1) Briefly describe an agency (or an example of an agency) within each of the following sectors (1) Voluntary organization, (2) Private partner and (3) Public sector.
Voluntary organizations are non-profit organizations (many faith-based), that focus on the needs of the victims. They help by “...alleviating survivor stress by providing such items as food, shelter, housing, and mental health services...” (Phillips, Neal, & Webb, 2012, p. 24). One such organization is the Humane Society of the United States. The Humane Society of the United States focuses on helping animals; whether from rescuing them from abuse homes or training people on everyday pet care, they are there. During disasters, this organization plays a vital role …show more content…
Departments, tax revenue centers, and offices are a few of the many such areas of the public sector. An example of a public sector would be the Centers for Disease Control. During a disaster, the CDC can “...provide disaster-related medical information...such as bioterrorism, chemical emergencies, radiation emergencies, mass casualties...” (Phillips, Neal, & Webb, 2012, p. 21). On top of that, the CDC helps with the training and equipping emergency response teams; in other words, the CDC plays a vital role in the medical response.
2) Give a high level summary of the evolution of emergency management, including what one thing you think is most significant.
Early years and prior to 50 years ago, there was no significant emergency management. The federal government did provide some financial assistance to fires and flooding, but nothing momentous. It wasn’t until the early 1950s when the Civil Defense became a huge focus.
Civil defense became a huge deal because of the Cold War. With the United States and Russia going at each other and threatening to use nuclear bombs, the Federal government had to help prepare its’ citizens. The goal for the Federal Civil Defense Agency (and the following Civil Defense offices) was to “...lead and coordinate efforts to protect residents from chemical and nuclear war...” (Phillips, Neal, & Webb, 2012, p. …show more content…
President Clinton placed James Lee Witt in the FEMA directors position. It was to the advantage of Clinton doing this because Witt actually had experience in emergency management under his belt.
FEMA went through a significant make-over. Witt believed that emergency management should be proactive instead of reactive; in other words, All-Hazard mitigation was his top priority. During his time in office, Witt “...initiated a number of programs designed to reduce physical, human, and financial impacts of disasters...” (Phillips, Neal, & Webb, 2012, p. 13). He even founded Project Impact; Project Impact focused on citizen, community- wide efforts to help in mitigating threats.
Unfortunately, when President Bush took office, FEMA became low priority on the totem pole. It took the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack to put it back as a high priority. The only difference (when it started to receive the spotlight again) is that FEMA was placed under the Department of Homeland Security. This caused a few problems down the road (i.e. Hurricane Katrina emergency