Hurricane Maria

Emergency Management of Hurricane Maria
Name
EMG 3002
Institutional Affiliation
Emergency Management of Hurricane Maria
Emergency management is one of the most daunting tasks because one is forced into a situation where they have to work with many volunteers who lack the necessary knowledge and skills to handle the emergency. They might be well-intentioned, but their lack of training might lead them to cause distraction on the emergency manager’s attention on the disaster victims (Hu & Smith, 2018). Also, they might sustain injuries while at the disaster area and hence will also require assistance. Further, they might unknowingly cause injury to others or destroy disaster-stricken structures. Media involvement during a disaster can be helpful as it gives updates and delivers important information but if not well managed can have negative implications.
During the Hurricane Maria, working with the media gave the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) a platform for providing information regarding the required resources and programs to the survivors as well as recovery updates (FEMA, 2018). People who needed to offer help would use the various media to reach the survivors or the areas where they could deliver their help. The agency broadcasted information about the mass fatalities and hence created an impression on the people about the extent of help that was required at the scene. This, in turn, led to many people responding and offering their support in various ways, hence increasing the abilities of FEMA to save the survivors.

It is important to plan for volunteers coming into the community because their help will be of great value in supporting the survivors at the scene. In the case of Hurricane Maria, planning for the volunteers ensured that their efforts were complemented by the agency’s efforts and hence more effective services were offered (National & Community Service, n.d.). It was also beneficial to the community as it aided their abilities to respond to disasters. Volunteers played a very important role during the Hurricane Maria because their efforts helped boost the abilities of the agency and therefore increased the chances of success.
References
FEMA (2018). Social Media Provides Online Information and Resources for Survivors. Retrieved from https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2017/10/10/social-media-provides-online-information-and-resources-survivors
Hu T. & Smith R. B. (2018). The Impact of Hurricane Maria on the Vegetation of Dominica and Puerto Rico Using Multispectral Remote Sensing. Remote Sensing. 10(6): 827 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10060827
National & Community Service (n.d.). Working with Local Emergency Management Organizations to Coordinate Disaster-Related Activities. Retrieved from https://www.nationalservice.gov/resources/disaster-services/working-local-emergency-management-organizations-coordinate-disaster