Disaster Operations and Decision Making

The only book to combine emergency management principLEs with proven military concepts Good disaster plans do not guarantee a good response. Any disaster plan rarely survives the first rain bands of a hurricane or the first tremors of an earthquake. While developing plans is essential, there must be systems in place to adapt these plans to the ever–changing operational environment of a disaster. Currently there is no set of standard disaster response principles to guide a community. The National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the Incident Command System (ICS) provide the framework to implement operational decisions, but they were never designed as operational concepts. The military has developed just such concepts and many of them can be adapted for civilian use. Disaster Operations and Decision Making adapts those military concepts and combines them with disaster lessons learned to create a new opera–tional paradigm. Emphasizing team building, Emergency Operations Center operational systems, and situational awareness, the book details easily adopted methods. All of these methods are designed to be incorporated into the NIMS and ICS framework to enhance a community′s response to any type of disaster. Disaster Operations and Decision Making is an essential resource for emergency managers, fire chiefs, law enforcement officers, homeland security professionals, public health officials, and anyone else involved or interested in crisis management.

Foreword ix Introduction xiii 1. The Emergency Manager: Leading in a Crisis 1 2. Crisis Decision Making 19 3. Disaster Operations: The Art of Operations 39 4. Decision Graphics: The Green Light System 67 5. The Emergency Operations Center 79 6. The Press, Friend and Foe 111 7. The National Incident Management System and the Incident Command System 127 8. Technology and Social Media 159 9. Building the Team: The Core Liaison Group 173 10. Training the Team 189 11. Resources: Decision Aids and Worksheets 277 FEMA Glossary 341 Suggested Readings 363 Index 367