Brian J. Gerber

The Core and Periphery of Emergency Management Networks

Emergency planning and response increasingly involve close interactions between a diverse array of actors across fields (emergency management, public health, law enforcement, etc.); sectors (government, non-profit and for-profit); and levels of government (local, state and federal). This article assesses the temporal dynamics of emergency management networks in two moderately sized communities that have served as large-scale disaster evacuation hosting sites in the past decade. The paper uses two strategies for tracking the evolution of these networks across time. First, we develop a network roster using newspaper and newswire data sources across a decade. Second, we develop a view of the evolution of the networks by analysing emergency operations plans for each community. Analysis of data reveals a contrast between a core set of consistent (mostly governmental) actors and a peripheral set of rapidly turning over (mostly non-governmental) actors – though the account depends on the mode of data on which one focuses. The article concludes with a discussion of the advantage presented by having a two-tier network for evacuation hosting that mixes core and periphery across multiple sectors.

Local Governments and Climate Change in the United States Assessing Administrators’ Perspectives on Hazard Management Challenges and Responses

Local governments in the United States have become central actors in addressing climate change as a hazard management challenge. Using evidence from a purposive sample of 10 U.S. cities, this article examines how local government officials view climate change in hazard vulnerability terms, what motivates local efforts in this area, and how officials initiate internal collaboration and external stakeholder outreach. The findings suggest level of hazard risk does influence a city’s efforts to address climate change, as does resource availability. In contrast, geographic location and associated hazard type (drought vs. flooding) does not appear to be a key driver of a municipality’s actions in this domain. Further, the results point to how addressing the climate hazard and improving commitment to emergency management is relevant to increasing community resilience for future emergencies and disasters.

Management of Evacuee Ingress during Disasters: Identifying the Determinants of Local Government Capacity and Preparedness

Evacuations on a large scale are complex and difficult enterprises. While facilitating the egress, or removal, of people from a hazardous incident site is a major challenge, accommodating a wide range of evacuee needs as they temporarily shelter away from their homes is an equally significant challenge. However, the ingress dimension of evacuations is not as well studied nor understood as its more familiar counterpart. This paper addresses several basic questions about community capacity and preparedness for hosting large numbers of evacuees as the result of disaster incidents. Using evaluations made by local government officials, the analysis presented here indicates reported hosting capacity of evacuees on a large scale is related in part to aspects of the built environment and to geographic effects. Likewise, indicators of local government evacuation preparedness for evacuations generally and evacuation ingress specifically are related to aspects of community hazard vulnerability and administrative capacity. These findings provide a basis for future work investigating other critical dimensions of evacuation ingress management.

Nonprofit Organizations and Community Disaster Recovery: Assessing the Value and Impact of Intersector Collaboration

AbstractA 2009 flooding disaster in Alaska produced a unique intersector operational collaborative model between voluntary nonprofit organizations and state and federal agencies. This article inves...

Hazard Mitigation, Economic Development and Resilience: A Comparative Analysis of Flood Control Policy and Practice in Germany, The Netherlands, and Great Britain

Certain parts of Europe have a long history of coastal and riverine flood disasters with major losses of human lives. Structural mitigation practices have reduced direct loss of human life from flood incidents, though not eliminating that particular effect entirely. But over-development in floodplains, population growth patterns in hazard-vulnerable areas and potential consequences of climate change make flood disasters a continued threat. Hazard losses from floods continue to grow and create significant adverse effects on overall economic development. In this chapter we trace developments in flood mitigation (i.e. structural engineering solutions such as barriers and drainage approaches) and flood risk management (i.e. an emphasis on both effective water management practices and sustainable development practices) by considering three European countries with significant coastal and interior vulnerability to the flood hazard: The Netherlands, Great Britain, and Germany. In doing so we consider how flood mitigation and flood risk management is related to hazard loss and economic development. The chapter provides an overview of the degree to which the incentives associated with, and the socio-political effects of economic development imperatives affect hazard mitigation policy choices and their implications for community resilience. Variations in the physical characteristics of the flood hazard across the three countries permit us to consider how underlying management demands posed by the hazard affects policy and practice across individual national settings as well as the European Union in general.

Guest Editor's Introduction: Assessing the Complex and Multidimensional Characteristics of Evacuation Incidents

The articles included in this Risk, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy symposium on emergency evacuation issues are drawn from research findings presented at the National Evacuation Conference, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, in February 2010. Assessment questions related to evacuations are of course highly significant for emergency management practice and disaster management policy. Evacuations are highly complex—and frequently dangerous—endeavors. The problems attendant to the unsuccessful sheltering and secondary evacuation of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and the difficulties associated with the evacuation of the Houston and Galveston, Texas, metropolitan areas as a consequence of Hurricane Rita several weeks later are stark and relatively recent reminders of that proposition. There are of course numerous disaster evacuations abroad that likewise underscore the urgency and centrality of sound evacuation planning and preparedness. Unfortunately, roughly five years after Katrina and Rita, the massive dislocation of persons in Pakistan as a result of catastrophic flooding again points to the relevance of disaster management practice, evacuations included. But it would be a mistake to think of evacuation management as primarily a matter of infrequent large-scale disasters or catastrophes. Instead, the reality is that evacuations on a relatively small scale—either incidents in individual structures, such as building fires or incidents in a specific geographic area such as an accidental chemical spill—occur literally every day in the United States. In other words, a wide range of hazard incidents are sufficient to prompt emergency evacuations, and the high rate of incidence requires taking the topic seriously not only as an emergency management issue but as a research question as well.