Disaster Response and Recovery, 3rd Edition

4Applying Alternative Management Approaches: Disaster Response and Recovery Theory

STARTING POINT

Pretest to assess your knowledge of alternate management approaches.

Determine where you need to concentrate your effort.

What You’ll Learn in This Chapter

• How perspectives influence approaches to emergency management.
• The history and definition of the traditional management model.
• The context and nature of the professional approach.
• The assumptions made by each model.

After Studying This Chapter, You’ll be Able To

• Identify the unique features of each model.
• List the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional approach.
• Identify the pros and cons of the collaborative model.
• Determine which approach is most applicable to any given situation.

Goals and Outcomes

• Acknowledge the benefit of the traditional model in disasters.
• Recognize the advantage of the professional disaster model.
• Evaluate which approach to use when disasters occur.
• Implement the appropriate model during post‐disaster operations.

INTRODUCTION

Whether we recognize it or not, our lives are guided by theory. The same is true of disasters and emergency management. Our notions regarding disasters determine how we deal with them. In the past, people viewed disasters as acts of God. Accordingly, repentance or sacrifices were regarded as the means of appeasing deity. Later on, scientists equated disasters with the natural hazard agents that trigger them. Therefore, early warning systems and containment devices ...