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Collaborative emergency management: better community organising, better public preparedness and response
Author(s) -
Kapucu Naim
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
disasters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-7717
pISSN - 0361-3666
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7717.2008.01037.x
Subject(s) - seriousness , emergency management , context (archaeology) , preparedness , work (physics) , public relations , natural disaster , disaster planning , suicide prevention , emergency response , poison control , disaster response , business , medical emergency , engineering , environmental planning , political science , medicine , geography , mechanical engineering , archaeology , meteorology , law
Community coordination requires communication and planning of precautions to take when faced with a severe threat of disaster. The unique case of the four Florida hurricanes of 2004—Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne—is used here to assess community responses to repeated threats of hurricanes. The paper examines how effectiveness in coordinating community disaster response efforts affects future public preparedness. The findings suggest that pre‐season planning, open communication between emergency managers and elected officials, and the use of technology all had a significant impact on community responses. The repeated threat scenario indicates that emergency managers must work vigilantly to keep residents informed of the seriousness of a situation. The study describes how emergency managers in Florida countered public complacency during four hurricanes in six weeks. The strategies identified as useful by public managers in the context of hurricanes are applicable to other natural and man‐made disasters.