Emergency Management, 2nd Edition

Chapter 5 ESTABLISHING THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

We need emergency programs because they will demonstrate what WILL happen, with whom, when, where, and how fast. Programs will discuss relationships with other parties, and their interdependent roles. In essence, it is not about “what‐if,” it is about “what‐is.”

—Danish Ahmed, author and personal development speaker

The previous chapter made the case for the emergency manager as manager of a program that assists the community in managing risk. This is a major change in thinking for many jurisdictions where the emergency manager is directly responsible for tasks associated with the program. This shift of perspective also has implications for the emergency management program. It suggests that the program should no longer be viewed as the responsibility of a single individual or office but rather as an enterprise‐wide program. This places responsibility for the program with the chief elected official and his or her management team, with the emergency manager providing oversight to the program.

For most jurisdictions, there is no formal emergency management program. What passes for a program is usually a collection of tasks and responsibilities that have been assigned over time to the emergency manager. There has been no attempt to define expectations for the program or determine how the program can add value to the community. This chapter considers a process for establishing a formal emergency management program. ...