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Hello Lucien,
Welcome to the June edition of Emergency Management Solutions.
What a month! In the United States we've seen wildfires and drought as well as massive flooding and mass shootings. As we transition from the EL Nino effect to La Nina, we can expect to see more of the same. Europe is bracing for high temperatures, which are suspected of causing the deaths of several missing persons in Greece and in Saudi Arabia for the deaths of over 1,300 pilgrims in Mecca. Which ever political side you favor in the debate over the causes of climate change, there is no question that it is occurring and as emergency managers we need to deal in facts and reality.
In this month's featured articles, Tim Riecker identifies a glaring omission in the requirements for the Centers for Disease Control Public Health Emergency Preparedness grant and Erik Bernstein highlights the relationship between crisis management and traditional public relations. My own contribution deals with why you need a professional library and how to build it.
Be well!
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Canton on Emergency Management
By Lucien G. Canton, CEM
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Building Your Professional Library
Back in the day when rocks were soft and dinosaurs roamed the earth, people like me came to emergency management as a second profession. We brought with us a considerable amount of experience in our previous jobs but had very little real knowledge of emergency management. This was not a particular drawback as our focus was largely on the development of emergency plans.
Then came the great awakening. I remember reading a paper by Dr Enrico Quarantelli and thinking, “This guy has finally got it! About time someday figured this out.” I then looked at the date on the paper; it was written the year I was born. It was my introduction to a whole range of books, research papers, and articles on emergency management that I didn’t know existed.
This became more and more important as emergency management evolved from an operational to a strategic emphasis and sought recognition as a profession. One of the principal requirements of a profession is a specialized body of knowledge yet it is only recently that we have begun to recognize this and seen the emergence of academic disciplines designed to provide embryonic emergency managers with access to this body of knowledge.
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© 2024 - Lucien G. Canton
Lucien Canton is a management consultant specializing in helping managers lead better in a crisis. He is the former Director of Emergency Services for San Francisco and the author of the best-selling Emergency Management: Concepts and Strategies for Effective Programs used as a textbook in many higher education courses.
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The Contrarian Emergency Manager
By Timothy "Tim" Riecker
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CDC Forgot About Planning
In late February, CDC released the highly anticipated notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for the 2024-2028 Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) grant. The general concept of the grant wasn’t a big surprise, as they had been promoting a move to their Response Readiness Framework (RRF). The timing of the new five-year grant cycle seems ideal to implement lessons learned from COVID-19, yet they are falling short.
I’ve reflected in the past on the preparedness capability elements of Planning, Organizing, Equipment/Systems, Training, and Exercises (POETE). I also often add Assessing to the front of that (APOETE). These preparedness elements are essentially the buckets of activity through which we categorize our preparedness activities.
In reviewing the ten program priorities of the RRF, I’m initially encouraged by the first priority: Prioritize a risk-based approach to all-hazards planning. Activity-wise, what this translates to in the NOFO is conducting a risk assessment. Solid start. Yet nowhere else is planning overtly mentioned. Within the NOFO some of the other priorities reflect on ensuring certain things are addressed in plans, such as health equity, but there is otherwise no direct push for planning. Buried within the NOFO (page 62) is a list of plans that must be shared with project officers upon request (under the larger heading of Administrative and Federal Requirements) but the development of any of these plans does not correlate to any priorities, strategies, or activities within the document.
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© 2024 - Timothy Riecker, CEDP
Used with Permission
Tim Riecker is a founding member, partner and principal consultant with Emergency Preparedness Solutions, LLC, a private consulting firm serving government, businesses, and not for profit organizations in various aspects of emergency and disaster preparedness.
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Bernstein Crisis Management
by Erik Bernstein
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The Intersection of Traditional PR and Crisis Management
In an era where the digital landscape dominates the field of communication, it’s important to remember that many of the timeless principles of traditional public relations continue to underpin the strategies shaping crisis management today. The intertwined relationship between traditional PR and crisis management is a valuable example of how foundational communications can be adapted to better navigate today’s complex business climate, fortifying reputation, resilience, and crisis response.
Traditional PR: The Bedrock of Communication
At its core, traditional PR focuses on building and maintaining a positive image for an organization. It’s about crafting narratives, fostering relationships with the media, and engaging with the public in a manner that enhances reputation over time. The methodologies might have evolved, but the essence remains unchanged. It’s all about relevant content and strategic communication.
Crisis Management: The Proving Grounds
Crisis management, on the other hand, is the organization’s armor against the unexpected. It’s a specialized area of PR that springs into action when (or ideally before) an organization faces a threat that could damage its reputation, operations, or financial bottom line. Crisis management strategies are designed to mitigate harm, manage stakeholder expectations, and navigate the organization through turbulent times with as little fallout as possible.
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© 2024 - Erik Bernstein
Used with permission
Erik Bernstein is President of Bernstein Crisis Management, a specialized firm dedicated to providing holistic strategies for managing crisis situations.
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Climate disasters around U.S. are costing Americans billions
NBC News’ Bill Karins details how intense weather around the country is wreaking financial havoc. The data from the weather agency shows the country might be on track to match or even pass the cost of 28 individual billion dollar weather disasters last year.
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CALL FOR PAPERS
Leaving Nobody Behind: Emergency Management in an Inclusive Way
The Journal of Emergency Management (JEM) Editorial Review Board invites the submission of original research, papers, and case studies supporting a special issue titled: Leaving Nobody Behind: Emergency Management in an Inclusive Way.
Leaving no one behind is the ongoing aim of disaster risk reduction and emergency management approaches. Yet, increasingly, planning and operationalization challenges arise due to the difficulties of addressing inequities that exist in communities. We present this call
for papers to identify, document, and garner lessons learned from teams around the world for understanding and implementing strategies for inclusion into pre-disaster planning, mitigation, and post-disaster recovery. This special issue will not debate the need or importance of equitable outcomes in emergency management but will focus instead on the approaches which should be achieved, especially in a global context. The focus is on the future integration of disaster risk reduction and emergency management research to identify, advocate, and manage the effects of inequities through risk mitigation and loss prevention at the emergency management level.
Leaving Nobody Behind: Emergency Management in an Inclusive Way | Journal of Emergency Management (wmpllc.org)
Call for Quick Response Research – SUBMIT NOW
With the support of the National Science Foundation, the Natural Hazards Center Quick Response Research Award Program provides funds and training for eligible researchers to collect data in the aftermath of extreme events to document disaster before memories fade and physical evidence is erased. The Natural Hazards Center is currently accepting proposals for a Special Call for Health Outcomes and Climate-Related Disaster Research. Funds will support awards in the amount of $10,000 to $50,00 each. Proposals for this special call will be accepted on a rolling basis until funds are exhausted. Apply now! More information can be found at https://hazards.colorado.edu/research/quick-response
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Professional Development Opportunities
49th Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop
July 14-17, 2024
Broomfield, Colorado
Since 1975, the Natural Hazards Center has hosted the Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop in Colorado. Today the Workshop brings together federal, state, and local mitigation and emergency management officials and planning professionals; representatives of nonprofit, private sector, and humanitarian organizations; hazards and disaster researchers; and others dedicated to alleviating the impacts of disasters.
DRJ Fall 2024
September 8-11, 2024
Dallas, TX
DRJ’s annual spring and fall conferences are the longest-running and best-attended business continuity events in the world. DRJ can help you protect your organization from today’s disruptions and tomorrow’s threats by exposing you to insights from industry leaders and giving you an early look at new BC technologies.
IAEM Annual Conference and EMEX
November 15-21, 2024
Colorado Springs, CO
The goal of the IAEM Annual Conference is to improve your knowledge, competency level and collaborative skills. IAEM accomplishes this by attracting relevant high-profile speakers to address current topics and practical solutions. Convening in tandem to this annual event, EMEX, IAEM’s Emergency Management & Homeland Security Expo, draws a myriad of exhibitors who are the top suppliers to the fields of disaster preparedness and homeland security.
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This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate
by Naomi Klein
The most important book yet from the author of the international bestseller The Shock Doctrine, a brilliant explanation of why the climate crisis challenges us to abandon the core "free market" ideology of our time, restructure the global economy, and remake our political systems. In short, either we embrace radical change ourselves or radical changes will be visited upon our physical world. The status quo is no longer an option. In This Changes Everything Naomi Klein argues that climate change isn't just another issue to be neatly filed between taxes and health care. It's an alarm that calls us to fix an economic system that is already failing us in many ways. Klein meticulously builds the case for how massively reducing our greenhouse emissions is our best chance to simultaneously reduce gaping inequalities, re-imagine our broken democracies, and rebuild our gutted local economies. She exposes the ideological desperation of the climate-change deniers, the messianic delusions of the would-be geoengineers, and the tragic defeatism of too many mainstream green initiatives. And she demonstrates precisely why the market has not--and cannot--fix the climate crisis but will instead make things worse, with ever more extreme and ecologically damaging extraction methods, accompanied by rampant disaster capitalism. Klein argues that the changes to our relationship with nature and one another that are required to respond to the climate crisis humanely should not be viewed as grim penance, but rather as a kind of gift--a catalyst to transform broken economic and cultural priorities and to heal long-festering historical wounds. And she documents the inspiring movements that have already begun this communities that are not just refusing to be sites of further fossil fuel extraction but are building the next, regeneration-based economies right now. Can we pull off these changes in time? Nothing is certain. Nothing except that climate change changes everything. And for a very brief time, the nature of that change is still up to us.
About the Author
Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and international and New York Times bestselling author of nine critically acclaimed books.
Naomi Klein is a columnist with The Guardian. She has also written regular columns for The Intercept (as Senior Contributing Writer), The Nation, and The Globe and Mail that were syndicated in major newspapers around the world by The New York Times Syndicate. She has been a contributing editor at Harper’s and Rolling Stone. She has reported from China for Rolling Stone, Standing Rock and Puerto Rico for The Intercept, Copenhagen (COP15) for The Nation, Buenos Aires for The Financial Times, and Iraq for Harper’s. Additionally, her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The Globe and Mail, El Pais, L’Espresso, The New Statesman, Le Monde, among many other publications.
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Emergency Management: Concepts and Strategies for Effective Programs
Second Edition
by Lucien G. Canton
This book looks at the larger context within which emergency management response occurs, and stresses the development of a program to address a wide range of issues. Not limited to traditional emergency response to natural disasters, it addresses a conceptual model capable of integrating multiple disciplines and dealing with unexpected emergencies.
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Looking for a speaker for your conference? I offer keynotes, seminars, workshops, and webinars, either in person or virtually. You can find more details and sample videos on my website. | | | |
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©Lucien G. Canton 2024. All rights reserved.
You may reprint and excerpt this newsletter provided that you include my copyright, the source,
the author, and "reprinted with permission."
ISSN: 2334-590X
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