What’s the Problem? Local Officials’ Conceptions of Weaknesses in Their Municipalities’ Crisis Management Capabilities

What’s the Problem?
Local Officials’ Conceptions of Weaknesses in their
Municipalities’ Crisis
Management Capabilities
Jerry Nilsson
Department of Fire Safety Engineering and Systems Safety, Lund University Centre for Risk Analysis and
Management (LUCRAM), Lund University, PO Box 118, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden.
E-mail: [e-mail]
It is becoming increasingly common for local-government officials (civil servants and political appointees) to take part in vulnerability analyses to assess their municipality’s capacity to withstand various crises. The question of how such groups conceive of problems concerning their municipality’s crisis management capabilities (CMC) is largely unexplored. The aim of this study is to analyse the conceptions that groups of civil servants and political appointees engaged in vulnerability analyses have of weaknesses in their organizations’ CMC. The attempt is to identify themes in how problems are described, as well as to compare how often the problems may be associated with different elements that constitute an organization and the different crisis management processes an organization needs to be involved in to manage crises. Ten vulnerability analyses, conducted in seven municipalities, and in one case at a county level, are analysed. The results are discussed in terms of what they indicate concerning the understanding these officials had of the organizations’ CMC.
1. Introduction
Local governments tend in many respects to be key players in the management of societal crises. They almost inevitably become involved, reacting to the needs both of their citizens and of society at large. In
Sweden, local governments are required to engage in preparedness activities to ensure that if a crisis occurs, the responses that the organization makes are effective.
The risk and vulnerability analyses carried out aim at identifying hazards and pinpointing weaknesses in the crisis management system, as well as

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