Role of Government Organizations, Private Sector, and Volunteer Organizations in Emergency Management
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Abstract
Various groups needs to be vigilant to respond to an emergency that can occur at any time. The study implies that effective emergency management requires the intervention of different stakeholders. The government is a key contributor in managing emergency, and the roles the local, state, and federal governments play contribute significantly towards addressing a disaster. The private sector and volunteer organizations are equally important in emergency management. Each of these groups offer numerous resources and support during incidences that require emergency response. Therefore, the study examines the various roles the key stakeholders play in emergency management.
Role of Government Organizations, Private Sector, and Volunteer Organizations in Emergency Management
In a community one factor that requires considerable attention is emergency management. Marcelo et al. (2020) describe emergency management as the management and organization of the responsibilities and resources for handling all humanitarian forms of all emergencies, including recovery, mitigation, response, preparedness, and prevention. The objective of emergency management is to avert and minimize the adverse impact of all hazardous occurrences, encompassing disasters. Any teams working on emergency management need to focus on four key phases of this practice to achieve impressive results. It is recommended that interveners should commit enough time and resources into mitigating the matter before preparing, responding, and recovering the matter. Nonetheless, interveners can choose to use other approaches so long as they will help to achieve the targeted results. However, various groups may play different roles in making the emergency management process successful. Specifically, the study pays considerable attention to the roles that state, local and tribal governments play with regard to emergency management, as well as examines the contributions of the private sector and volunteer and non-profit organizations in protecting communities. The acquired information helps to understand that effective emergency management requires concerted effort to achieve the targeted outcomes.
Role of Federal, State, Local and Tribal Governments
The federal, state, local and tribal governments play fundamental roles in facilitating emergency management. The federal government runs various organizations responsible for emergency management, and provides the needed resources to facilitate the functions of such institutions (Schroeder et al., 2001). For example, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is a federal institution, is responsible for coordinating the role of the federal government in making preparations for, averting, mitigating the impact of, reacting to, and recuperating from all forms of domestic disasters, whether man-made or natural, encompassing terror threats and attacks. The enactment of the Congressional Act of 1803 served as the beginning of FEMA (Schroeder et al., 2001). The federal government also provides the needed personnel resources, information, technical aid, financial assistance, and materials required to make the practice successful. State governments also play equally important functions in promoting emergency management. Specifically, state governments determine the emergency management requirements and examine the strengths of political subgroups in addressing the matter (Schroeder et al., 2001). State governments are also responsible for channeling state resources to local governments, encompassing technical aid and training, as well as operational assistance in an emergency. Equally important in emergency management are local and tribal governments. Both local and tribal governments maintain control of all assets utilized in the recovery and response efforts, regardless of where the assets come from (Schroeder et al., 2001). The two levels of government have the obligation to prepare and plan for this obligation with the assistance of federal and state governments. Nonetheless, emergency management could be a strenuous task and achieving the targeted goals could be difficult if only one level of government was responsible for emergency management (Schroeder et al., 2001). Consequently, governments at various levels need to join hands and address emergency management with a common objective.
Role of the Private Sector
It is evident that the private sector serves both essential and varied functions in emergency management. Marcelo et al. (2020) acknowledge that the private-sector firms play a fundamental function before, during, and after a disastrous or catastrophic incident and are essential in creating resilient communities. Marcelo et al. (2020) inform that the private sector also has untapped competence and ability to offer needed skills and resources in the form of donations of services and goods or technical manpower to foster the preparedness and emergency response stage of emergency management. Marcelo et al. (2020) further assert that the private sector contributes significantly to financing aimed at disaster recovery in different ways, encompassing serving a crucial function in timely response and recovery. The sector also collaborates with the public sector in private-public collaborations, and also foster innovation and encourage use of technology as a way of improving emergency management practices. The private sector play other important functions in emergency management, which make this group equally important in finding appropriate remedies during emergency cases (Marcelo et al., 2020). Organizations in this sector define, assign, and implement coherent and clear institutional roles in the form of training, resources, and encouraging proficient and effective response measures in high risk communities. In addition, the private sector contributes towards emergency management by assessing institutional requirements, creating and implementing initiatives to help key institutions and entities with sustainability matters and measures (Marcelo et al., 2020). More fundamentally, the private sector facilitates access to precise information, encourages communication across parties, and promote access to vital resources such as water and energy, especially for high-risk communities by promoting use of suitable technology alternatives in dealing with emergency cases (Marcelo et al., 2020). Hence, the private sector is equally essential in contributing towards emergency management.
Role of Volunteer and Non-Profit Organizations
Volunteer and not-for-profit organizations are indispensable when it comes to emergency management. Volunteers contribute towards emergency management by improving a community’s capacity to respond to emergencies by offering additional response capacities through diverse skills and competence (Jung & Ha, 2021). With adequately-prepared plans, volunteer groups can offer the most appropriate and effective reaction and recovery by utilizing relevant resources, encompassing volunteers (Jung & Ha, 2021). Non-profit organizations are equally important in disaster management because of the many roles that they play during incidences that require emergency response. For example, volunteers play the fundamental role of distributing needed items and resources during emergency response such as food and clean water (Jung & Ha, 2021). Not-for-profit organizations such as the American National Red Cross, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Doctors Without Borders, and International Medical Corps among others also play fundamental functions in providing needed supplies such as clothing and medicine that are highly needed during such intervention initiatives (Jung & Ha, 2021). Both volunteer and non-profit organizations also play the crucial roles of creating free clinics and offering acute medical attention as well as rescuing pets at a time of disaster. Consequently, it is essential to pay considerable attention to the roles of volunteer and non-profit organizations in emergency management.
Conclusion
The study reveals that different organs contribute significantly towards emergency management. Government organizations emerge as vocal institutions in emergency management, especially in the way they offer needed guidance and resources. Each of the various levels of government (federal, state, local, and tribal) have their roles outlined clearly such that it is possible to engage in emergency management at each phase in the most appropriate manner. The study also examines the roles of the private sector and volunteer and non-profit organizations in dealing with the problem. The analysis confirms that emergency management is likely to work effectively when various groups contribute towards the process rather than relying on a single entity.
References
Jung, D., & Ha, K. (2021). A comparison of the role of voluntary organizations in disaster management. Sustainability, 13, 1-15. doi:10.3390/su13041669
Marcelo, D., Raina, A., & Rawat, S. (2020). Private sector participation in disaster recovery and mitigation. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342887755_Private_Sector_Participation_in_Disaster_Recovery_and_Mitigation_Disaster_Recovery_Guidance_Series_by_the_Global_Facility_for_Disaster_Reduction_and_Recovery
Schroeder, A., Wamsely, G., & Ward, R. (2001). The evolution of emergency management in America: From a painful past to a promising but uncertain future. In Ali, F. (Ed.). Handbook of Crisis and Emergency Management. New York, NY: Marcel Decker, pp. 357-418.