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What is Emergency Management?
Emergency management is a coordinated effort, involving local, state, and federal government agencies as well as volunteer organizations and businesses. Within an integrated emergency management framework, these entities assist citizens and their communities to prepare for, respond to, recover from, and eliminate or reduce the effects of natural, man-made, civil, and technological emergencies and disasters.
Over the past 50 years, the meaning and scope of homeland security and emergency management has significantly changed in response to changes in the political, military, and natural environments. During this time, emergency management has evolved from a very narrow civil defense focus to providing a much broader array of services in response to human-made, natural, and technological hazards, and now to include issues of homeland security. The evolution has also encompassed a shift from federal-based initiatives to those that are state and locally developed and delivered.
Within this evolving framework, the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division works to implement current emergency management and homeland security policy. By working collaboratively with local, state, and federal agencies, with private businesses and citizens, and by providing technical assistance and support, we are expanding our ability to deliver world-class emergency management and homeland security services to our customers.
Federal Policies Shape State Emergency Management
Historically, the focus, scope, and policy of emergency management in Iowa has been led and shaped by federal perspectives. A clearer understanding of the State's critical role in emergency management is provided through a review of the changes in federal perspective and policy. Prior to and extending through the 1930s, there were no designated emergency management programs. However, some of the New Deal social programs, administered by a number of agencies, provided temporary assistance in response to specific disasters.
Emergency management found its beginnings during and immediately after World War II. Emergency management was developed as a response to the threat of military attack. During this period, the federal government created a nationwide shelter system under the provisions of the Civil Defense Act. The first federal assistance to state and local governments was provided under these civil defense programs. Response and recovery from natural, human-made, and technological disasters were thought to be within the purview of state and local governments; and at the federal level, were philosophically and legally separate from war-caused emergencies. The separation between war-caused and other emergencies and disasters and the federal, state, and local authorities remained this way until the late 1970s.
In 1979, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was established to assist in response to nuclear and other war-caused emergencies, as well as natural, human-made, and technological disasters. However, it was not until the 1980s that response and recovery efforts from other than war-caused disasters, became eligible for federal funding. This signaled the first effort to view emergency management as a comprehensive set of services encompassing four phases - mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.
In the 1980s, emergency management also experienced a key policy shift. Primary focus shifted from one of nuclear war preparedness to a more balanced focus on human-made, natural, and technological emergencies and disasters. The importance of what has become to be known as an all-hazards approach became emphasized. Federal assistance was provided for preparedness and direct response and recovery efforts.
By the 1990s, the ever-increasing demand on federal funds for disaster recovery assistance prompted a shift in federal policy; emphasizing mitigation and the provision of technical assistance to build state and local government capacities to deal more independently with emergencies and disasters that occur within their jurisdictions.
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| Also in the 1990s, federal, state, and local governments became increasingly aware of the increasing threat of terrorism. Incidents both abroad and domestically including the bombing of the New York World Trade Center in February 1993; the April 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City; the bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in June 1996; and the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen in October 2000 showed terrorists willingness to use weapons of mass destruction. At that time, federal agencies including FEMA, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Health and Human Services began to examine the causes and effects of these potentially catastrophic disasters, shape U.S. policy, and to fund domestic anti-terrorism preparedness activities.
The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon have provided a defining moment for the U.S. war on terrorism. This is witnessed by the development of domestic and foreign policy, nationwide initiatives to detect and prevent further terrorist attacks, and efforts to protect the national critical infrastructure and systems. At the federal level, anti-terrorism activities had been coordinated through the President's Homeland Security Advisor and now have resulted in the creation of the new Department of Homeland Security.
ABOUT EMA
The duties and responsibilities of this office revolve around specific core functions. Those being: Hazard Identification and Planning: conduct hazard identification and vulnerability analyses which identify the hazards presenting the greatest danger to the jurisdiction. Maintenance of the Emergency Partnership: develop and maintain effective relationships with government, private and voluntary sectors of the community. The objective of the relationships are to facilitate mutual consultation, exchange information and provide agreements for cooperative action. Emergency Response Systems: the development and maintenance of such systems as communications, warning, emergency public information, shelter, radiological defense and the emergency operations center. Coordination: coordinate the response and recovery activities of the departments and organizations involved in emergencies. One role for the emergency program manager is to serve as chief of staff to the responsible executive, be it a city manager, mayor, or county executive. Hazard Mitigation: provide oversight and motivation to departments and agencies to carry out their duties in ways that avoid or minimize potential emergency conditions. Regulatory: participate in and contribute to the legislative and regulatory process as it relates to emergency management. Information: develop and implement public information and public relations activities. Administration: tasks include budget and finance, personnel, programs, supplies and reporting systems.
Training: Identify training needs and develop, participate in, and provide training programs. Plan review and revision: on a regular basis.
A HISTORY OF CIVIL DEFENSE
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