Theevolutionof civilprotection

David AlexanderUniversity College London

First to emerge was civil defence,a system designed to protect the non-combatent population against armed

aggression, above all by a foreign power.

DEFINITION:Civil defence means a centralised system

at the level of national governmentdesigned to protect institutions andtheir employees, and eventually the

non-combatent general population, againstthe effects of a state of war or therisk of fighting on the home front.

Modern civil defencewas born at the

battle of Guernicaduring the SpanishCivil War (1937).

1940s: the early developmentof civil defence

• air raid precautions

• civil guards (paramilitary forces)

• civilian management of war wounded.

"From Stettin in the Baltico Sea to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain

has fallen on the Continent [of Europe]."Winston Churchill: Speech at

Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri,5 March 1946.

The Cold War

With the arrival of the Cold War (i.e.,from 1948 onwards) civil defence changed

its form. It began to focus onpreparations for a thermonuclear exchange.

• nuclear bunkers and under-ground command centres

• robust communications

• secrecy

• military command, andparamilitary auxiliaries

• extraordinary powersready to be used.

The 1970s and 1980s were a period ofslow decline in civil defence, because:-

• withdrawal from the Cold War mentality

• increasing impacts of natural hazards

• demonstrable futility of preparationsfor nuclear war

• political détente onthe international stage

• evident needfor new formsof organisationagainst disasters.

The 1970s and 1980s

• political polarisation put a brake onthe development of civil protection

• further impediments were causedby scandals and political corruption

1989 - the fall of the Berlin WallThe decline of authoritarianism.

The 1990s: at lastcivil protection emerges

• it responds to a change instrategic priorities - increasedemphasis on peacetime activities

• with the end of the Cold War there arefewer excuses to repress the population

• also, the risk of coup d'etat is reduced

• the age of the international disasterbegins, humanitarian intervention grows.

June 1990: the United Nationsinaugurates the International Decade

for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR)

• 140 nations establishnational IDNDR committees

• a few large international projectsare created (e.g., Radius, a projectfor the reduction of urban seismic risk)

• two large strategic conferencesare organised at the world level.

• the degree of success was limited:in ten years the IDNDR did nothalve the impact of disasters,as specified among its objectives

• but the Decade did assist thedevelopment of international collaborationand the formulation of strategiesdesigned to combat natural disasters.

New models of organisation of civil prot.

• increasing impact ofinformation technology

• greater global collaboration on DRR

• civilian disaster managers beginto eclipse the military ones

• there is an urgent need to organisecivil protection at the local level

• more disasters, more stimulus, betterprotection and more demand for training.

Civil protection isfinally differentiatedfrom civil defence

• it is organised at the local level,with harmonisation provided byhigher levels of public administration

• it is more explicitly a servicefor the general public

• it must tackle natural and man-madehazards of a non-strategic nature.

Armed aggressionon the part of states

Civil defence

Natural disasters

Civil protection

Armed aggressionon the part of

groups of dissidents

"Homeland security"(civil defence)

"Generic" disasters

"Civil contingencies"(resilience)

Naturaldisasters

Techno-logical

disasters

Socialdisasters

Inten-tional

disasters

Natural Anthropogenic

Civildefence

Civil contingenciesand Resilience

Civilprotection

"Homeland Security"

The 2000s: growth of civil protectionaccompanied by the return of civil defence

• terrorism assumes a new formthat provokes a reorganisationand return of civil defence

• there is a constantincrease in theprofessionalityof civil protectionoperatives.

• is the field internationalisingsufficiently?

• is training sufficient?

• is emergency management a profession, or should it be one?

• as a result of 9/11 have we regressedto old models of organisation?.

Questions that have not yetbeen properly answered (1):

• What should be our standards?

• Is civil protectionsufficiently democratic?

• Do we have the support of the public?

• How much structural protection?

• Will civil protection adaptitself quickly enough andsufficiently to changesin society and hazards?.

Questions that have not yetbeen properly answered (2):

• Are there fashions in civil protection?

• Can we afford all of this?

• Central control or devolution?

• What does efficiency meanin civil protection terms?

• Will we be able to keep theproblem of disasters under control?.

Questions that have not yetbeen properly answered (3):

Emergency management training and education

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RECOVERY AND

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METHODS OF

RISK MITIGATION

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Courses plannedMinimum

hours

Refresher

course

Courses for civil protection volunteers

Basic level 27 hrs 8 hrs

Specialist level variable 8

Task force level 30 8

Course for public emergency managers 200 36

Course for municipal emergency planners 60 8

Information courses for the general public variable --

Courses for spokespersons 20 8

First degrees and master's degreesregu-lation

--

Recognition andan institutionalrole for the

professional figure

Certificationof competence

Trainingprogrammes

Emergingprofessional

figure

Policies andlegislation

Research Experience

Organi-sation

There are various innovations in the systemof command of modern civil protection

• information technology has had the effectof flattening the chain of command

• there is more emphasis on autonomous taskforces and less on command and control.

• information sharing and collaborationare being substituted for rigidmilitary and paramilitary hierarchies

• with the assistance of training courses,emergency planning and management arebeginning to become afully-fledged profession.

From command and control

to the incident command system

ICS: a modular system fordirecting emergency operations,

starting at the site of the incidentand organised from the bottom up.

The incident command system- advantages

• flexible and modular

• with a base at the site

• the emergency operations groworganically in relation to theforces available in the field

• the incident commander constitutesthe task forces according to needs.

• non-hierarchical

• based on 'horizontal' collaborationinstead of a 'vertical' chain of command

• increases informationsharing among task forces

• divides command according tospan of control for ease of management

• easy to transfer command from oneperson to another at the incident site.

The incident command system- advantages

• it does not work well if personnelare not well integrated intothe structure of command

• it is difficult to direct 'from above'

• it is not idea for very largeemergencies that requirea more centralised command.

The incident command system- disadvantages

Civil protection must adapt itself withgreat rapidity and flexibility to....

• continual changes in naturaland anthropogenic hazards

• continual changes in humansociety and its vulnerability

• emerging risks, such asSARS and avian influenza.

• needs, opportunities andlimitations created by thepolitical system in which it exists

• changes in the demand for safety andsecurity manifested by the population,public administrators and businesses.

Civil protection must adapt itself withgreat rapidity and flexibility to....

CREATIONOF A NEWCULTUREOF CIVIL

PROTECTIONPOTENTIALTO BE

EXPLOITED

DEMAND

NEEDS

SUPPLY

Now the challenge is to democratise civil protectionso as to induce the public to

assume more responsibility forits own safety and security.

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