Week 2 Disaster Management: What Were the Challenges Faced?

Disaster Management
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Disaster management
Disaster management is a complex process and it involves preparations, support systems and the aspect of rebuilding the society after the loss that commonly associated with the same. Sometimes the disasters will be manmade, while in some of the cases they will be natural. They tend to have negative impacts on the economy and associated social consequences that affect the population.They threaten the general welfare of the public warranting assistance from the government. The level of preparedness is however crucial to the effectiveness of mitigating the resultant aftermath. Disasters come with loss of life and property and a significant level of destruction. The level of preparedness and the actual implementation of the policies that are in place along with the relevant practices and the parties involved, there is always some element of compromise. Sometimes the compromises made tend to impact negatively the ability of the disaster preparedness programs to have positive impacts. There is a gap that exists between the level of preparedness that the public has and the relevant government agencies. The public may not respond to the news and the information offered in the expected manner causing some element to delay in the response times and efforts. At the same time, most of the emergency preparedness programs tend to have some element of bureaucratic processes (Bucci et al., 2013). This is relative to the responsibilities of the different agencies and the decision making processes. As such, considering the compromises made by the public and the bureaucratic process of the relevant agencies, the disaster management processes may end in failure or success. At issue is the role personal responsibility plays in the wake of a disaster with reference to the individual citizens and the role that government plays. The gap between the responses by the two factions, marks the success of any disaster management programs.
What were the challenges faced?
At an estimated $65 billion dollars Hurricane sandy is the second most expensive and the largest Atlantic hurricane (Ladislaw, 2014). An estimated 24 states along the eastern seaboard experienced the impacts of the storm in a devastating avalanche of events. The main issue that relates to the fact that the hurricane response efforts from the government were flawed in significantly, is the level of bureaucracy that was involved. This was a crucial challenge and one that cost the lives of several hundreds and property worth billions. In one of the incidences, the distribution of bottled water and packed foods an aspect that would seem straight forward, experienced some major huddles (Ladislaw, 2014). The coordination between the various agencies was poor and most of the decision making process was left in disarray. The distribution of the packed foods and water did not take place until Thursday afternoon in New York. This is relative to the fact that the plane that was carrying the supplies did not land until Thursday morning. What’s more is the fact that most of the foods that were offered to the victims were perishable. This meant that the foods did not last more than a few days, consid...