Estudio Empírico
No 2. Elaboración de contenido
6.3 Procesos de autorregulación y niveles de comprensión
To conduct a proper evaluation of the current disaster response practices, a comprehensive literature review was conducted. By reviewing a large amount of global literature, as discussed in the above sections, a number of good practices for disaster response management were identified (see Appendix B). To evaluate each stage of the four Disaster Response Management stages in Iraq (Planning, Organising, Directing, and Controlling), the identified elements were categorised by these management stages (see Appendix C). The identification of good practice disaster response management factors, will help to identify the overall gaps in every stage of disaster response management in Iraq. Table 2.2 shows the elements of good practice that have been highlighted by the respective authors. This information is categorised into the stages of Disaster Response Management and themes.
Directing Stage
Lack of knowledge of the scale of disaster. Lack of communications infrastructure. Failures in communication due to degraded
communications.
The information quality and quantity is highly unpredictable.
Information vacuum in the immediate aftermath of a disaster can cause fatal delays in decisions for the most urgent lifesaving response activities.
Providing the right relief supplies for people in need at the right time.
The effective mobilisation of response. Speed is typically essential, but
appropriateness of response is much more crucial than speed.
Planning Stage
Response operations diverge from existing plans. Slow distribution of funds, inadequate resources
and not enough budget.
Lack of knowledge of modern disaster risk factors and lack of preparedness standards.
Devising the tools for policy makers. Program integration.
The development of supporting ordinances and regulations at different government levels. Fragmented response capacity due to the
complexity of the institutional and legislative system
No organised educational program for the general public.
Controlling Stage
Decisions is a critical factor of any disaster response. Errors in judgment problem.
Failure to perform the most significant aspect of decision making during disasters.
Evaluations are critical to improve future responses. Sometimes the exercise of power is misused by a
small number of privileged managers.
Disaster response management has to include performance analysis.
Organising Stage
Disaster response requires coordination and timely interaction.
The organisational response was typically deviant and chaotic.
Lack of coordination between involved actors, fragmentation of responsibilities, “problem of interplay”.
Poor coordination between relief agencies and the local government.
Bureaucracies and Cronyism
Hierarchy and centralisation problems. Cooperation without initial trust is very
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Table 2.2 Element of Good Practice Disaster Response Management Categorised by
ManagementStages
Stage Theme Good Practice Author
Planning Planning process
- The extent to which emergency plans are rehearsed.
- The level of prior planning. - Evacuation plan.
- Drawing up organizational disaster plans and integrating them with overall community- mass-emergency plans; and continually updating obsolete materials/strategies.
- Systematic disaster and loss inventory.
- Housing improvement and human settlement relocation from prone- areas.
- Emergency response planning and implementation of warning
systems.
- Endowment of equipment, tools and infrastructure.
- Well-planned emergency relief supply system
- Applicable emergency response plan and regulations
- Prior planning of logistic centres and shelters
- Government unity of leadership to plan and coordinate as a whole - Pre-determined strategies - Updating and enforcement of
safety standards and construction codes.
(Henstra, 2010) (Faulkner, 2001) (Burling & Hyle, 1997, pp. 234-235; Enrico Louis Quarantelli, 1984, pp. 5-24) (Cardona, 2005; Carreño et al., 2005; Carreño et al., 2007) (Fischer, 2005) (Zhou, Huang, & Zhang, 2011) (Batho, Williams, & Russell, 1999)
Financial resources
- Reserve funds for institutional strengthening.
- Budget allocation. - Budget mobilization.
(Cardona, 2005; Carreño, Cardona, & Barbat, 2005;
Carreño, Cardona, & Barbat, 2007) (Zhou, Huang, & Zhang, 2011)
Supporting ordinances
- Supportive laws and regulations. - What local jurisdictions may be
involved?
- Legal procedures for requesting short-term emergency state and federal assistance
(Moe &
Pathranarakul, 2006) (Wallace & De Balogh, 1985)
(Zhou, Huang, & Zhang, 2011)
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- Applicable emergency response plan and regulations
Education on disaster risk
- Involvement, education and review.
- Community capabilities audit. - Undertaking public educational
activities.
- Training and education on risk management.
- Community preparedness and training.
- Education campaign on disaster prevention and response
- Specific training of professionals such as rescue workers and medical staff
- Training
- Educating the public and others involved in the planning process. - Holding disaster drills, rehearsals
and simulations;
- Developing techniques for training, knowledge transfer and assessments.
(Faulkner, 2001) (Burling & Hyle, 1997, pp. 234-235; Enrico Louis Quarantelli, 1984, pp. 5-24) (Cardona, 2005; Carreño et al., 2005; Carreño et al., 2007) (Zhou, Huang, & Zhang, 2011)
(Batho, Williams, & Russell, 1999)
Organising Coordination problems
- Developing overall coordination. - Generating an appropriate
delegation of tasks and division of labour.
- Volunteer management. - Search and rescue.
- Coordination and collaboration. - Organisation and coordination of
emergency operations. - Reasonable organizational
structure and clear awareness of responsibilities
- Regular organization of simulated disaster exercise
- Government unity of leadership to plan and coordinate as a whole - The involvement and support of
army (Hughey, 2008; Enrico L Quarantelli, 1997a, 1997b) (Henstra, 2010) (Moe & Pathranarakul, 2006) (Cardona, 2005; Carreño et al., 2005; Carreño et al., 2007) (Zhou, Huang, & Zhang, 2011) “Problem of interplay” coordination between the donor countries and the end beneficiaries
- Protocols.
- Formulating memoranda of understanding and mutual aid agreements.
- Correctly recognising differences between response and agent- generated demands.
- Blending emergent and
(Hughey, 2008; Quarantelli, 1997a, 1997b)
(Henstra, 2010) (Faulkner, 2001) (Burling & Hyle, 1997, pp. 234-235; Enrico Louis
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established organisational behaviours.
- Community emergency response teams.
- Establishing informal linkages between involved groups.
Quarantelli, 1984, pp. 5-24)
Hierarchy and Centralization problems
- Competencies of managers and team members.
- The degree of prior disaster experience.
(Moe &
Pathranarakul, 2006) (Fischer, 2005) - Implementation of hazard-event
control and protection techniques. - Properly exercising decision-
making.
- Effective consultation with key stakeholders and target
beneficiaries.
- Clearly defined goals and commitments by key stakeholders. - Flexibility of decision-making. (Cardona, 2005; Carreño et al., 2005; Carreño et al., 2007) (Hughey, 2008; Enrico L Quarantelli, 1997a, 1997b) Directing Command centre - Adequately processing information. - Having a well-functioning emergency operations centre. - Effective information
management system.
- Disaster management command centre.
- The detailed status of EOC mobilization.
- Key officials need to be briefed. - Non-EOC organisations being
mobilized for emergency response.
- Convening meetings for the purpose of sharing information. - Hazard monitoring and
forecasting.
- Strong ability to send out specific early warning about potential hazards.
- Clear procedure of reporting and submitting information
- Effective emergency information system to ensure information transferring
- The scale of the disaster
(Hughey, 2008; Enrico L Quarantelli, 1997a, 1997b) (Henstra, 2010) (Moe & Pathranarakul, 2006) (Faulkner, 2001) (Wallace & De Balogh, 1985) (Burling & Hyle, 1997, pp. 234-235; Quarantelli, 1984, pp. 5-24) (Cardona, 2005; Carreño et al., 2005; Carreño et al., 2007) (Zhou, Huang, & Zhang, 2011) (Batho, Williams, & Russell, 1999)
Communication - Providing appropriate reports for the news media.
- Emergency public information.
(Hughey, 2008; Enrico L Quarantelli, 1997a, 1997b)
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- Effective communication mechanism.
- Public information and community participation. - Intra- and inter-organisational
behaviours between organisations. - From organisations to the public. - From the public to organisations. - Within systems of organisations. - (Henstra, 2010) (Moe & Pathranarakul, 2006) (Cardona, 2005; Carreño et al., 2005; Carreño et al., 2007) (Batho, Williams, & Russell, 1999) (Quarantelli, 1988) Speed is
essential
- Very short response time to start the emergency plan
- Cordon access - Evacuation
(Zhou, Huang, & Zhang, 2011)
(Batho, Williams, & Russell, 1999) Timely provision of the right relief supplies for people in need
- Effectively mobilising personnel and resources.
- Emergency shelter arrangements. - Effective logistics management. - Sufficient mobilization and
disbursement of resources. - What are our inventories of
emergency resources and where are they located?
- What emergency evacuation requirements are there and where? - obtaining, positioning and
maintaining relevant material resources
- Timely and accurate relief needs assessment
- The security of relief aids during distribution and transportation - Application of modern logistics
technology (Hughey, 2008; Quarantelli, 1997a, 1997b) (Henstra, 2010) (Moe & Pathranarakul, 2006) (Wallace & De Balogh, 1985)
(Burling & Hyle, 1997, pp. 234-235; Enrico Louis Quarantelli, 1984, pp. 5-24) (Zhou, Huang, & Zhang, 2011)
Controlling Evaluations are critical
- Risk assessment.
- Damage reporting system. - Hazard evaluation and mapping. - Vulnerability and risk assessment. - Testing of inter institutional
response.
- Statistics and feedback of loss information
- Evaluation on the efficiency and effectiveness of the management system
- Continuous improvement of the operational system of emergency management
(Faulkner, 2001) (Wallace & De Balogh, 1985)
(Burling & Hyle, 1997, pp. 234-235; Enrico Louis Quarantelli, 1984, pp. 5-24) (Cardona, 2005; Carreño et al., 2005; Carreño et al., 2007) (Zhou, Huang, & Zhang, 2011)
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