The Professionalization of Emergency Management

1. The Professionalization of Emergency Management The background, training, and the fundamental role of emergency managers, within the practice of emergency management, has continued to evolve Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

2. EM Academic Programs • Have grown from fewer than 10 (1990s) to hundreds of programs (late 2000s) • Programs offered at the certificate, bachelor, master, and doctorate levels • A staggering and growing range of courses available However… • Compared to other disciplines, emergency management is still in its infancy Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

3. Domestic Focus • Systems • Practice • Hazards and hazard profiles • Motivating influences and philosophies • Organizational and governmental structures • Terminology • Case studies • Lessons learned Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

4. US Emergency Management Among the most advanced and best funded systems in the world However… • Practitioners do not yet possess all of the answers to problems with hazards and risk • The United States’ experience is but one of hundreds that exist in the world Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

5. Lessons from Abroad • The Netherlands • Japan • Israel • Australia and New Zealand • India • Thailand Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

6. Emergency Management Profession “charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters” (Blanchard, 2007) Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

7. Foreign Systems Discounted • Shortage of courses, resources, and instructors • The historical evolution of emergency management in the United States • Perspective Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

8. Growth in Interest in Comparative Emergency Management • Greater involvement by the nongovernmental and private sectors in domestic emergency management operations • Increasing strength, size, and number of natural disasters • The prospect of disaster-driven global instability • The increasing likelihood of scenarios where domestic emergency managers must work with the international emergency management community Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

9. Greater involvement by the nongovernmental and private sectors in domestic emergency management operations • International, nongovernmental, nonprofit, and private organizations augment deficient national capacities • These organizations have attained proficiency in their areas of expertise, and are regarded as being appropriately equipped, adequately staffed and trained, and often very well funded • Little has been done to formalize such a system in the United States Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

10. Increasing strength, size, and number of natural disasters Climate change is occurring; points to: • Global increases in disaster size, severity, and number • Change in the catastrophic potential • Change in the nature of the nation’s hazard profile • Greater need for regional cooperation Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

11. The prospect of disaster-driven global instability • Climate change has become a national security issue • There exists a link between emergency management and development • Climate change will create conditions in the affected countries that contribute to a loss of stability affecting the United States both directly and indirectly • Recovery that follows major disasters must allow for a viable future Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2

12. Domestic emergency managers must work with the international emergency management community • United States maintains two distinct emergency management systems • Domestic • International • A disconnect exists between the two • Domestic crises have international implications Comparative Emergency Management: Session 2