Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

1

The Professionalization of Emergency Management

The background, training, and the fundamental role of emergency managers, within the practice of

emergency management, has continued to evolve

Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

2

EM Academic Programs

• Have grown from fewer than 10 (1990s) to hundreds of programs (late 2000s)

• Programs offered at the certificate, bachelor, master, and doctorate levels

• A staggering and growing range of courses available

However…• Compared to other disciplines, emergency

management is still in its infancy

Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

3

Domestic Focus

• Systems• Practice• Hazards and hazard profiles• Motivating influences and philosophies• Organizational and governmental structures• Terminology • Case studies • Lessons learned

Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

4

US Emergency Management

Among the most advanced and best funded systems in the world

However…• Practitioners do not yet possess all of the

answers to problems with hazards and risk• The United States’ experience is but one of

hundreds that exist in the world

Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

5

Lessons from Abroad

• The Netherlands

• Japan

• Israel

• Australia and New Zealand

• India

• Thailand

Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

6

Emergency Management Profession

“charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to

hazards and cope with disasters” (Blanchard, 2007)

Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

7

Foreign Systems Discounted

• Shortage of courses, resources, and instructors

• The historical evolution of emergency management in the United States

• Perspective

Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

8

Growth in Interest in Comparative Emergency Management

1. Greater involvement by the nongovernmental and private sectors in domestic emergency management operations

2. Increasing strength, size, and number of natural disasters

3. The prospect of disaster-driven global instability4. The increasing likelihood of scenarios where

domestic emergency managers must work with the international emergency management community

Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

9

Greater involvement by the nongovernmental and private sectors in domestic emergency

management operations

• International, nongovernmental, nonprofit, and private organizations augment deficient national capacities

• These organizations have attained proficiency in their areas of expertise, and are regarded as being appropriately equipped, adequately staffed and trained, and often very well funded

• Little has been done to formalize such a system in the United States

Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

10

Increasing strength, size, and number of natural disasters

Climate change is occurring; points to:

• Global increases in disaster size, severity, and number

• Change in the catastrophic potential

• Change in the nature of the nation’s hazard profile

• Greater need for regional cooperation

Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

11

The prospect of disaster-driven global instability

• Climate change has become a national security issue

• There exists a link between emergency management and development

• Climate change will create conditions in the affected countries that contribute to a loss of stability affecting the United States both directly and indirectly

• Recovery that follows major disasters must allow for a viable future

Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

12

Domestic emergency managers must work with the international emergency

management community

• United States maintains two distinct emergency management systems – Domestic– International

• A disconnect exists between the two• Domestic crises have international implications