Communication and Command Lessons Learned from Disasters of National Significance
Communication and Command Lessons Learned from
Disasters of National Significance
Allen Wade Marks
Columbia Southern University
Abstract
There have been many different disasters in the past that have been considered on a scale to call them incidents of national significance. Man-made disasters such as industrial accidents, war, terrorism, and natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornado outbreaks, floods, drought, wildfires, famine, ice storms, blizzards, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis are all calamities that can reach a national scale. The problems that would arise whenever a major disaster would happen seem to create patterns that were constantly repeated event after event. Post disaster studies continued to identify two major problems that would continually jeopardize personnel who responded to events such as these. These problems were command/control, and communications. National Incident Management System is an all hazard, scalable approach to getting local, state, and federal resources on the same page of command and communication. Common terminology for organizational functional elements, position titles, facilities, and resources is essential for any command system, especially one that will be used by units from multiple agencies. In retrospect of these two major incidents 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina brought about many changes in the Emergency Management world. The [NRF, NIMS, and NPG] align the patchwork of Federal, State, local, tribal, private sector, and nongovernmental incident management efforts into an effective and efficient national structure.
Outline
I. Introduction: A. Incidents of National Significance. 1. Man-made Disasters. 2. Natural Disasters.
II. Background: A. History of Incident Command. B. Incident Command system. C. Introduction to National Incident Management System (NIMS). 1. Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 (HSPD-5). D. Incident Communication. 1.
Disasters of National Significance
Allen Wade Marks
Columbia Southern University
Abstract
There have been many different disasters in the past that have been considered on a scale to call them incidents of national significance. Man-made disasters such as industrial accidents, war, terrorism, and natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornado outbreaks, floods, drought, wildfires, famine, ice storms, blizzards, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis are all calamities that can reach a national scale. The problems that would arise whenever a major disaster would happen seem to create patterns that were constantly repeated event after event. Post disaster studies continued to identify two major problems that would continually jeopardize personnel who responded to events such as these. These problems were command/control, and communications. National Incident Management System is an all hazard, scalable approach to getting local, state, and federal resources on the same page of command and communication. Common terminology for organizational functional elements, position titles, facilities, and resources is essential for any command system, especially one that will be used by units from multiple agencies. In retrospect of these two major incidents 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina brought about many changes in the Emergency Management world. The [NRF, NIMS, and NPG] align the patchwork of Federal, State, local, tribal, private sector, and nongovernmental incident management efforts into an effective and efficient national structure.
Outline
I. Introduction: A. Incidents of National Significance. 1. Man-made Disasters. 2. Natural Disasters.
II. Background: A. History of Incident Command. B. Incident Command system. C. Introduction to National Incident Management System (NIMS). 1. Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 (HSPD-5). D. Incident Communication. 1.