There’s constant bickering in the emergency management community about whether an undergraduate degree should be a requirement. Maybe not in the past but with increasing complexity of the job, is it an idea whose time has come?
The Maui fires raised the issue of what qualifies someone to be an emergency manager. But how can we judge someone’s fitness is we’ve never defined qualifications?
While the basic plan delineates the overall strategy for the emergency operations plan, that strategy can only be implemented if it is supported by strong functional annexes that turn strategy into action.
Is your hazard specific annex a useful tool in a crisis or is it just a useless appendage written to meet the requirements of someone who will never need to use it?
Your emergency operations plan may be conformant with all requirements and standards but are you really ready for a crisis?
Emergency operations centers may be adequate for small emergencies, but can they handle a major disaster?
Monitoring national politics is probably the last thing on an emergency manager’s mind but the potential catastrophic effects on local programs means you can’t afford to ignore it.
Emergency managers like to think of themselves as apolitical, serving their communities without regard to political agendas. However, the reality is that participation in the political process is an essential part of the emergency manager’s job.
Emergency managers are skilled at operational thinking but a changing world and changing missions demand a more strategic approach.
Emergency managers specialize in bringing disparate groups to accept a common vision but when conflicts among those groups begin to escalate, many emergency managers lack the training to resolve them.