Disaster Management

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at how, in times of disaster, local, national, and international authorities are supposed to interfere in order to help the victims of the disaster and reduce its effects to a minimum level. However, the authorities' intervention is not always to the benefit of the population, as sometimes the interventions only increase the damage. The paper uses the examples of the Katrina hurricane and the Crandall Canyon Mine collapse to demonstrate this point, noting that, in both cases, the interference of the law enforcements increased the number of casualties. Thus, the paper argues that the need for improved capabilities to interfere in crisis situations becomes more and more obvious. This is needed not only because of the actual incapacity of the law enforcements to actually aid the victims, but also because of the shifting nature of disasters. The paper concludes that as the potential causes of disaster increase rapidly, so must the emergency management programs.

Table of Contents:
Thesis Statement
Disasters
Emergency Management
Standard Procedures to Follow in Case of Disasters
Wrongful Emergency Management
Management of Hurricane Katrina
Crandall Canyon Mine Collapse
Conclusions

From the Paper:

"In order to explain their failure to properly manage a disaster, authorities argue that the emergency management does not solely apply to the government and its subsidies, but to the overall population. The police explain that in crisis situations, the population panics and they have far too high demands from the local authorities. Furthermore, another argument of the law centres is that during peaceful times, the population does not engage in activities to prevent disasters, the way they should."

Sample of Sources Used:

• E.L. Quarantelli and Russell R. Dynes, 1977, Response to Social Crisis and Disaster, Disaster Research Center, Department of Sociology, Ohio State University, Retrieved from JSTOR http://www.jstor.org/view/03600572/di974049/97p00387/0?currentResult=03600572%2bdi974049%2b97p00387%2b0%2cFFFFFF0F&searchUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fsearch%2FBasicResults%3Fhp%3D25%26si%3D1%26gw%3Djtx%26jtxsi%3D1%26jcpsi%3D1%26artsi%3D1%26Query%3Ddisaster%2Bmanagement%26wc%3Don, on October 2, 2007
• September 25, 2007, Emergency Management, Wikipedia, The Free Online Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_management, last accessed on October 2, 2007
• Ralph H. Turner, Review of Organized Behavior Disaster by Russell R. Dynes, University of California, Los Angeles, Retrieved from JSTOR http://www.jstor.org/view/00943061/di973918/97p1427y/0?searchUrl=http%3a//www.jstor.org/search/BasicResults%3fhp%3d25%26si%3d1%26gw%3djtx%26jtxsi%3d1%26jcpsi%3d1%26artsi%3d1%26Query%3ddisaster%26wc%3don&frame=noframe&currentResult=00943061%2bdi973918%2b97p1427y%2b0%2c07&userID=59897de8@snspa.ro/01cce4405b12d311564f5a9a4&dpi=3&config=jstor, on October 3, 2007
• Disasters and Emergencies, Official Website of the United States Government, http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/PublicSafety/Disasters.shtml, last accessed on October 2, 2007
• September 13, 2006, The Disaster Process and Disaster Aid Programs, The Federal Emergency Management Agency, http://www.fema.gov/hazard/dproc.shtm, last accessed on October 2, 2007

More papers on Disaster Management:

• Research Paper # 96217 : "Disaster Management and Volcanoes"
• Business Plan # 115903 : "Disaster Management Plan"
• Essay # 41436 : "Disaster Management"
• Term Paper # 125290 : "Disaster Management for Hurricanes"

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