Emergency Planning: Preparing for Disasters Before They Occur

In today’s environment, emergency planning has become increasingly complex. With a rise in the frequency and variety of events including simultaneous occurrences of natural disasters, public health emergencies, and man-made incidents, it’s more important than ever for emergency management officials to devise effective strategies for response, mitigation, and recovery. As these emergencies happen more frequently, it is crucial that we proactively plan for concurrent or sequential events.

National Increase in Large and Concurrent Disasters

In recent years, increasing levels of natural disasters have further stressed emergency response capacities both locally and statewide in combination with healthcare and public health responses.

The National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group has elevated the National Preparedness Level to a level 4 (on a scale of 1 to 5) due to significant fire activity in multiple geographic areas. This classification additionally highlights that with responses to fire activity throughout a dozen states, there is an increase in incident management team mobilization and a heavy shared resources commitment nationally. The National Interagency Fire Center published a 2021 situation report listing a total of 38,707 wildfires across the country that burned almost 3.4 million acres.

In the Southwest, multiple states were affected by heavy rain and flash flooding in 2023, with local states of emergency declared in southern Utah and Nevada after more than two inches of rain fell in an hour. In Utah, the volume of rain in such a small amount of time classified a 2021 storm as an estimated 500-year frequency flooding event in some areas. The high rainfall overwhelmed flood control structures, and officials coordinating the disaster response set up shelters as public infrastructure, residential homes, apartments, businesses, and other structures were left uninhabitable.

These are only a few examples of recent natural disasters amid what are predicted to be highly active hurricane and wildfire seasons. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently released the National Risk Index which aims to identify communities most at risk from 18 natural hazards. It also assists communities in updating emergency planning and operations, prioritizing and allocating resources, and encouraging community-level risk communication and engagement. The National Risk Index allows for preparation and emergency planning for events with local and regional activities in coordination with operational response plans.

Learning from Past Disasters: Hurricanes Irma and Maria

Hurricanes Irma and Maria highlighted deficiencies in planning for and conducting patient evacuation and tracking. Chronic and acute health issues were exacerbated in individuals disconnected from hospitals or displaced by the storm damage.

After Hurricane Irma, the federal government was called upon to assist in the coordinated evacuation of approximately 800 critical care and dialysis patients from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Puerto Rico. Less than two weeks later, Puerto Rico suffered the direct effects of Hurricane Maria, resulting in the need to evacuate these and additional patients from Puerto Rico to the continental United States.

According to a 2019 GAO report, the final status and locations of around 200 evacuated patients remains unknown due to poor planning and the delayed deployment of tracking teams. Federal officials were not able to determine if patients were appropriately discharged and sent back to the U.S. Virgin Islands, or whether they left the medical facilities against medical advice or were otherwise unaccounted for.

The Importance of Pre-Planning as Disasters Increase

According to FEMA, pre-planning efforts can help communities be more resilient, with an improved ability to respond to and recover from disasters.

In a recent FEMA report, it is noted that, in particular, recovery planning plays an important role in long-term outcomes. This includes careful consideration of risks and vulnerabilities when creating goals such as re-establishing a reliable medical system after a disaster.

In the report, David Weaver, the former County Commissioner in Douglas County, Colorado, explained, “Having been through our own wildfires, floods, and other local emergencies, as well as having witnessed other counties navigate their own disasters, our staff had the foresight to recognize the importance of collaboration among our partners to assemble a recovery plan. By focusing on what could occur instead of what is or already has happened, places Douglas County in the best possible shape to react to any potential disaster, be it man-made or natural.”

The increase in natural disasters, coupled with the recent COVID-19 pandemic, present a new set of challenges for emergency management agencies and administrators who coordinate disaster response and recovery. While not every disaster response can be planned, state, local, and federal governments should take every opportunity to drill potential events, identify needed resources, and create plans of action for disaster recovery and resilience that can be easily adopted if a scenario becomes an active emergency.

Planning Ahead With PULSE Enterprise

PULSE Enterprise is available in any domestic geographic region for emergency management administrators to enable emergency healthcare professionals and first responders to better care for displaced individuals outside their normal care environment. In addition to supporting long-term planning and response for disasters and emergencies, our team can quickly deploy PULSE Enterprise in coordination with our support services to best meet the emergency responses needs for any community or jurisdiction.