La escuela como espacio de comunicación y relación: Función del educador-maestro en nuestra sociedad y el rol de los padres.

To identify and determine the EWS requirements especially for all stakeholders and community based on the analysis of the EWS examined in sections leading to this, this section applies the principles of EWS discussed in section 2.6 in chapter two. This cross-examination of the principles and pillars of EWS against the current deployment of early warning in the UAE will help to identify areas which need to be improved and to determine the appropriate framework which can lead to integrated EWS in the UAE. This cross-examination is done using Table 3-1

Table 3- 1: EWS Requirements for stakeholders and community in the UAE

Principles/Pillars Evidence in

UAE

Requirement

Principle 1: Political Support Not mentioned or identified

Require strong political and policy support. This will reflect in a cohesive framework of policies linking together national and local entities for risk management, planning, legislation and finance (Golnaraghi, 2012).

Principle 2: Effective EWS is founded on 4 key elements: 1. Detection, forecasting and

monitoring of hazards; 2. Risk analysis and

integration of risk

information in emergency planning and warnings; 3. Timely and authoritative

dissemination of warnings; 4. Community planning and

preparedness with ability

Only part of element-1 was identified in the current system

Require the understanding and application of all the four key elements (Golnaraghi, 2012).

67 to initiate emergency

preparedness and

response plans coordinated with national and local agencies.

Principle 3: Clarity of roles and responsibilities in EWS

Not identified Require clarity of roles and responsibilities in EWS through exercise and training (Alexander, 2002)

Principle 4: Allocation of sufficient resources for EWS

There was no indication that current resources were insufficient for EWS

Require allocation of sufficient resources for EWS. Since this was vague in the documents reviewed, it will be verified if there are sufficient resources that can be allocated for effective EWS in the UAE

Principle 5: Emergency planning warning incorporate risk information No reference to if or how emergency planning incorporated risk information

Require that emergency planning warning incorporates risk information. But this will be verified because no reference was made to this, and requirement will be applied as deem fit for stakeholders and community. According to Phelps (2010), this

arrangement can also be tested through exercise.

Principle 6: effective, authoritative and actionable warning messages

Not evident in the current deployment of EWS

Require effective, authoritative and actionable warning messages, using all the common best practices outlined in section 2.6.6. in chapter two.

Principle 7: Warnings must be disseminated to allow time for those at risk to respond

Case studies and pictures suggest otherwise

Require dissemination of warnings that allow at risk people to take appropriate actions (Golnaraghi, 2012).

Principle 8: Place emphasised on disaster preparedness and response planning

Not specified Require that effective emergency response planning addresses hazard and risk levels, characteristics of vulnerabilities and high risk regions, vulnerable groups,

stakeholders and coordination of procedures (Golnaraghi, 2012)

Principle 9: Training is pivotal to operational readiness

No mention of training for EWS

Require training measures which reflect local, regional and national characteristics as well as organisational, government and institutional dimensions to EWS

(Golnaraghi, 2012) Principle 10: Prioritisation of continuous improvement through feedback Lacking in the current system

Require feedback on the effectiveness of EWS so that evaluation for improvement mechanisms can be determined for all

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levels of the system and the overall system for EWS (Golnaraghi, 2012) in the UAE.

Table 3-1 has shown that EWS in the UAE needs input of all the ten principles and pillars of EWS which had been discussed in previous chapter. While some of these principles were not identified in the response capabilities reviewed in this chapter, it is possible that they exist in practice but lacking adequate documentations. Thus, these principles has informed some of the questions asked during the primary data collection process in order to whether these principles exist within the current practice or if they are included in future plans for implementation. This approach is taken so that data analysed for recommendations are valid and reliable based on ontology‟s and concepts of emergency management and EWS. Furthermore, since the UAE is a developing country and the emergency sector is at its infantry, many concepts might not have been documented yet as discovered that literatures were lacking about emergency management field in the UAE. It is expected that this tactical approach to this research going forward will make the research more robust and rigorous, simultaneously helping to address the issue of reliability and validity of data and results.

3.6 Chapter Summary

In this chapter, an overview of emergency and disaster management the United Arab Emirates context has been discussed in order to create an understanding of the environment where the research took place. Overview of the Emirates‟ EWS, its components and The Federal Plan which is used to manage disasters were also discussed and the application of this was examined as applied in the different emirates in the UAE. EWS in all the emirates were analysed in order to determine the implications for the limitations identified in the system. On the basis of this analysis, the section leading to this provided an overview of EWS requirement in the UAE informed by best practice and principles of EWS examined in Chapter. However, some of these requirements will be confirmed during the fieldwork where primary data will be collected through interview and the use of questionnaire data collection tools. The next chapter discusses the methodology adapted to for this research process and for achieving the aim and objectives of this research.

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