Emergency management: Consequence management decision making

Emergency managers have a dilemma in deciding what to do when there is an emergency that affects their community. Those who have habitual hazards in their community are basically prepared. When a tornado is sighted in “tornado alley,” everyone knows what to do. When a hurricane is coming to shore along the Florida and Texas Gulf Coast, there are basic emergency steps to follow. But in this time of new and more challenging risks, we need a better system to coordinate community emergency decision making, no matter what the hazard. A simple solution is to adopt the four-level emergency event classification system that is already in use with communities with commercial nuclear power plants.