FINAL DISASTER RESPONSE PLAN
Introduction
Effective response rate by the responsible authorities during emergencies helps to control the impact of the disaster. Poor response rate leads to a high level of adverse effects such as; a high number of lives lost and high damage to the property. There should be coordination among the authorities involved in the practice for the practice to be effective. Disaster response is aimed at reducing or containing the impacts of the disaster on the victims. Disaster mitigation plans should be implemented effectively to ensure that the response process is a success. The response rate is influenced by the preparedness of the department to handling an unfortunate occurrence. Disaster response unit is made up of different subunits which together facilitate the response rate and also influence the effectiveness of the entire group. These subunits include; hospitals – the hospitals take part in taking care of the casualties to save lives. The emergency medical service unit provides the ambulances used to transport the victims from the scene of the accident to the nearby medical facilities to receive medical care. Another subunit is the law enforcement unit- this unit is well trained to contain the threats caused by the terrorists, swiftly to reduce the loss of life. The fire department is another essential subunit in disaster management equipped with the right equipment to contain the fires and save as much live and properties as possible. However, despite these subunits being adequately equipped the response unit is faced with several challenges which affect its effectiveness.
Operational Challenges faced by disaster response units.
Various challenges are affecting the effectiveness of the groups during disaster response. These challenges include; an unclear line of command- each team has its leader from which they receive instructions. Every team feels that it`s capable of handling the situation since they are well trained (Dara et al., 2005). Therefore, this team doesn’t want to be undermined by following the other teams’ directives. These teams, therefore, operate independently leading to ineffectiveness in the response process. These teams need to operate concurrently to achieve the best results, having a common leader, therefore, can help improve the coordination between the units. Poor communication between the units is also another challenge affecting the function of the response unit. Communication failure between the units leads to lack of coordination between these teams leading to loss of lives and destruction of property. The communication aspect is affected due to the use of different terminologies by these sub-sectors which are not understood by the other unit’s members. These terminologies are used to give an update about the situation, but when other operating units do not understand them, they end up not getting the intended information. For the EMS to effectively manage the security of the service providers must be guaranteed by law enforcers coordination has to be useful for the process to be a success. From the scenario illustrated a teamwork approach is needed. These teams also lack a joint operation plan; this affects the team member preparedness to tackle the challenge at hand.
Another problem is the lack of a predefined method of integrating inter-agency operational requirement; these guidelines would provide the basis upon which each agency would operate. Failure to have these guidelines affects the coordination of the entire response team. Another challenge facing the EMS department is accessibility to reach the victims promptly. The hospitals with the capacity to provide care for the disaster are very far from the incident scene, within the area are community hospitals which might lack the necessary capabilities for the influx of patients.
Assets required for addressing the operational challenges
Despite the many challenges arising from the scenario, the town can control the situation and ensure a maximum number of lives are saved and the destruction of the properties reduced. Among the assets that the town has to respond to this threat include; A complete SWAT unit – the team is trained to tackle an active shooter situation, due to this capability, therefore, the team will eliminate the shooting threat allowing the other police department to come in and rescue the victim. The town also boosts of owning ten fire stations which are fully equipped, in addition to this the town has an automatic and agreement with the neighbouring jurisdiction, this adds to its firefighting capability. The agreement also adds an opportunity for the town to receive operational aid from the surrounding jurisdiction. With the extra support, therefore, the town will be able to respond to the threat swiftly eliminating it with minimal casualties. Through this agreement, the town can receive backup from its surrounding enabling it to control the fire in both locations effectively and in good time. Availability of the EMS unit also strengthens the fire department. Another valuable asset operating jointly between the police department and the fire department is the explosive ordnance disposal unit. The EOD department will be tasked with handling the bomb situation at the station to ensure that the other specialists involved in the rescue mission are not operating under unsafe condition. The police department has a whole also is a valuable asset this is because the department is made up of specialists who are capable of handling the situation. The MACTAC training places them in a position able to handle the current threat. Due to this, therefore, they will be able to rescue the stranded passengers without wasting match time.
TTP needed to tackle these challenges.
Many techniques can be employed effectively to ensure the response process is a success. The methods which can be implemented include; developing a new commanding and controlling approach-this will help offer directions to different agencies involved in disaster response practice. Adopting a new chain of command will help reduce the confusion at the scene when the agencies are left to operate on their own. The difference in agency training affects the teamwork approach to disaster management. The establishment of a unified structure will enhance the creation of an integrated framework approach to disaster management (Moynihan, 2009). Embracing the use of common terminologies during the practice, use of different terminologies poses a threat of confusing the specialist undertaking the rescue mission. The implications are that this may lead to more casualties as a result of confusion on the part of the responders. Use of common terminologies understandable by all the agencies involved will help reduce the confusion and improve the coordination between the parties. Another technique is to have flexibility in the line of command, through this approach the first arriving unit becomes the point of reference by the other incoming agencies. The approach will help reduce time lost as agencies wait for other superior agencies to give directions. The approach will, therefore, promote the effectiveness and efficiency of the rescuing process, since there will be a timely response and timely directives which will lead to more lives saved and the damage to property reduced. Another useful technique is simplifying the responsibilities of individual responders; this approach will ensure that the duties entrusted to each specialist are simplified. The simplification in the responsibilities within the rescuing operations provides that the specialist is not being overworked and therefore will operate effectively and efficiently. Through this approach, thus, the team’s compositions are reduced to ensure that the team leader will be able to run efficiently and effectively. These many small teams have been seen to work effectively than the larger groups which coordination and control are hard for the team leaders. Coordination among the groups is another practical approach to ensure that the response process is a success and ensure minimal loss of lives and maximum protection of the properties.
The incident command structure
The command structure of a response unit: Unified Command
Fire department
Police department
SWAT UNIT
Emergency Medical
service
Fig 1.0. GRAPHIC 1
Graphic 2. Response for location 1
Police Department
SWAT UNIT
Fire Department
Emergency Medical
Service
RESPONSE AT THE TRAIN STATION
GRAPHIC 3
Explosive Ordnance Disposal
Normal Fire Department
Normal Police Department
RESPONSE AT THE HOTEL
Incident command structure is an organised approach to collaboration, control, and coordination in the line of command during emergencies. Under the plan of ICS different agencies responding to a situation can be useful.
The national incident management system provides standardisation to the approaches taken in response management. NIMS creates uniformity in the processes and guidelines to be undertaken by all response units dealing with matters of emergency response. The national unit guides all the stakeholders to the nation’s security in approaches to adopt in protecting, mitigating, responding to emergency incidents (Bigley & Roberts, 2001). The association also gives guidance on strategies to use to recover from disasters incidents. The operations of the specialists in the field are, therefore, guided by the laid down guidelines and procedure formulated by the national incident management system. Management and commanding is a component of NIMS, and consequently, the command structure designed is based on the body’s guidelines. The purpose of the command structure is to offer directions and direct on the procedures to be followed to undertake a successful response operation effectively. A unit of command ought to be laid down to ensure that the directives are given appropriately and avoid instances confusion due to different sources of orders. Orders must come from one central point to improve the team’s efficiency. In other scenarios, the response unit is led by an incident commander and making the final decision. However due to the nature of this scenario where it’s an inter-agency mission the best approach which can be used is the use of a unified command system. The agencies leaders should work together in unison to give directions to their respective team members to enhance the rescuing process. Under this approach, the fire department team leader is responsible for ensuring that the fire is controlled in the two areas. Coordination between the teams operating in these areas is vital to ensure a maximum number of saved lives and protected properties. The
The primacy of Command of response.
The two scenarios have to be addressed simultaneously due to this; the teams have to be split into two groups. These groups will have members from all the departments, which are the PD, the FD and the EMS. At the first scenario, the Police department will lead the team, the SWAT team under PD will be tasked with eliminating the shooting threat. After the danger has been eliminated, then the fire department sets in to control the fire caused by the explosion. The EMS department will then set in and start treating casualties. The OED will be the team leader for the team handling the hotel scenario. The EOD first eliminates the shooting threat. The unit will then clear the building by eliminating the IED threat. After the threat is eliminated, the normal fire department team move in to suppress the fire. The PD isolates the area to reduce the number of casualties
The firefighter’s captain will be required to give directions to the members on how to control the fires. The captain in this case, therefore, will ensure that a backup engine is directed to the hotel to help put off the fire since the first engine was destroyed during the shooting. Based on the existence of automatic and Mutual Aid agreement, the captain will also, has a task of ensuring that he/she coordinates with the neighbouring firefighting agencies to acquire back up. The approach will help reduce the impacts since the town is densely populated and to stop the fire in time the town will need the use of extra help from the neighbouring jurisdiction.
The operation process requires monitoring to ensure that the security of the assigned personnel is guaranteed. The team leaders must ensure that their members are not subjected to suicidal missions.
The fire department is equipped with an EMS unit; this unit will have the responsibility of ensuring that the victims of fire and also the shooting is given medical attention. The unit also will ensure coordination between different hospitals to ensure that the survivors are given medical attention. The unit will also facilitate the referrals of the victims to different hospitals to ensure that they are treated in time. Another function of the unit would be treating the responders who will get injured in the line of duty.
Conclusion
Response preparedness is a vital aspect in response management, the impacts of a threat is determined by how well the society was in countering the threat. Creation of allies helps in speeding the process and reduce the casualties. The approach also helps reduce the cost undergone during the event of a disaster occurring. The plan that the town had with its neighbouring jurisdiction helped spread the cost to many different players. Effective coordination among the responders is also very vital to ensure that the responders execute duties diligently. Poor response rate leads to a high level of negative impacts such as; a high number of lives lost and high damage to the property. Coordination among the authorities involved in the practice has to be encouraged to promote the response practice. Effective resource management based on national incident management guidelines enhances the preparedness of society to future threats. Supportive technologies should be developed and implemented to enable the nations to be well prepared for any disaster. Effective information management ensures that intelligent information is re-laid in time to help the authority curb future attacks. However, disaster management and preparedness should be a continuous process.
References
Bigley, G. A., & Roberts K. H. (2001). The Incident Command System: High-Reliability Organizing for Complex and Volatile Task Environments. The Academy of Management Journal. 44 (6): 1281–1299.
Dara, A., Ashton, R. W., & Farmer, J.C., & Carlton, P. K. (2005). Worldwide disaster medical response: An historical perspective. Critical Care Medicine. 33 (1): p.2–6
Moynihan, D. P. (2009). The Network Governance of Crisis Response: Case Studies of Incident Command Systems. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. 19: 895-915.