State Disaster Management System and Emergency Operation Center Essay

State Disaster Management System and Emergency Operation Center - Essay Example This is even without considering the effects of Hurricane Katrina from a few years ago. This essay is a brief on the operations (preparedness, emergency response and recovery) of the State Disaster Management System and the Emergency Operations Center in respect to hurricanes and flooding that usually accompanies such events. The first consideration for operations in the State Disaster Management System is optimizing it into a tiered response system that is compatible with the National Response Framework. This is not only a federal requirement (National Response Framework, 2008), but also an informed decision since the catastrophic effects of hurricanes are in many occasions beyond a state’s capacity. Cooperation between the state and the federal disaster response unit makes the response synergistic and more effective, unlike disjointed efforts. The next consideration in this essay is an early warning system and disaster preparedness. This will largely depend on effective communication and liaison which in this case will be facilitated by the state of the art Emergency Operations Center. The center will incorporate Information, Communication and Space Technologies (ICST) which bear wide-ranging applications for preempting, reducing and mitigating disaster such as hurricane and floods (Sahu, 2009). Liaising with weather forecast departments followed by efficient communication to residents will be optimized through the ICST system. The next step to consider is the emergency response in the event of a hurricane. Through the Emergency Operations Center, the extent of flooding at peak time in different geographical points will be established. This will be followed by a dynamic damage assessment since the disaster itself may be dynamic. Lastly, assessment of affected population and infrastructure will be done (ERS, 2010). This analysis will allow for a