- According to FEMA, Emergency Management is: “Organized analysis, planning, decision-making, and assignment of available resources to mitigate (lessen the effect of or prevent), prepare for, respond to, and recover from the effects of all hazards. Emergency management aims to save lives, prevent injuries, and protect property and the environment if an emergency occurs. (Theory, Principles, and Fundamentals of Hazards, Disasters, and U.S. Emergency Management. 1995. P.1-6)” FEMA further states that anemergency manager will focus on the day-to-dayactivities that fire and police departments perform. These activities include putting out fires and rescuing people. Therefore from an emergency management perspective handling the daily activities such as search and rescue would be critical, coordinating these efforts with fire and police.
“The areas of public health responsibility include (1) assuring an adequate local public health infrastructure, (2) promoting healthy communities and healthy behaviors, (3) preventing the spread of communicable disease, (4) protecting against environmental health hazards, (5) preparing for and responding to emergencies, and (6) assuring health services. You can find more information on public health activities relating to these areas online (Minnesota Public Health). From a public health perspective, this learner thinks that sending clear messaging to citizens is critical. Therefore, the first item on the agenda would be to message out about staying safe. As an example, in the case of Japan, there would have been down power lines, contaminated water, and floating debris. Citizens need to understand how to protect themselves. Public Health officials also need to start obtaining more vaccinations for tetanus. Public Health officials also need to coordinate efforts on how to help people who were exposed to radiation. Finally, the public health officials will need to get clean drinking water and food for people. Public health officials should help the public understand how to manage dead bodies. Lastly the public health officials can help connect people to social services as they start returning home (Williams et al., 2011).
Both of these roles are very similar; the focus for both is to reduce hazards and control anticipated damage. However, public health will focus more on food safety and sanitation, infectious disease outbreaks, and vaccinations if necessary.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). Emergency preparedness and response. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/index.html
Minnesota Public Health. Government’s responsibility for public health. CHS Administration Handbook – Minnesota Dept. of Health. Retrieved September 13, 2021, from https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/practice/resources/chsadmin/mnsystem-responsibility.html#a.
Williams, K. Y., Milen, D., Foster, T., Collins, M. L., & Gordon, M. (2011.). Public Health Concerns in the Aftermath of the Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami and the Fukushima Reactor Breach. PATIMES. Retrieved September 13, 2021, from https://patimes.org/public-health-concerns-in-the-aftermath-of-the-japanese-earthquake-tsunami-and-the-fukushima-reactor-breach/.
- In an emergency, it becomes a race against time to save lives. The longer it takes to design and implement an emergency plan, the more lives will be lost. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2021.), the following emergency management steps should be followed to reduce the loss of lives during an emergency: assess current state, determine strategies and activities, develop plans.
Accessing the current state would be difficult because you are dealing with two natural disasters, a 9.1 earthquake, a tsunami, and one man-made disaster, radiation coming from nuclear power plants. Since aftershocks are always an issue after a tsunami, the first step would be to evacuate the surrounding towns of all the nuclear power plants and declare a nuclear emergency. According to Cable News Network (2021), the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant experienced a complete meltdown from the aftershocks. The Japanese government downplayed the long-term health effects, and radiation is still seeping into the Pacific Ocean ten years later (CNN, 2021).
The job of a health educator during an emergency is to get life-saving information out to the public. According to CDC (2014), health effects from a tsunami come in three phases: immediate health concerns, secondary effects, and long last effects. Normal communication channels do not exist with the loss of electricity, internet, and cell service. Having a health campaign before the disaster strikes is when health educators are most effective. According to Williams et al. (2011), educating the public about the hazards of contaminated food/water, electrocution, gas leaks, and infectious diseases will reduce post-disaster injuries. Once the normal channels of communication have been established, health campaigns on reducing long-term mental health issues caused by disasters such as PTSD, anxiety, depression would be most crucial.
Both health educators and emergency management save lives during a disaster, but there are differences. The role of emergency management agencies is to coordinate the government’s role in preparing for, preventing, responding to, and recovering from all man-made and natural disasters (Federal Emergency Management Agency, n.d.). While the health educator’s role of educating the public can be helpful after a disaster, it is critical before the disaster strikes. According to Torani et al. (2019), studies show disaster education by qualified health educators can mean the difference between life or death for people with disabilities and the elderly. Vulnerable populations usually cannot predict, cope or rehab after a disaster without prior health education (Torani et al., 2019).
References
Cable News Network. (2021). 2011 Japan Earthquake-Tsunami fast facts. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/17/world/asia/japan-earthquake—tsunami-
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). Emergency preparedness and response. Retrieved from http://emergency.cdc.gov/disasters/
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Public health emergency preparedness and response capabilities: national standards for state, local, tribal, and territorial public health https://www.cdc.gov/cpr/readiness/capabilities.htm
Federal Emergency Management Agency (n.d.) Federal register. https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/federal-e…
Torani, S., Majd, P. M., Maroufi, S. S., Dowlati, M., & Sheikhi, R. A. (2019). The importance of education on disasters and emergencies: A review article. Journal of education and health promotion, 8, 85. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_262_18
Williams, K. Y., Milen, D., Foster, T., Collins, M.L. & Gordon, M. (211). Public health concerns in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima reactor breach. PATimes http://patimes.org/public-health-concerns-in-the-a…
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