While there are differing opinions about the causes of climate change, most people agree that it exists to some extent and should be a consideration of emergency management departments around the globe. The four industry recognized phases for disaster management are preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation, and most emergency managers are beginning to attack the issue of weather change hardest within the preparedness phase. Here are some of the expected outcomes of emergency preparedness planning that consider unpredictable changes to the world’s climate.
Multi-Disciplinary Approach Needed for Managing Emergencies Caused by Weather Change
While many of today’s experienced emergency managers do not make disaster preparedness plans in a vacuum, planning for events that are caused by weather change more clearly emphasizes the need for greater multi-disciplinary collaboration. For instance, these disaster preparedness plans must incorporate scientific research to make realistic and reliable projections of what the public can expect when they encounter weather change induced emergencies. Also, environmental and civil engineering expertise is sometimes needed to construct plans that help communities to preserve critical structures and natural resources. Business professionals in accounting, finance and supply chain management are called upon to estimate the funds that are needed to mitigate or recover from weather related disasters and to identify efficient distribution channels for the resources that are needed during disaster recovery efforts.
Emergency Managers Use Technology and Data Analysis For Planning Efforts
Scientists agree that the frequency and intensity of storms have increased in recent history, and they have quantitative data that supports their beliefs. It is this type of data that emergency managers need when they conduct trend analysis in support of their disaster preparedness plans. They need to know what types of weather events are happening in their region, the rate at which these events increase over the years and the pattern of intensity levels during recent year sample sets. For example, emergency managers may identify flooding as a disaster that results from unusually prolonged rain fall that is caused by weather change. They can determine how often the region succumbs to floods and the amount of excess water that the area receives during those events. Emergency managers can apply predictive analytics to these data sets and refine their disaster preparedness plans based upon the results. Modeling and simulation software allows emergency managers to test numerous versions of complex scenarios that are related to weather change caused disasters.
Emergency Managers Must Think Globally For Disaster Preparation and Planning
Most governmental departments that handle disaster preparedness issues have scopes that are limited to their local communities or regions. However, weather change affects population groups around the world, and forward thinking emergency managers approach disaster preparedness from a global perspective. For instance, they plan for heavy migration of refugees from neighboring countries that experience emergencies that are aggravated by weather change. Certain social services like temporary shelters, food, clothing and medical care are some of the items that may appear in their preparedness plans.
Conclusion
The very nature of climate change offers unique challenges to disaster preparedness planners. These professionals must plan for natural and man made emergencies that are more intense and that potentially impact larger population segments. While no one wants to experience disasters that are exacerbated by climate change, the silver lining for these emergency management professionals is that public support of their work should rise as people all over the world experience these strange events more frequently.