curroption in after disaster, services
How would you as an Emergency Manager:
a. prevent corruption following a disaster;
b. manage compound emergencies;
c. ensure equality in assistance and relief distribution.
Choose one.
At the next pages, you find examples of answers to the question. PLEASEDO NOT copy any thing from them, you them as a guidance how the answer quality and quantity should be . you are asked to bring between 2-5 references to the answer.
How an Emergency Manager can ensure equality in assistance and relief distribution
One of the roles of an Emergency Manager is to facilitate the equitable distribution of relief resources. In many cases, however, victims of disasters are not responded to and assisted equally. Disasters do not hit everyone in equal measure. Many times, vulnerable groups suffer more when disasters occur. Effective humanitarian aid, therefore, requires the Emergency Manager to pay keen attention to the factors that make specific populations vulnerable. Without this, some communities will be excluded from the response and recovery resources.
The Emergency Manager must have full knowledge of preexisting vulnerable groups. Vulnerable groups may include children, expectant mothers, senior persons, minority ethnic groups, impoverished persons, and prisoners. Vulnerable populations are often left out in government plans, and they are less likely to benefit from disaster response and recovery (Hoffman, 2008). Vulnerable populations often have preexisting conditions that expose them to the worst impacts of natural and human-made disasters. For example, older persons may not be able to run as fast, even if evacuation orders are issued. Children, too, may not even know when disasters hit. As a result, these populations are the hardest hit. To make sure these populations get a fair share of emergency support, the Emergency Manager must be aware of their existence, and he/she must have full knowledge of their locations and vulnerabilities.
Ensuring equal distribution of emergency resources goes beyond the identification of vulnerable populations. The needs of these groups must be determined within the broader framework of the aftermaths (Garcia-Ortega21 et al., n.d.). Equitable distribution of relief resources should bear in mind that these populations are hit heavily. Their post-disaster needs are, therefore, more than those of the general population. The Emergency Manager must develop a framework for ensuring the best outcome for the least well off (Hoffman, 2008). Affluent communities, for instance, may have money saved in banks, and they can afford to buy themselves food and other basic needs. Impoverished populations, however, may have nothing. Humanitarian aid must, therefore, determine a framework for delivering assistance to both communities. While the affluent people may only require emotional support and psychological help, the impoverished and marginalized populations may need food, medical care, and housing. The role of the Emergency Manager is to ensure every population gets the help it requires.
Various are available for helping Emergency Managers ensure equitable distribution of emergency resources. Vulnerability mapping tools, for instance, are very useful in identifying and documenting preexisting vulnerable populations (Raskar-Phule and Choudhury, 2015). These tools can help to identify social vulnerabilities based on political, geographic, and economic factors, and they can help to reduce disparities is emergency distribution. ArcGIS tools and techniques are excellent examples of mapping tools that can be used in vulnerability mapping. While vulnerability tools are more useful before disasters strike, inclusion monitoring tools are handy during disaster relief. Inclusion monitoring tools generate crucial vulnerability information to responders, thereby allowing them to target aid to areas where it would naturally not reach. Also, these tools help in the assessment of relief service reception across populations, and they can alert the Emergency Manager of existing disparities.
In summary, disasters often hit hard on vulnerable populations. One of the significant roles of an Emergency Manager is to identify susceptible people, and this can be done using vulnerability mapping tools. Once identified, the Emergency Manager needs to prioritize these populations, which is done using inclusion monitoring tools. Emergency services should be distributed in proportion to the suffering experienced, such that those who are hit hard get more help than the general population.
References
Garcia-Ortega21, I., Kutcher22, S., Abel23, W., Alleyne24, S., Baboolal25, N., & Chehil26, S. Support for vulnerable groups following a disaster. Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Disaster Situations in the Caribbean, 73.
Hoffman, S. (2008). Preparing for disaster: Protecting the most vulnerable in emergencies. UC Davis L. Rev., 42, 1491.
Raskar-Phule, R., & CHOUDHURY, D. (2015). Vulnerability Mapping for Disaster Assessment using ArcGIS Tools and techniques for Mumbai City, India. In 15th Esri India User Conference.
I chose to examine how we can prevent corruption following a disaster. When I went to Texas, I heard stories from the residents there about how out of state contractors were quoting obscene amounts of money for repairs or tear-downs. The predatory and corrupt nature exhibited by some individuals is troubling and certainly needs to be addressed.
The issue can be broken down into two categories: public and private sector corruption. The public sector is more in control of the recovery efforts and has the potential and incentive to assist citizens who cannot recover on their own in an ideal world. Unfortunately, public choice theory often gets in the way of altruism. A study examined the reasons why the public sector becomes corrupted following disasters by looking at Hurricane Katrina and the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami. It found that public officials are pressured to provide aid not based on demonstrated need, but based on re-election prospects, and are primarily influenced by “well-organized special interest groups” (Yamamura, 2014). Extrapolating, this means that those who are most severely affected by a disaster will not have the resources or time to organize, and thus, their particular interests could be overlooked. There is an equation that describes the amount of funding that will be allocated by government officials to NGOs, and I highly recommend reading the article if you can bear to sift through a little calculus (Yamamura, 2014). The equation is also able to predict the subjective trend regarding the amount of corrupt practice based on the appropriation of funds. Yamamura (2014) also found that when disasters are more frequent and intense, corruption increases. All of these factors play a contributing role in government corruption following disasters. The private sector is a bit trickier to enforce since they work mostly outside of the constraints imposed on government officials. My anecdote is an excellent example of the moral depravity that can surface following a disaster. Private sector companies and individuals may try to play the system and prey on people’s needs following a disaster to maximize revenue.
So how do we combat corruption? I’ve identified a couple of key factors that might influence the development of perceived or actual corruption: accountability, knowledge of conditions, and organizational culture. First, accountability can be described as how stakeholders set standards for politicians or NGOs. The public must be made aware of any transgressions so that they can either not support the actions of a politician or financially boycott agents of the private sector to reduce corruption. Essentially, the spread of information and increased transparency would utilize public choice theory in a more altruistic way based on morals instead of selfishness. A decrease in biased or indiscriminate spending can be accomplished by mandatory reporting, or by instituting a system that requires multiple levels of approval before engaging in recovery efforts. The second factor, knowledge of conditions, can be addressed by conducting more in-depth damage assessments before tackling the situation. While it is tempting to provide immediate aid, I hold the opinion that delaying mobilization to develop a cohesive plan with have a net higher utility. Hurricanes Katrina and Maria, and the Haitian earthquake are excellent examples of how the public and private sectors sometimes put the cart before the horse. Anecdotal stories of supplies stranded outside the affected areas abound since the response and recovery plans were not logically and sequentially organized with a full picture of conditions. It’s hard to do “nothing” at first, but in the end, I think that it would save a lot of headaches and provide aid to those most in need. The third and final factor to address is organizational culture. In the private sector, the focus is usually on the money. While I don’t think there’s much that we can do to change that as EM professionals, we can help screen potential responding agencies to ensure ethical practices. Instating a permit system associated with a set of rules and expectations for non-local NGOs could help keep predatory individuals at bay. Addressing these perceived deficiencies is not a comprehensive plan, but I think it’s a good start. Feel free to build on this and let me know if there are any other factors I missed!
Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Yamamura, E. (2014). Impact of natural disaster on public sector corruption. Public Choice, 161(3), 385–405. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-014-0154-
Solution Preview
Discussion
When an emergency or a disaster affects a given location or community, the emergency manager is charged with several roles that are supposed to improve the realization of disaster management goals. One of the main roles is to prevent any form of corruption following a disaster that has struck a community.
(461 words)