The Phases Of Emergency Management - 1615 Words

During a disaster there are four phases of emergency management. These four phases are mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. The first two deal with what can be done before a disaster happens. This report will be focusing on the response and recovery phases that a community will face during a disaster. Each phase of emergency management is important. Since this report is covering response and recovery they will be addressed. A response program is important to develop because this part deals with how prepared you are in responding to a disaster. In an emergency the first officials to respond are the local police, fire, and emergency medical personnel. They are there to rescue, attend to any injured, fire suppression,†¦show more content†¦and killed 122 people. Seven states were declared disaster zones by the federal government: Florida, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. There was mass confusion in the relief efforts. The state and local governments were unprepared to handle the disaster. There was no coordination between the federal, state, local, and non-government organizations. In March of 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear facility in Pennsylvania had a nuclear accident. The problems with the response to this incident were still total confusion. A lack of communications between all agencies was another problem. Adequate plans were not made to the emergency responds by the Bureau of Radiation Protection. On September 30, 1989 Hurricane Hugo hit the Carolinas. A day prior to the storm making landfall the South Carolina issued an evacuation order for the coastal areas. Problems did arise with communication and coordination between the state and federal officials. The federal government was able to respond to what the state needed, but the state did not ask for enough help from the federal government. The hurricane knocked out the emergency communication systems that connected the state to the federal government. On October 17, 1989 the Loma Prieta earthquake hit the San Francisco area. This disaster was handled well by the state and local governments because they were better organized, experienced, and funded. California had