PILOT PROJECT WEATHER EVENT STATUS
Tropical Storm Lani is now showing wind speeds averaging a consistent 60-65 miles per hour (mph). Current tracking and modeling point to an expectation that Tropical Storm Lani will develop sufficiently over the next several days to reach the threshold criteria to become classified as a Category 1 hurricane – i.e., sustained wind speeds of 74-95 mph. Over the last several days, Tropical Storm Lani has continued a somewhat westerly direction now approximately 1,100 miles east of Puerto Rico. The latest forecast is still projecting a landfall to the U.S. east coast between Norfolk VA and Charleston, SC. The next forecast is expected to provide a more defined landfall area of focus once then-Hurricane Lani’s path is better estimated based on nearing populated land masses within the northern Caribbean geographical area.
BACKGROUND
The OPPA Associate Administrator provided another EMRAAS Pilot Project Team update to FEMA senior leadership. One of the topics raised for EMRAAS Pilot Project Team consideration was that of resources; specifically, what type and in what amounts. It was acknowledged by FEMA senior leadership that detailed planning at this point would be “big picture” in nature. However, emergency management-related resources from a national perspective are not unlimited and sufficient lead-time will be needed to ensure proper resources are strategically located in advance of a Hurricane Lani landfall. This strategic pre-positioning approach is preferred to provide emergency management support as quickly as possible to those landfall areas most impacted by the Hurricane Lani weather event.
Of specific interested from FEMA senior leadership was the identification and prioritization of those emergency support function (ESF) capabilities thought by the EMRAAS Pilot Project Team to be most in demand after landfall. Since there are 15 different ESF categories, FEMA senior leadership is intensely interested in the EMRAAS Pilot Project Team’s initial thoughts regarding those ESFs considered “most important.” With this information, FEMA senior leadership – and other relevant internal and external stakeholders – can begin the necessary planning actions to proactively start to request, schedule, and pre-position the prioritized ESF capabilities as soon as possible and certainly before actual landfall.
As a result, the OPPA Associate Administrator has tasked the EMRAAS Pilot Project Team for a point paper that provides our Team’s brainstorming thoughts on which ESF sectors the Team views as “most important” when it comes to best ensuring the most effective and efficient disaster preparedness and subsequent response/recovery actions to be taken by the whole emergency management community for the benefit of all affected stakeholders.
Part 1: Request the EMRAAS Pilot Project Team to briefly discuss the role of “emergency support function” (ESF) sectors as they relate to emergency management. How are they organized and why?
Part 2: Based on a projected Hurricane Lani landfall between the Norfolk, VA and Charleston, SC geographical area, conduct your own research to recommend which two (2) emergency support functions (ESFs) you deem as “most important” for preparedness and subsequent response/recovery emergency management support activities related to Hurricane Lani. Briefly provide rationale for your recommendation.
Sample Solution
The role of Emergency Support Function (ESF) sectors in emergency management is critical for helping agencies coordinate their efforts and resources to address a wide variety of disaster or emergency situations. ESFs are organized into eight primary categories that include: transportation, communications, public works and engineering, firefighting, health and medical services, hazardous materials response, search and rescue/disaster relief operations and public safety. When an emergency or disaster occurs the incident commander will then activate the appropriate ESF sector as needed depending on the type of incident.
The goal is to ensure that all relevant agencies have access to their respective resources in order to effectively respond to high-priority needs first. For example , during an earthquake the Public Works & Engineering sector would be activated in order to assess roadways & damaged structures while Firefighting would provide personnel & equipment towards extinguishing any nearby fires (Johnson et al., 2017). This level coordination allows different organizations across government spectrum come together under unified command structure so they can perform specific roles more efficiently which ultimately helps minimize overall impact resulting from natural disasters (Weckman et al., 2019).
In addition , having separate dedicated teams responding particular types emergencies also provides greater flexibility when it comes addressing problems quickly since each team has intimate knowledge pertaining its area expertise . Furthermore , this organizational framework allows teams coordinate better amongst each other sharing best practices & information back forth for improved collaboration capabilities further down line (Kovacs et al., 2018 ). Ultimately , effective use EMRAAS pilot project’s ESF sectors contributes greatly toward successful implementation strategies designed lessen effects arising from disastrous events both now future .
