4 minute read
Reliable Responders
when disaster strikes
From COVID-19 to wildfires, emergency management professionals serve on the front lines of crisis
by Trina Sheets, Executive Director, National Emergency Management Association (NEMA)
By now it seems impossible to overstate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people’s lives. More than 500,000 Americans have died and virtually everyone has undergone significant changes to employment and daily routines. Emergency management professionals are no exception.
Since the early warning signs of a public health crisis appeared pointing to a potential outbreak, emergency managers have remained connected to their elected leadership at all levels of government. State emergency management agencies provide situational awareness to the governor while simultaneously serving as the conduit between local jurisdictions and applicable federal support in a disaster. The response to COVID-19 has provided unique challenges as the virus affected every state and required the coordination of such disparate activities as supply chain management and procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE), public information and messaging, vaccination logistics and navigating the process to access federal funding programs that support COVID-19 response activities. The frequent changes in guidance and rapid pace of change in the early months of the pandemic highlighted a need for proactive and solution-oriented information flow. The National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), an affiliate of The Council of State Governments, participated in that effort by developing a weekly report providing information on states’ actions to mitigate coronavirus spread. The report was disseminated broadly among state, federal and relevant private sector partners to help form a common operating picture. NEMA also
Against the backdrop of the ongoing response to COVID-19, emergency managers dealt with
22 separate disasters in 2020
resulting in damages exceeding $1 billion,
continues to provide a platform for states to share their promising practices, and serves as a coordinator for states to communicate with the relevant federal agencies about challenges they are experiencing as the response evolves. Against the backdrop of this complex ongoing response, emergency managers dealt with 22 separate disasters in 2020 resulting in damages exceeding $1 billion, the most ever in a single year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. These events ran the gamut of natural hazards from hurricanes to derechos to wildland fires. Indeed, more than 10 million acres of the American West burned last year alone, with the August Complex burning over a million acres before full containment. The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was also the most active on record with six different hurricanes reaching that billion-dollar-plus impact status. When events like this occur, states lean on one another for support and leverage the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), the nation’s mutual aid system, which allows states to request and send resources and personnel to assist with response and recovery efforts. This system, too, was challenged in new ways last year as shortages of medical personnel and PPE and requisite quarantine periods limited states’ abilities to provide the usual levels of rapid support during infection spikes. Even at reduced capacity, EMAC, which is administered by NEMA, facilitated the deployment of more than 3,500 personnel and many resource commodities last year. As devastating and all-encompassing as these disasters were, they still do not fully portray the impacts of disasters that occurred across the United States last year. For many smaller communities, events that incur just a few million dollars in damage can be enough to overwhelm their ability to respond and recover. Many of these under-resourced communities are also home to communities of color and located in areas more vulnerable to repetitive natural hazard events such as flooding. These events may not generate the same national headlines but should not and cannot be ignored if we want to ensure that all communities have access to the appropriate resources to recover following a disaster. We also know that the climate is changing. Disasters are becoming more frequent and larger in scale, scope and complexity. To limit the effects of these changes and work to embed equity in disaster planning and recovery, states and the federal government are investing in the new Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. The program aims to reduce risks through pre-disaster mitigation projects and community resilience investments. This and other mitigation investments at all levels of government will be critical as we build toward a more resilient future. Disasters have long provided honest evaluations of our strengths and vulnerabilities. As states lead the charge on COVID-19 vaccination and we collectively work to overcome the pandemic, emergency management continues to incorporate lessons learned from 2020 around equity in disasters, mitigation planning and responding to concurrent disasters to prepare for future events. While last year presented challenges unlike any experienced in our lifetimes, building on these experiences will allow the United States to be more prepared when the next disaster strikes.
