China's freezing disaster [5] and Lushan earthquake.…”

Collaboration Exercises—The Lack of Collaborative Benefits

“…Collaboration between professional emergency personnel is crucial in dealing with accidents, crises, and disasters (Kapucu 2008;Powley and Nissen 2012;Christensen et al 2013;Clarke 2013). This is especially true for larger events when resources are scarce, but also for smaller events when those who first arrive at the scene are not trained to handle the specific situation (Scholtens 2008).…”