Deficiencies in emergency management: A case study
There are numerous examples of situations in which the initial response and subsequent actions were not carried out efficiently or indeed at all.
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Read
Reading 1: Caring for the community in disasters:
The short-term aspects.
During your reading consider how the situation might have
been better handled.
This activity is based on the Brisbane Floods of January 1974,
and provides you with an opportunity to examine this inefficiency
or inactivity in response.
Lessons from the Brisbane floods
On a sheet of paper I want you to list those
problems that you believe could have been overcome if risk
assessment/hazard analysis, emergency management planning
and standard operating procedures had been in place?
Risk Assessment/Hazard Analysis:
Emergency Management Planning:
SOP:
List those organisations that you think may have
benefited from having emergency management plans and SOP?
Plans:
SOP:
Accepting that very little planning had been done in Brisbane
prior to the floods, do you think that some of the problems
might have been overcome if exercises had been conducted? If
so, briefly list in what way(s) would they have benefited the
organisations involved?
How would more adequate training have improved
the response and in what areas might training have been appropriate?
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Print this activity
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The conduct of risk assessment/hazard analysis and emergency management
planning is only one part of the overall emergency prevention and preparedness
process. Both need to be followed by the production of SOP, people need to
be trained in the procedures and both the plan and SOP need to be exercised.
Topics 2, 3 and 4 of this subject will help you to develop the knowledge and skills to enable you to:
- write your own standard operating procedure based on the emergency plan you have already developed;
- analyse the training need of those with responsibilities in accordance with the SOP and develop training strategies to meet the needs;
- write an exercise to test components of your plan and SOP.
