PPA 503

1
PPA 503 The Public Policy Making Process

• Lecture 4b Emergency Management and Problem
  Definition

2
Introduction

• Problem definition is about more than finding
  someone to blame.
• Competing definitions can vary by perceived
  social significance, meanings, implications, and
  urgency.
• Problem definitions reflect the social
  construction of reality.
• A problem is a problem because people say that it
  is.

3
Emergency Management

• Disasters are calamitous natural or human-caused
  emergency events that suddenly result in
  extensive negative economic and social
  consequences for the populations they affect.
• While disasters vary in scale, all threaten the
  general welfare of some populace thus,
  government intervention to minimize the negative
  consequences of disaster is warranted and
  expected.

4
Emergency Management

• In the United States, government involvement in
  emergency management has evolved through time
  into a complex policy subsystem.
• Implementation of disaster policy is the province
  of a public administrative function known as
  emergency management.

5
Emergency Management

• Emergency management is a multidimensional effort
  to reduce the threat of occurrence and the
  magnitude of disasters and to prepare for,
  respond to, and recover from those that do occur.
• Emergency management presents a formidable
  challenge to public administration because
  disasters, by definition, exceed the
  administrative and resource capabilities of the
  affected political jurisdiction prompting
  assistance from higher levels of government.

6
The Nature of Disasters and Disaster Management

• The paramount goal of disaster management is to
  moderate the degree to which a communitys
  condition is worsened by a disaster.
• Governments take many actions to support that
  goal, both pre-disaster (to forestall potential
  damage) and post-disaster (to correct actual
  damage).

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The Nature of Disasters and Disaster Management

• The effort to take action is hampered by three
  characteristics of disasters
• Disasters are large-scale, rapid-onset incidents
  relative to the size and resources of the
  affected jurisdiction.
• Disasters are uncertain with respect to both
  their occurrence and their outcome.
• Disasters occur relatively infrequently.

8
The Nature of Disasters and Disaster Management

• In short, disaster policy fails Mazmanian and
  Sabatiers tests for successful policy
  implementation
• Disasters are relatively intractable problems
  that cannot easily be addressed by statutes that
  assign necessary resources and clarify lines of
  responsibility and that are subject to powerful
  nonstatutory variables such as level of public
  support, available administrative and leadership
  skills, and reigning socioeconomic conditions.

9
The Nature of Disasters and Disaster Management

• The scale, uncertainty, dynamism, and infrequency
  of disasters constitute the preconditions for
  intergovernmental intervention.
• Modern disaster response falls under four major
  categories mitigation, preparedness, response,
  and recovery (National Governors Association
  1979). The model known as comprehensive
  emergency management.

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The Nature of Disasters and Disaster Management

• Mitigation activities undertaken in the long
  term, before disaster strikes, that are designed
  to prevent emergencies and reduce the damage that
  results from those that occur, including
  modifying the causes of hazards, reducing
  vulnerability to risk, and diffusing potential
  losses.

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The Nature of Disasters and Disaster Management

• Preparedness activities undertaken in the
  shorter term, before disaster strikes, that
  enhance the readiness of organizations and
  communities to respond to disasters effectively.

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The Nature of Disasters and Disaster Management

• Response activities undertaken immediately
  following a disaster to provide emergency
  assistance to victims and remove further threats.

13
The Nature of Disasters and Disaster Management

• Recovery short- and long-term activities
  undertaken after a disaster that are designed to
  return the people and property in an affected
  community to at least their pre-disaster
  condition of well-being.

14
Problem Definition and Emergency Management

• Causality.
• Although human-caused disasters have received
  increasing attention, natural disasters still
  dominate problem definition. Often expressed as
  acts of God.
• Increasingly, analysts have focused on the social
  construction of natural disaster, i.e., the human
  causes.

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Problem Definition and Emergency Management

• Severity.
• One critical element driving problem definition
  in emergency management is severity.
• Emergency management has developed a range of
  instruments to measure severity.
• Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.
• Fujita Scale of Tornado Intensity.
• Moment Magnitude Scale.
• Volcanic Explosivity Index.
• Flood stage.
• Palmer Drought Severity Index.
• All of these indexes create enormous pressure for
  government action.

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Problem Definition and Emergency Management

• Incidence.
• In contrast to severity, the incidence
  (frequency) of disaster tends to reduce or
  minimize government response.
• At the national level, the incidence of natural
  and human-caused disasters is high.
• At the local level, disasters are infrequent,
  prompting jurisdictions to limit mitigation and
  preparedness.

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Problem Definition and Emergency Management

• Novelty.
• Unexpected disasters can increase the likelihood
  that a disaster becomes a public problem.
• On the other hand, many disasters are uncommon,
  but expected occurrences, in particular areas
  (earthquakes in California, tornadoes in the
  Midwest, hurricanes in the Gulf Coast),
  suggesting that routine planning is an important
  component.

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Problem Definition and Emergency Management

• Proximity.
• Disaster proximity clearly influences problem
  definition.
• Crisis.
• Disasters often meet the standard political
  definition of crisis, providing political
  opportunities for symbolic and practical
  leadership.

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Problem Definition and Emergency Management

• Problem populations.
• Disasters are usually not burdened with public
  perception of problem populations.
• Most victims of disaster are assumed to be
  blameless.
• The opportunity for blame is present, however.

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Problem Definition and Emergency Management

• Instrumental versus Expressive Orientations.
• Should the problem be expressed in terms of the
  ends of relief or the means of government
  expenditures?
• Solutions.
• Disaster solution consensus.
• Disaster solution availability.
• Disaster solution acceptability.
• Disaster solution affordability.