Disaster policy and its practice in the United States : a brief history and analysis

Emergency management and the study of disasters is a relatively young industry, beginning in its current form only after the World Wars of the previous century. Yet with the ever-increasing complexity of society in the Digital Age, the management and recovery from disasters in recent years have received more attention than ever. In a field traditionally belonging to the military and social sciences, the authors of this book review existing policy and standard practices within emergency management from an industrial and systems engineering perspective. The book explores both the contextual history of managing disasters in the United States, both at the national and local level, and describes how these events influenced federal policy development in the latter half of the 20th century. Compliance with this policy, and existing challenges with 21st century technology, is further explored, along with recommendations for future policy directions. Practitioners of emergency management, and academic researchers who ask the question "is our policy working?" should find the text relevant to their endeavors. Read more... Abstract: Emergency management and the study of disasters is a relatively young industry, beginning in its current form only after the World Wars of the previous century. Yet with the ever-increasing complexity of society in the Digital Age, the management and recovery from disasters in recent years have received more attention than ever. In a field traditionally belonging to the military and social sciences, the authors of this book review existing policy and standard practices within emergency management from an industrial and systems engineering perspective. The book explores both the contextual history of managing disasters in the United States, both at the national and local level, and describes how these events influenced federal policy development in the latter half of the 20th century. Compliance with this policy, and existing challenges with 21st century technology, is further explored, along with recommendations for future policy directions. Practitioners of emergency management, and academic researchers who ask the question "is our policy working?" should find the text relevant to their endeavors Content: 1. Introduction: why we need to analyze policy in emergency management -- 1.1 Why emergency management? An introduction by Andrea Jackman -- 1.2 About this book 2. Emergency management in the United States, 1800-1969 -- 2.1 Nineteenth-century beginnings -- 2.2 U.S. disasters in the early 20th century -- 2.3 Duck and cover! Military influence and the Cold War -- Websites of interest 3. The 1970s: four phases and FEMA -- 3.1 Shifting government priorities and agencies -- 3.2 Our four-phase cycle: the industry standard -- 3.3 The new Federal Emergency Management Agency -- Websites of interest 4. The Stafford Act of 1988: then and now -- 4.1 The Stafford Act -- 4.2 Updates to federal disaster management -- 4.3 The Stafford Act in the 21st century -- Websites of interest 5. DMA 2000 and September 11, 2001: a shift from responding to preparing -- 5.1 Mitigation gets its own law -- 5.2 How to comply with DMA 2000 -- 5.3 Implementation challenges for DMA 2000 -- 5.4 Industry impacts of terrorism -- 5.5 The National Incident Management System -- Websites of interest 6. Hurricane Katrina and PKEMRA: new challenges in a new millennium -- 6.1 Hurricane Katrina, a disaster of perception -- 6.2 The post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 -- Websites of interest 7. Certifications, societies, and self-assessments: a look at industry policy -- 7.1 Process quality in emergency management -- 7.2 The International Association of Emergency Managers -- 7.3 Certified emergency managers -- 7.4 The National Emergency Management Association and programs -- Websites of interest 8. The business of disaster -- 8.1 Background and challenges -- 8.2 Risk-reward ratio -- 8.3 System constraints and expectations -- 8.4 Expectations -- 8.5 Return on investment: a case in point, Georgia -- 8.6 Analytics and business intelligence 9. Emergency management 2020: the current state of research and policy recommendations for the future -- 9.1 The next five years -- 9.2 Future policy and research directions Appendixes -- Appendix A: Glossary of terms -- Appendix B: Additional reading materials -- Bibliography -- Index. This book is intended as a history and survey of large-scale emergency management policy in the United States. The field of emergency management is relatively new, and rapidly changing as new technology and technology-dependent societal systems emerge. The impacts of past catastrophic events on policy development, and implications of older policy in new markets are discussed. The book also explores non-governmental policies as they relate to for-profit emergency management and professional associations of practitioners. For any person working in the field of emergency management who wonders “why do we do things the way we do?” this book is essential.