Foundations of Emergency Management

1 Foundations of Emergency Management Find and describe one example of a disaster that struck the United States where the disaster was effectively managed and one where the disaster was not effectively managed.

The Covid-19 pandemic is a disaster that struck the world unaware. The Biden administration has managed to do a commendable job in managing the disaster in the United States. The administration's emergency management efforts proved to be highly effective. The public was encouraged to wear masks and sanitize continuously to mitigate or prevent the spread of the virus. Those infected with the virus had to quarantine and be given immediate medical attention. Vaccines support was also put in place to prevent more infections. Further, in line with President Biden's COVID-19 response plan, FEMA has been working with the CDC and other federal agencies to coordinate with state, tribal, and territorial authorities, private sector partners, and others to assist with vaccine distribution. Furthermore, FEMA also runs a COVID-19 relief assistance program, which has been of help to many people (FEMA, 2022).

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2 One of the disasters that could have been more effectively managed was the 2017 Hurricane Irma/Maria Puerto Rico. When it came to the management of this disaster, FEMA was ill-prepared. The agency failed on several fronts in managing the hurricane disaster. Notably, it emptied emergency supplies from a Puerto Rico warehouse just days before Maria hit and sent them to the U.S. Virgin Islands, which was reeling from Hurricane Irma (Atkin, 2018). The agency's planning also needed to be completed as it did not adequately account for the possibility of multiple major disasters in a short amount of time. It also underestimated the impact of insufficiently maintained infrastructure in the country. FEMA also had staffing shortages during the hurricane season, thus making an effective response nearly impossible (Atkin, 2018).

Improving FEMA's capability for such disasters requires enhancements to the planning process when collaborating with state and local governments before disasters. Success can only be delivered through a federally supported, state-managed, and locally executed system.

3 References Atkin, E. (2018). The troubling failure of America’s disaster response. https://newrepublic.com/article/149899/troubling-failure-americas-disaster-response FEMA (2022). Coronavirus (COVID-19) Response. https://www.fema.gov/disaster/coronavirus