Improving Emergency Response
"Preparation through Education is less costly than learning through tragedy." --Max Mayfield, director, National Hurricane Center.
Turning a negative into a positive, or at least into a learning experience, is a sign of true leadership. With the current upheaval in FEMA reorganization in Washington over emergency support to the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast last year, there are many lessons to be learned from the immediate and post-emergency response efforts. The spotlight on communications and network infrastructure has provided lessons for many businesses and government agencies.
WE GOT SOME THINGS RIGHT!
-- Coast Guard and NORCOM anticipated support needs; and acted swiftly to move the Control Center out of harm's way to St. Louis.-- Agencies maintained focus on the primary mission of Search & Rescue, with or without communications support.
-- Military aircraft brought in widespread transponder nodes to support an 18-mile internal cellular telephone network.
-- USCG brought in staff from other regions, so locals could handle their own family emergencies.
-- Support Command teams from Fort Hood utilized their disaster-relief experiences in Iraq to help the Gulf Coast.
-- Wartime dialogs between governments helped in coordinating between local government & private agencies.
-- Mobile command centers & wireless IT technology were delivered by C-130, complete with power generators.
WHAT DID WE LEARN
-- Situational Awareness is a term not even used in the private sector until the military implemented their response.-- Unity of command and incident reporting did not fail, it never existed.
-- Too many delays were caused by people & politics.
-- Protocols for mutual support coordination were lacking; no way to coordinate multiple resources efficiently.
-- Communication infrastructure failed - required radical means to restore or replace outdated technology during the crisis.
-- Redundancy and replacement technology were neither pre-planned nor pre-budgeted.
MOVING FORWARD
Two areas that we know need to be strengthened in both our local and national planning are Responsiveness and Accountability.
Conference bridges demonstrated their utility during both rescue and rebuilding phases:-- Maintaining daily contact with rescue teams, team members and agences
-- Tracking personnel and safety status-- Staying connecting with priority resources and "Hot Spots"
-- Logistics support, fleet status and internal communications
-- Instant contact with vendors and subcontractors to expedite delivery and support
-- Connect remote control centers with on-site personnel with federal agencies
-- Re-assess and assign priorities in real-time
-- Collaboration beyond borders.
As a nation we need to focus on our frail & vulnerable information infrastructure. In an age when affordable, birthright collaborative technology exists, it must be included in plans, exercises AND budgets. We also need to assure power for communications in those plans and budgets.
Small airfields and local communities especially lean on outside support, since the emergency plan & support programs in place are locally focused. Resources are different: radio frequencies become overcrowded; cell service may be unreliable. Limited city and volunteer budgets result in limited response equipment and limited funds for upgrading communications equipment. Training programs are often limited to medical and fire programs, without extended emergency event management skills.
From experience we have learned how important it is that command centers are smoothly operated by trained agency personnel in the future. We've also seen that conferencing and collaboration tools like the BLAST-911, the ALERT Plus and Forum's large enterprise servers can easily be integrated into intelligence, decision-making and command functions whenever, wherever and whatever the crisis or strategy may require.
At a recent IT Leadership Conference, Dr. Elizabeth McDaniel, of the National Defense University summed up our country's needs best, "The qualities that will distinguish the next generation of government leaders are defined in part by the new uncertainties leaders face in government. Chief among the new requirements for government leaders are having the ability to be agile in the face of uncertainty, innovative in the face of complexity, passionate about an agency's mission, and being transformational rather than transactional in approaching the work of government."
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