“AFTER THE DISASTER — HAZARD AWARENESS”
By Nancy Aird and Jim Mullen
As the deadly results from the Texas Hill Country Catastrophic Floods grow, questions of fault will multiply on who had responsibility to warn local inhabitants of the danger. As is the case in most emergencies, emergency management will be pinpointed as a target. It is always easier to criticize after the incident, but all stakeholders play a part in prevention, response and recovery resilience.
The public’s perception on the scope of responsibility and response of Local, State and Federal emergency management changed after the Hurricane Katrina response with FEMA becoming a watchword. FEMA was created to work in tandem with States to identify priorities for resources. The year prior to Katrina a major exercise (“Hurricane Pam”) foretold the possibility of a breach in the dikes in NOLA. Dike corrective measures did not occur leading to the devastating breach and subsequent flooding of New Orleans. State and Local connections were poorly constructed with confusion of response and access protocols not defined by legal mechanisms. FEMA support arrives at the invitation of the State and should function at the direction or at least work in concert with the priorities of local government. The complication in Hurricane Katrina response was FEMA had been gutted in terms of its key personnel, and its response capability as the feds focused almost exclusively on counterterrorism. Currently, the dismantling of FEMA is throwing the ball back to State and Local levels. This Katrina issue with a 2025 twist could well occur again – imagine FEMA’s duties spread among multiple agencies with no central federal coordination agency.
Education of individuals also needs to be stepped up. Our forefathers walked the land and observed natural geology capabilities in person. Lidar scans, weather tracking, climate mapping, etc. give us a scientific edge, but individuals need to go beyond waiting for an official to warn of danger. They need to observe and link facts to assess danger levels. We teach our children of “Stranger Danger. “Awareness of Location Danger” should be a motto also.
The latest Texas tragedy had the thunderstorm modeled to drop 6-7” of rain. The unscheduled 12” of rainfall triggered the Guadalupe River rise of recorded 22 foot in just two hours. Then the gauge failed at 29 ½ feet before submerging. Not all location dangers will give us warning. March 2014 had the SR530 (OSO or Hazel) landslide occurring in Washington state. No immediate warning, but geology reports showed the danger. In the cases of Wildland and Urban Wildfire, evacuation risk and recovery can point to various factors including: who allowed the area to develop, health and composition of the flora, density and architecture of structures, infrastructure to support firefighting response, lessons on dangers of starting fire in dangerous conditions, etc. Maui wildfire of 2023 showed emergency warning issues-warning sirens messaging had been created for tsunami evacuation but that would cause uphill response into the path of the fire. We don’t control nature. Our best efforts are to measure and note possible outcomes from data.
Emergency Management is studied and taught now, but it is still a forecasting of Resilience, Risk and Recovery predictions. Individuals need to listen to current conditions, know the risks of location, and protect themselves by learning escape strategies if conditions worsen.
Nancy Aird, Program Specialist Center of Excellence HSEM, Confluence News editor and writer, 37 years Supply Chain, Police Science and HSEM.
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Jim Mullen has spent 3 decades in emergency management, including 12 years at the local level as director of the City of Seattle’s Office of Emergency Management and 8 and a half years as Washington State’s Emergency Management Division Director. Jim retired from state service in March 2013. Jim also served as President of the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) from January 2011 to October 2012.
Disclaimer
Information on this Blog is provided with the understanding that the authors and publishers are not engaged in rendering professional advice or services. As such, it should not be used as a substitute for consultation with an professional adviser. Opinions expressed here represent the viewpoints of individuals authoring the blog and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the Center of Excellence.