Response Activities to a Disaster Event

The US has been experiencing different forms of natural disasters recently. Some have resulted in catastrophic damage and caused traumatic experiences to the persons affected. Families are required to adequately prepare for natural disasters such as floods, hurricane, tornados, or wildfires. Disaster response is a critical phase which should be accomplished with great caution to avoid instances of resources wastage. Different activities should be carried out at the response stage to prevent loss such as acting decisively and collaboratively with the available agencies during the response stage. This paper provides an exploration about how my family has to respond to a disaster event, such as a hurricane. The primary factors addressed in the paper includes the risk factors associated with natural disasters, the preparation efforts and the response activities experienced under a catastrophe response plan. The addressed response activities are guided by the National Response Framework (NRF) and the Incident Command System (ICS) factors. 

Risks Related With a Disastrous Event

            According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (UDVA), on an annual basis, millions of persons are affected by natural and human-made disasters (UDVA, 2019). The disasters can be floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, or even fires. When faced with the disasters, one can be at a risk of physical injury or even death. Moreover, the affected can also lose their home, community, and possessions. The outcome of such impacts results to stressors which further exposes the affected to a risk of physical and emotional health concerns (UDVA, 2019). The stress reactions experienced after a disaster are visualized as common reaction which is experienced after any form of trauma. Disasters can result to a full range of physical and mental reactions.

            Several factors increase the potential that the members of a family will suffer from severe and longer-lasting stress after experiencing a disaster. For instance, the severity of the exposure is one of the factors to be considered. The amount of exposure to the disaster is highly associated with the risk of future mental health conditions. The members of the family who directly go through the disaster are at the highest risk. Next includes the household members who are in close contact with the victims. Those at a lower risk of the lasting impact include the persons who have only experienced an indirect form of exposure, such as those experiencing the news of a severe damage (UDVA, 2019).  Looking at severe natural disaster such as the Hurricane Andrew reported in the US, it is evident that more than half of the survivors experience mental health conditions which require clinical care.

            Gender and family is also an associated risk factor to be considered. In most cases, girls and women will suffer from more negative impacts in comparison to boys and men. Disaster recovery is known to be more stressful in the events when a household had children present at the time of the event. Women are known to experience a high level of distress in comparison to the men during the phase of recovery. Having a family member who records a high level of distress means that the other members will also display high levels of stress. UDVA (2019) states that marital stress have also risen significantly after instances of the natural disasters. Moreover, the conflicts experienced between the members of the family as well as the lack of support in homes make it difficult for the members to recover from the disasters. Moreover, conflicts existing between the members of the family or lack of a psychological support provided to the members of the family during the recovery phase in the home make it difficult for the people to recover from the disastrous event.

            A limited or negative social support is considered as a risk factor as well as a resilience aspect. Social support can weakened after the events of natural disasters. This can arise mainly because of distress as well as the need for the members of the support networks to move on with their lives. Sometimes, the response derived from others persons who the family relies on can be negative. For instance, it is possible that some social providers can play down the needs, pain and problems of the members of the affected community or expect the members of the affected families to recover quickly that what is considered as realistic. This result to a long-term distress after the disaster takes place.

Preparation Effort for Natural Disasters

            Preparedness refers to a continuous cycle of organizing, training, equipping and exercising to ensure an effective coordination and enhancement of the capabilities to protect and prevent efforts of responding to and mitigating disastrous events. Gough (2019) mentions that during the preparedness phase, the Emergency Management Department develops action plans, which are focused on countering and managing risks as well as taking action to build in the necessary capabilities required to implement the plans.

            Preparing for a natural disaster before it happens is an important consideration which families should consider to prevent drastic impacts from being experienced. To prepare for natural disasters, my family takes into consideration several actions. For instance, being educated about natural disasters and their impact on adults and youths is one of the lessons which the members of the household should have knowledge. Moreover, it is also fundamental that the members of the family should have an understanding of the proper ways of developing a response plan and how to adequately implement it. Additionally, during preparation for a disastrous event, it is recommended that the members of a family should ensure that they have enough supplies which can support the family in cases an emergency is experienced when faced by a disaster. According to McEntire (2015), preparation for a natural disaster is important because it results in better outcomes when an actual emergency arises during an event.

            Education about disasters is important since it informs the families and the parents about the various types of disasters and how they can affect families. Having knowledge about the different types of disasters informs the members of the family about the potential impacts likely to be experienced by the members of the family affected, mainly due to age differences and gender among others. Education is also important since it ensures that the parents and caregivers are informed of their roles to ensure that the needs of the children and the youth family members are effectively addressed (Youth.gov, 2020). The education will also inform the parents of the fact that they have a role of ensuring that they work hand in hand with the emergency responders when it comes to sharing medical information of the children and to confirm the fact that they have enough medical supplies and food to meet the needs of the family and the children when faced by a disaster.

            Devising a family emergency plan is an important consideration because the members of the family may not be together in the cases where the disaster strikes. Therefore, with the plan, it is possible to establish how the family members will contact each other, get back together or any other activities which they may accomplish in the different locations. When devising a family emergency plan, the members of the family consider several factors such as identifying the key meeting locations, establishing where they will spend more time until help arrives or developing means of communication to guarantee each other’s safety among others (Youth.gov, 2020).

Disaster Response Activities

The response phase includes the mobilization of the chosen emergency staff members, including the first responders, to an external event which could affect the patient care operations. Response procedures are important since they are constantly changing and being evaluated based on the improvement necessary after action reviews. Response plans have remained flexible as result of the fact that the staff members from a response organization or the number of family members available at the time of a disastrous event can vary at a provided time.

The effective means in which families can respond to natural disasters can be guided by the National Response framework (NRF) provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The NRF offers a foundation for the emergency management doctrine on how the nation can respond to varied forms of incidents. The NRF provides an insight into the structures, roles, and responsibilities which the members of a community or household can consider implementing in the event of a hazard or when responding to an incident (Maly & Anawat, 2020).

Different activities will be considered by my family members when responding to a disaster. For instance, the members of the household will consider it their obligation to take part in an engaged form of partnership between themselves as well as the relevant agencies which may come to the rescue in the events where a disaster strikes. According to the NRF, different stakeholders such as the territorial, local, tribal, state and insular area governments can understand the needs of the people in the events of a disaster. As a result, the stakeholders play a fundamental role in ensuring that the members of the community are well informed about how to respond to a disaster with an aim of managing risks to the infrastructure and the community (Zhao, He & Zhao, 2020). Integrating a continuity plan is also necessary since it will ensure that the members of the family focus on recovery efforts to ensure that they continue living their lives normally to avoid other secondary impacts such as the stress and depression (Miranda & Swanstrom, 2020).

My family’s head who is also my father will communicate with the lead emergency response team  to ensure that the efforts experienced during the response stage are communicated and a support engagement with the community as a whole is achieved. This will enable my family to come up with a shared goal which aligns capabilities focused on reducing the scope and duration of the effects of any jurisdiction experienced during the times of crisis. McEntire (2015) states that a layered, mutually supporting capabilities of communities and individuals, communities, and the government at different levels allows for a coordinated form of planning during the times of calm as well as in the events of a crisis.

 A tiered response is also an activity which will be considered by the members of the family under the response plan. Evidently, it is a fact that most incidents start and end locally and are managed and executed at the tribal or local level. According to Sheykhmousa, Kerle, Kuffer and Ghaffarian (2019), incidents need a unified response from the private sector and local agencies as well as NGOs. Some may need additional support from the state or the neighboring jurisdictions. If the disaster experienced by my family is on a low scale then the members of my family will require the federal support as a means of responding to the outcomes. However, if the disaster is on a large-scale, then the family members will rely on a unity effort when it comes to response. For instance, the input of the territorial government, the local government and the state will be required to offer support to the additional resources and capabilities required to support the response efforts to avoid loss of lives. According to the NRF, when all the levels of the government are engaged in the response efforts the effectiveness of the tiered response is improved to ensure a successful outcome (Department of Homeland Security, 2019).

The NRF also guides that when responding to a disaster, a unity effort should be ensured using a unified form of command. Therefore, my family members will focus on maximizing the response efforts while integrating and showing respect to the role, capabilities and responsibilities of all the persons participating in the response efforts after a disaster is experienced. The primary aim of this factor is to ensure interoperability of several activities implemented by different agencies (Maly & Anawat, 2020). The unified command will enable the person provided with the authority with the family to act jointly with other available organizations when it comes to directly managing the incident through a single action plan during the response phase.

My family members will also act decisively when responding to a disaster. The NRF provides a guide that the affected persons should always be ready to act in the events when they are exposed to an incident of any scope or complexity even when experienced without any warning. Acting decisively will create an opportunity for the members of my family to respond swiftly hence saving their lives amidst a disaster. Despite the fact that the family members may experience unavoidable risk, it is still a fact that they will be responsible for managing the risk through efforts such as proper planning, training, organizing and equipping, which were accomplished before the catastrophic incident, was experienced. When my family members act proactively, chances are higher that they will effectively utilize the resources which are available at the scene thus reducing any form of disruption which may occur to hinder the efforts of (Department of Homeland Security, 2019). Governments and organizations focused on the response activities

Other activities such as collaborating with responsible agencies to ensure that the community lifelines are stabilized as well as the restoration of services is also a fundamental activity during the response phase. Notably, this lessens any form of hazards to the public safety and health while ensuring that the critical services which are fundamental to human health are safeguarded even after the crisis caused by the disastrous incident (Zhao, He, & Zhao, 2020).

The Incident Command System (ICS) and Disaster Response

            Managing resources is an effective consideration for families during the disaster response phase. According to FEMA (2018), the ICS is effective in ensuring that different agencies operate showing their unity when responding to a disaster. In this case, no agency will be provided with a primary authority or resource focused on managing the incident by itself. The unified command is effective since it guides the jurisdictions as well as those with authority to come up with common objectives and strategies during the response phase thus ensuring resources and time saving.

            FEMA (2018) states that the ICS provides an outline about how assets and resources should be organized with a primary aim of responding to an incident as well as the processes focused on managing the response through several successive stages. Different functional areas will be considered when allocating the assets towards the response efforts. The first functional area includes that the of the command phase. In the case of my family, the person provided with the role of being the leader in organizing all the response efforts will be considered as the one under the command section. However, according to the ICS system, the command level is composed of the Safety officer, the Incident Command, Senior Advisors, and the Public Information Officer. The command is available at the top position under the system (FEMA, 2018).

            The other sections include the operation, logistics, planning and finance stages. The persons available at the operations phase are directly responsible for pointing out the strategies and tactics which can be considered to accomplish the required goal and objectives provided by the command when it comes to responding to disasters. Moreover, the members of the operations category are also directly responsible for coordinating and executing the tactics and strategies focused on meeting the set objectives of responding to the disaster (Drennan, McGowan & Tiernan, 2016). At the logistics stage, the available members will be required to offer support command to the operations by providing supplies, equipment and personnel to facilitate the process of the disaster response. Moreover, the members of the logistics phase are also directly responsible for performing technical activities which are required to maintain the function of the operational facilities and processes (FEMA, 2018).

            At the planning stage, the available team members will be responsible for coordinating support activities for the incident planning and demobilization planning. Moreover, the members of this stage also have an effective role to play in supporting Command and Operations when it comes to the processing of incident information. In addition, at planning stage, information activities are coordinated across the response system with an aim of ensuring time saving. With this, it becomes possible for the members of the team to act swiftly when it comes to the efforts associated with disaster response (FEMA, 2018).

            The admin/Finance aspect of the system is also effective in ensuring effective disaster response efforts. Evidently, the members of the team available at this point have the obligation of offering their support to those available at the Operations and Command phase with administrative activities as well as processing and tracking any incident expenses which are associated with responding to the disaster incident. In addition, at the admin/finance stage, issues such as regulatory compliance and licensing as well as financial accounting activities focused on gauging the required resources for the response efforts are also accomplished at this stage. Miles (2018) mentions that that the ICS has been effective in ensuring the effective management of resources in the process of incident response. Therefore, to ensure that this system is effectively applied during the response phase of a disaster, my family members will consider several factors. For instance, engaging in an integrated means of communication with all the available members of the team. The primary focus is to ensure that messages are accurately sent and received for a successful response effort. Moreover, the members of the family will also focus on ensuring that they function based on consolidated action plans to guarantee a unification of the incident response command to avoid wastage of resources (Miles, 2018).

Conclusion

            In summary, families should always be prepared to deal effectively with natural disasters. Through significant response activities, my family can protect itself from the aftermath risks associated with natural disasters such as hurricanes. One of the activities considered at the response phase include collaborating with responsible agencies to ensure that the community lifelines are stabilized. This is to ensure that critical services are still delivered to the affected even when recovery efforts are underway. Therefore, coming up with an effective response plan enables families to survive amidst recovery efforts while ensuring that minimal resources are put in the activities for a successful and efficient outcome.