Emergency management in the 21st century Adapted from the article "Emergency Management in the 21st Century"by Claire B. Rubin 2000 NEW INFORMATION technology (IT) together with the turmoil and instability surrounding its development and adoption, have and will continue to have significant impact on emergency management. The reality of the new information technology, without going into the whole array of equipment and systems now being used, is awesome but also worrisome. I want to raise some selective concerns. According to various technology periodicals the public sector is years, if not decades, behind in some information technology applications, compared with the private sector. We need to know more about the 'legacy' systems in emergency management before we can modernise or automate systems. Otherwise we will merely have used what is not working well. Key actors in all sectors may not be doing enough to capture and share the knowledge base for emergency management, including documenting and assessing programs, policies, institutional and organisational arrangements. The process of capturing knowledge and experience in a usable form for posterity does not appear to be happening. At a recent Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Higher Education Conference, current and future educators in Emergency Management were very concerned about identifying and detaining educational resources. Without a knowledge base, not only of hard copy documents but also of sources accessible via the Internet, it will be extremely difficult for faculty and students to engage in distance learning in the field of Emergency Management. The demand for this new form of learning is growing quickly, but the resources to conduct it are seriously deficient. Although student and faculty involved in emergency management use the Internet to do research, the vast majority of hard copy documents that make up the basis of knowledge in the field are not available on the Internet to do research, further more, many state and local officials involved in emergency management are not able to use the internet (due to lack of hardware and Internet know-how) very extensively for their work. The irony is that those people with the least experience are counting heavily on the Internet, and the practitioners with more experience are not. The essential problem is that of ready availability. We can expect to see more use of telecommunications technology for all four phases of emergency management, ranging from identifying threats and hazards to maintain central information repositories of information for victims during the recovery phase. But technological advances are double edged; the increasing usefulness of these tools and the growing dependency on them by all sectors make those users vulnerable to service interruptions and failures accidental or intentional. Special challenges face emergency management officials in state and local government. Their problems may be even greater than those at the federal level, since they are dependent on federal funding and obligated to engage in planning and response in ways prescribed by federal agencies. Furthermore, the radical changes due to technological advances and globalisation are forcing innovation on state governors.
HURRICANE TERMS What is a Tropical Depression? It is a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained wind speed of 62 km/h or 33 knots. What is a Tropical Storm? A well organised Tropical cyclone with maximum wind speed in range of 63-117 km/h or 34-63 knots. What is a Hurricane? A tropical cyclone with maximum wind speed equal to or greater than 118 km/h or 64 knots. When is the Hurricane Season? From June 1 to November 30, with most hurricanes occurring between August and October. What is the Hurricane Eye? The relatively calm area in the centre of a hurricane with light winds and clouds and warm temperatures. The eye is bordered by the maximum winds of the Hurricane and torrential rains. What is a Storm Surge? A great drove of water often as much of coastline near the sea. The surge is the most dangerous part of the hurricane. What is a Hurricane Watch? The advisory issued which means that a hurricane could pose a threat to the area within 36 hours. What is a Hurricane Warning? The advisory issued which means that the hurricane is expected to hit the area within 24 hours.
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