The Reality of a Disaster

As we discuss the various ways to manage disasters I think we sometimes loose sight just how overwhelming and confusing one can be in it's initial stages. In an Emergency Operations Center your communication systems are your only direct line to the reality outside that building. So the radio traffic and other forms of communication are your only tool to begin to understand the scope and severity of what your community faces. To try and put together a coherent picture of that reality just from communications traffic is daunting but when it is the scope and size of the Joplin tornado it is overwhelming.

The link is a recording to the Emergency Services radio traffic as the tornado approaches and afterward. It is a unique learning tool for anyone who job is to man an EOC. It is not is real time but the myriad of different reports and messages gives a window into the confusion and at times the desperation of those men and women out on the streets.

This would be an excellent class for any EOC staff. Just play the recording and then discuss what they heard. The various disciplines would be hearing the radio traffic through their own filters and would have different and unique takes on the traffic. It is worth the 36:14 minutes to listen and get some idea of what a disaster sounds like.

The following are a few of the discussion points you could use for training that are heard on the recording. Some of the incidents mentioned, multiple hazardous materials incidents, multiple mass causality sites, multiple people trapped, own personnel trapped, multiple deaths at multiple sites, Joplin radio system down, hospital being evacuated, multiple mutual aid units responding, multiple requests for mutual aid and much more.

Joplin Emergency Service Radio Traffic 5/22/11

Are we planning too much?

The emphasis placed on planning by emergency management today is misplaced. Too much time and effort is put into plans that go unused when a disaster strikes. They go unused not because they are bad plans or the effort put into them was not sufficient. They go unused because they rarely match the realities on the ground after the event and the personnel responsible for implementing that plan cannot improvise to make the plan fit the reality.

The military has a saying "no plan survives first contact with the enemy." I could not agree more and came up with my own saying when I was an emergency manager on the line. No plan survives the first rain bands of a hurricane. Plans are based on a ground truth that changes almost daily in every community. When it come to execute them little is relevant. Try writing a plan for the Joplin tornado where it leveled one third of the community knocked out a fire station, the waste water treatment plant and the drinking water treatment plant. Set those priorities before it happened. It is next to impossible.

The emphasis instead should be on team building and training the Emergency Operations Center staff. If they can be trained to be able to make decisions under the pressure of too little information, not enough resources and not enough time to gather all of the facts then a community can begin to feel as if they are prepared.

Training the men and women who ordinarily do not face such decisions will better prepare a community than any plan. Most of those who man the EOC do not come from emergency response agencies or operational departments like public works. Instead they are used to careful and consensus building non-emergency decision making. They must be prepared to shift to crisis decision making or no matter how good the plan is it will not be effective. They must be prepared to go through the plan and if they must start at G instead of A because everything in between does not make sense then the plan might be useful.

It is the people who will make the difference not the plan. Train the people to make crisis decisions and any plan can be made to work. 

Standing Orders- A Lesson Reinforced by the Joplin Tornado

If a community is to respond to a disaster of this magnitude and ferocity then it must be prepared before the disaster. A simple set of orders for all personnel who work for a community could jump start the response without direction from above.

As a paramedic I worked under a set of Standing Orders, if a patient has certain set of symptoms we followed a specific set of protocols then contacted the physician. We started the treatment we knew they would order before contacting the physician thereby saving time and starting critical treatment for the patient. We need to establish the same type of system in emergency management.

After a sudden event like the Joplin tornado or an earthquake all of the critical response departments within that jurisdiction should have a set of Standing Orders (this is NOT repeat NOT a criticism of the Joplin response I am only using it as an example). The Public Works, Transportation, Law Enforcement and Fire Departments should all know exactly what to do without being told.

1. All units and facilities must report their status to the next higher up in their chain of command. The report should include if they can still perform your assignments and if not what is their status. The first and most important thing a jurisdiction must establish after an event like Joplin is what do we have left to respond. What are our most critical needs. 
2. All personnel and units should begin immediate operations. Public works and transportation should begin clearing major streets, the fire department and law enforcement should immediately check all critical infrastructure such as hospitals, nursing home and other designated sites. Report their findings and immediately begin search and rescue operations should they be needed. 
3. Any units, stations, vehicles, facilities not reporting in to the EOC should be considered out of service until some sort of communication with them has been established and their status can be determined. 
4. All off duty personnel of the jurisdiction should report to their normal places of duty for the additional manpower that will be needed. 

These Standing Orders should reflect the communities profile but clearing streets and search and rescue should be the primary priorities, followed by communications. Simple straight forward Standing Orders will prevent confusion and delays in the response. 

Is Emergency Management a Profession Yet?

As someone who as been involved with emergency management since the 1980's, with ten years as a CEM, I would argue that we have yet to achieve the level of a profession. Until every jurisdiction views emergency management the same way they view fire protection, EMS service and law enforcement we will not be a profession. Until communities view us as just as essential to the protection of it's citizens as those services we will still be the emergency services step child.

How do we accomplish this Herculean task in todays fiscal environment? We have to carve out a role that provides us with an everyday role in the communities public safety protection. We do this through our role as the coordinator of all the services during a disaster. With technology and an emphasis on creating the infrastructure and partnerships needed during a disaster. A model of how that might look is emerging in Houston, Texas with their TranStar facility.

TranStar is a partnership of the Texas Department of Transportation, Harris County, The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County and the City of Houston. All of the agencies services are coordinated in a single facility. The provide transportation management and emergency management for the greater Houston area. To walk into their operations floor is to walk into what looks like a Pentagon war room. There are representatives from every public safety organization and the transportation agencies involved on the floor twenty-four hours a day. The monitor traffic camera's and manage traffic problems as they occur. They even have a representative from the local traffic radio station on the floor so they can get the message out sooner.

Overlooking all of this is the Emergency Operations Center that is filled the needed technology to manage tornados, hurricanes, floods, terrorist attacks and other major events. The collation, prioritization and distribution of this type of information on a daily basis is the ideal role for emergency management. It creates the needed partnerships with the right agencies and provides a vital service to the community on a daily basis.

If emergency management added social media to the mix with a Facebook book page and a Twitter feed the public would begin to understand emergency management's true role in their community. The technologies to accomplish this exist it is a matter of political will and understanding of the value of this type of operation.

TranStar on their web site lis the following benefits to their community. They have saved their community in travel times and fuel consumption through their traffic management activities more than $2.5 billion since their inception. In 2009 alone they have through the management of traffic they were able to save the Houston metro area $227 million alone. Emergency management warnings have reduced injuries and deaths as well as property damage during floods, hurricanes and man-made events. Their annual budget is $27.7 million but they average $274 million in savings. That is a 9.9 to 1 cost/benefit ratio or for every dollar spent they save $9.90 dollars for the public.

The approach works. Between the sophisticated statistics showing the numbers crunchers and the obvious efficiencies TranStar is a example for every emergency manager. It is a model that can be used in any community. The technologies exist in most communities. It is a matter of fighting the political fight to accomplish the task. For each emergency manager to fight this fight alone is not the way to win the battle. This model must become a national emergency management example and goal, clearly stated and backed by the professional organizations. Until we can carve out a day-to-day role that will assure emergency managers of the needed partnerships and technologies we will always be struggling to call ourselves a profession.