Guest Post: A community approach to emergency management

Editor's Note: Veronica Taylor is a consultant specializing in disaster preparedness, response and recovery. She previously worked with The Patterson Foundation to help deepen its understanding of the disaster space. As a guest blogger, she will cover issues relevant to the disaster sector. 

Our nation’s traditional approach to managing the risks associated with disasters rests on the shoulders of the government – local, state, or federal – depending on the size of the disaster. However, the changing realities of disasters (number, size, cost, etc.) are affecting all levels of the government as they try to improve resilience while grappling with the limitations of their capacity.

In December of 2011, Craig Fugate, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released A Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management: Principles, Themes, and Pathways for Action. In a congressional testimony, Fugate said, “Government can and will continue to serve disaster survivors. However, we fully recognize that a government-centric approach to disaster management will not be enough to meet the challenges posed by a catastrophic incident. That is why we must fully engage our entire societal capacity…”

Several blogs ago, I said that every disaster is local because every community is different.  The Whole Community Approach does not mandate prescriptive actions or required protocol. Rather, it provides an overview of core principles, key themes, and pathways for action. My next several blogs will briefly review these three components, and explore the changes that spurred this different approach.

I strongly recommend reading the entire document.  Please share your thoughts – I would love to hear from you - email me vxtaylor@hotmail.com!