Volume 20, Issue 3

Strategic planning is a critical element in the strategic management of any public organization, including local emergency management agencies (EMAs). However, while the importance of strategic planning in emergency management is well founded, even codified in the national standards, little is known empirically about its actual use, and even less is known about the impacts of the planning process on local programs. As such, this study examined the strategic planning practices of county-level EMAs throughout the United States, focusing on the strategic planning process and its underlying dimensions. A composite index for strategic planning comprehensiveness was developed, based on five planning process dimensions, and then analyzed to gauge its relative impacts on local program quality. The findings revealed that the strategic planning process had a direct and significant impact on the quality of local emergency management programs, with the regression model explaining about 60 % of the variance in the local program quality index scores.

Populations are increasingly exposed to natural hazards due to expanding development and climate change. This exposure is exacerbated by sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors limiting resources for disaster mitigation and recovery. Federal disaster assistance is crucial for communities in the wake of catastrophic events by supplementing local resources. However, recent research suggests that federal disaster assistance may exacerbate existing inequality across social groups. The most pervasive and costliest disaster in the United States is flooding. The federal government maintains multiple programs supporting flood mitigation and recovery, yet a comprehensive understanding of how these programs may foster inequitable outcomes is lacking. This paper uses a systematic review of federal flood policy literature over the last decade to fill this gap and identify patterns that may contribute to inequitable outcomes. Results suggest that despite over 100 flood-related disasters occurring over the past decade, the effectiveness of flood policies across social groups is relatively unstudied. And when studied, federal policies themselves do not explicitly lead to inequitable outcomes. Instead, we conclude that policies prioritize equality over equity and do not overcome systematic oppressive and racist decision-making. These findings further the understanding that social vulnerability to natural hazards is a complex and contextual issue.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) (also referred to as Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles (UAVs), or drones) operations, focused on natural hazards, have experienced rapid expansion in the last decade. UAS uses before, during, and after natural hazard events, provide value for emergency management operations (e.g. Search-and-Rescue (SAR)), and post-event analytics. The Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES) manages UAS programs for public safety and emergency response activities in New York State. They also have the first FEMA-approved, locally adopted, web-based, interactive Hazard Mitigation Plans (HMPs). With recent advances in communication technologies (e.g. 5G), opportunities are emerging to establish a stewardship role to maximize regionwide UAS operations, including preparing for catastrophic natural hazards (e.g. earthquakes, hurricanes), leveraging existing HMPs, and incorporating new machine-learning techniques to use swarming networks before, during, and after a natural hazard event. A variety of stewardship approaches are discussed.

Globally, climate-related disasters (CRDs) have become a common phenomenon in the last few decades, increasing vulnerability and causing disaster mortality. To manage disaster risk, the global Sendai Framework for disaster risk reduction (SFDRR) provides a solid action plan for disaster risk reduction (DRR) considering all the dimensions of vulnerability. However, countries are still less receptive at the local level to adopting the SFDRR. Also, the global research community did not explore vulnerability features based on the Sendai Framework nor integrated such features with the four priorities of SFDRR. Based on the case of Pakistan, this study seeks to bridge the gap through three objectives. The first objective of the study is to identify the vulnerability features cited in the SFDRR. In addition, the research aims to develop a new vulnerability model by integrating SFDRR’s four priorities. As a second objective, it is intended to develop a decision support framework for ranking and evaluating each of the SFDRR priority action areas under local conditions. A third objective is to assess the impact of climate-induced environmental, socioeconomic and political vulnerabilities on climate-driven mortality. To meet these three different objectives, the authors have adopted a multi-method approach by using multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and binary logistic regression method (BLRM). Based on the assessment, the authors suggested some policy implications.

The manuscript reports the results of a study that explored what facilitates and hinders local emergency management program pursuit of accreditation by the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP). This research question is of significance for several reasons, including, (1) leading national emergency management organizations have endorsed The Emergency Management Standard promulgated by EMAP; (2) very few programs are accredited; and, (3) there are only two studies related to accreditation in emergency management and neither examines accreditation in a local context. Analysis of semi-structured interview data from local emergency management program leaders representing some of the largest municipalities in the United States revealed a variety of key themes regarding what facilitates or hinders accreditation pursuit. The complexity of these themes and the context which produces them suggests that widespread accreditation at the local level is not likely in the near future even though many leaders valued the Standard and accreditation. This conclusion is discussed and a variety of avenues that might be pursued if more accreditation of local programs were the goal is offered.

In this research, we identified how political beliefs impact emergency manager’s perception of COVID-19 severity and risk. Specifically, we gathered data from people with a broad range of roles in emergency management including healthcare, mitigation, response, fire, rescue, and other areas. We asked respondents their beliefs about the severity of COVID-19, their belief in health conspiracy theories, and the public health measures associated with COVID-19 response. Quantitative results showed political affiliation was a predictor for belief in health conspiracies, as well as beliefs about social distancing as a proper mitigation measure for the spread of COVID-19, and that age and years in emergency management were not significant predictors for beliefs in health conspiracies. Qualitative results included several main themes, including frustration about the politicization of COVID-19 response and mitigation efforts, challenges in PPE (personal protective equipment) procurement, tension between public health and emergency management, misinformation about COVID-19, and lack of leadership at the federal level. These findings fill a gap in the literature regarding how political beliefs shape risk, trust, decision-making, and collaboration within emergency management.