Emergency Management

This essay will discuss the common threads in this week's articles and which one resonated the most with me and why. The reading literature centered around the three (3) following topics; (1). state and federal partnership and involvement in disaster or emergency planning, response and aid, (2). how charity/aid is viewed by those needing assistance, and (3). If the medias involvement and coverage of disasters and emergencies reflects the messages disseminated by state emergency management agencies. Introduction
As explained by McKay,
Predicting the future is a tricky undertaking, but by looking at the recent past we can predict with relative certainty that these issues will come to the fore or continue to gain traction for the emergency
Compound these issues with the need to communicate to all levels of government and to the local community using the most useful and appropriate means possible and delivering a message that is beneficial for the intended audience can prove challenging. Keeping focus on an all-hazard approach to Emergency Management should continue to be strived for, nevertheless, the reading thus far in our textbook and different articles highlight the fact that since the September 11th terrorist attacks the focus has shifted to terrorism. Not to say this is not important, however, it should not be the sole focus and emergency management must still be able to respond to other types of disasters and to do so requires the appropriate funding and training.
Key Points
The articles for this week’s reading highlighted new approaches to the perspective of Emergency Management and what the field entails. Though there are numerous new perspectives for Emergency Management to be involved with, I found the last article interesting, as it emphasized the use of the news media and how the media plays or could play an important role for Emergency Management. As Schneider point
Communications should concentrate on the needs of the individuals, business and community. Communication should be clear, in that it is easy to understand and the message should be effective (Maulin para. 5). It is important that the communication is accurate and delivered in a timely manner when and where it can be acted upon. News media, internet, radio, television, [text, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube] and print are means in which communication can be delivered to the intended recipient (Maulin para.