the future of emergency management george haddow the george washington university institute for...

THE FUTURE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

George HaddowThe George Washington University

Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management

Washington, DC2005 Emergency Management Higher Education Conference

FEMA Emergency Management Institute

Emmitsburg, MD - June 7-9, 2005

Spring 2003

“We are optimistic that emergency management can survive and thrive in the future if it embraces the lessons learned from the past and moves forward with a

progressive agenda that will be valued by the American people.”

Four Lessons

• Maintain an all-hazards approach to emergency management.

• The federal response infrastructure, based on the Federal Response Plan, works.

• Continue to practice the concepts that facilitated the U.S. emergency management system becoming the best system in the world.

• Make mitigation the focus of emergency management in the United States.

Emergency Management Today (2005)

• Terrorism focus

• National Response Plan (NRP)

• Customer focus, partnerships and communications

• Mitigation

Five Pressing Issues

• Imbalance of focus between homeland security and natural disaster management

• Challenge of involving the public in preparedness planning

• Lack of an effective partnership with the business community

• Cuts to EM funding• Questions surrounding the evolving

organizational structure of the nation’s emergency management system.

A History of Imbalance Repeated

• Civil Defense

• Hugo, Loma Prieta, Andrew

• History repeating itself

More Public Involvement Needed

• Limited role

• Project Impact, Tulsa, Napa

• “Redefining Readiness”

Public-Private Partnership Effort Failing

• Business Roundtable

• Overall strategy

• Information and planning

Emergency Management Funding Cuts

• Natural hazards programs

• First responders and plans

• Homeland security offices

Organizational Uncertainty

• Partnership

• Structure

• DHS

A New Path for Emergency Management

• Lessons learned

• Single focus

• DHS mission

Where does emergency management go from here?

• Community level

• New breed of government official

• Consensus building process

• All-Hazards including terrorism

Conclusion