Laws that Improve EMS Law Essay Research Coursework

Laws that Improve EMS
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Laws that Improve EMS
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Public and Private Sectors
In the year 2013, the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama following the Hurricane Sandy disaster. During the preparedness and response phases, the public and private sectors worked in collaboration with each other in an effort to help the affected states. An example of such a sector was the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and these public and private sectors had some strengths and weaknesses. One of the strengths is that these sectors engaged the use of an online crisis management system through which there was a united effort to respond to the disaster. With this online system, many people and partners were able to be reached and unite in the effort to help the affected states. Another strength is that the public sector, as represented by FEMA, was able to engage with the Whole Community partners in an innovative manner that supported the operations to respond to and recover from the disaster (Kennell et al., 2016). Before the storm, FEMA and other partners provided the threatened communities with response plans and the necessary supplies to help them in preparing and responding well to the disaster. Despite their efforts, the public and private sectors also had some weaknesses, such as having a mission assignment process that posed a challenge to the response efforts. Ideally, organizations such as FEMA usually use mission assignments in case of disasters that help to determine the managerial controls, guidance, and funding. However, in the case of the Sandy disaster, using such a complex mission assignment posed a challenge to the response and recovery efforts. The other weakness was in ensuring equal access to resources and other services by all the survivors. While FEMA and other community partners made efforts to ensure this equality, there were still some challenges in meeting the needs of all the survivors.
Legislative Actions to Improve Emergency Preparedness and Response
Based on the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act (SRIA) of 2013, there were a number of legislative actions that were taken to improve emergency preparedness and response. For instance, there is the legislation about individual assistance declaration whereby the SRIA requires agencies such as FEMA to give a reliable criterion that can be used after major disasters in determining the individuals that really need assistance and those who are eligible for the same. Another legislative action is the lease and repair policy whereby in case of limited availability of local housing for the disaster survivors, FEMA is re...