The Intent of the Hurricane Crisis Care Plan
It is meant to give way forward in the case of a hurricane in an area. This paper will talk about the measures that are vital for survival during a storm and what people should do to prepare for it in advance. This paper will explain why it is essential always to be ready for natural calamities, especially hurricanes.
Introduction
A hurricane is one of the tropical storm systems that rotates and is formed in low-pressure systems. They end up causing a lot of destruction because of the strong winds and heavy rains they cause in the area they are in (Reference, 2020). They are related to other tropical storms such as cyclones and tycoons, named differently depending on the region where they occur.
A hurricane disaster is a natural calamity that is not always predictable until a week until it happens. It means people who live in places where the hurricane is a common occurrence have to have a crisis care plan as an emergency plan in case it hits them. Those predictions may not be accurate because the weather is not a fixed variable (Reference, 2020). Hurricanes are very destructive and destroy everything in their way. Even if the area is not prone to natural disasters such as hurricanes or even floods, it is essential always to have a crisis care plan.
Hurricanes destroy everything in their path. They affect people by killing and causing damages to everything around them. They destroy buildings like homes, schools, and hospitals as well. During hurricanes, a power blackout may be experienced and is caused by the destruction of power lines. Fallen trees or buildings may destroy or block this cuts off communication and roads, making it very difficult to get help. Therefore, a hurricane crisis plan is required for all places but especially those prone to tropical storms.
Once a hurricane has affected a particular place, it may be difficult for business, school, and other routine operations to be run until proper disaster management is done. It is because of the destruction caused, and even to make sure it does not hit twice. In severe cases, there may be casualties or missing persons, and all of that has to be sorted out before everything goes back to normal.
An Immediate Protection Plan
Protection plans are required for post-storm response; how to make the city work again while managing the impact of the hurricane’s devastation on social facilities. The project is also needed to carry out the area reconstruction and restore regular activities. One of the most popular ways to deal with hurricanes is the STREMII model (Stewart & Gail Wilson, 2016). It involves using social networks for a quick and straightforward response from security services. Moreover, through Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms, the model helps raise funds to reconstruct the destroyed infrastructure.
In practice, the STREMII model covers all aspects of hurricane management. The first step is to alert humans on how to act in the event of a disaster. For example, when a person spots a hurricane, they must immediately run in the other direction for personal protection. Further, in a safe place, it is necessary to wait out the storm. The next step is to research official sources, which will provide information on where society can live if their homes are damaged and how soon people can return to everyday life (school and work). Keeping calm and a consistent action plan by the administration is key to the quality and speed of disaster recovery.
Prediction
After weather analysts list the area as a hurricane-prone zone, it is critical to start getting all the information on storms. It helps the residents and other people staying in the area plan for the calamity. Therefore, prediction is an integral part of a crisis plan. People have to figure out some key signs that are indicators of hurricanes.
After concluding that the field is a hurricane-prone area, it is vital to note what is needed just if the cyclone occurs. People can find information in news sources during quiet times and assess their readiness in advance, both physically (state of home and health) and moral (ability to remain calm). It is best to read credible sources such as ABCnews, The New Your Times, Global News, BBC News, and local government news outlets for experiences with similar events. Hurricanes repeat periodically; therefore, previous practice will help residents. Likewise, these supports publish information about the current state of affairs when the storm occurs now and advise people on what to do.
Additionally, there are notable government organizations aimed to help in crisis times. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the United States Coast Guard (USCG) are the main ones. FEMA provides up-to-date information on various crisis-related sub-topics and assists if a person or organization is affected by a crisis (Get Assistance after a Disaster, 2021). USCG helps to search and rescue, assess water pollution, build a new operational plan for the maritime trade, and raise funds to help injured employees and their families (Strategic Priorities, 2018). Besides support information, rapid response teams are needed, while it helps to minimize damage and loss of people and buildings.
It is essential to come up with a crisis team to manage people during the crisis. They help people out if the calamity strikes to remain calm and know what they need to do. Rescuers need to have a crisis plan before learning crucial information such as assembly points and employ strategies such a having an accountability system where families can be in charge of their members and be accountable for their neighbors.
The needs required to carry out the above require a massive amount of money; hence it would be advisable to get sponsors and stakeholders who can provide funding to the crisis plan and the measures taken to prepare for the worst likely case scenario.
Prevention by Creating Awareness in the Community
One way to communicate the said problems and other methods of dealing with the disaster is by utilizing the most popular means of communication in the area. This means that if newspapers are the most popular means of communication, write a post about it in the paper, and people will read and encourage others to read. It could also be incorporated as a headline in the news and even on posters in retail stores, markets, and even schools.
Creation of a Crisis Team
A crisis team is required once the crisis plan is developed. People need to be in charge of the complete execution procedure and use the project in a hurricane calamity. The team has to have fully mastered their roles as the people in order of the catastrophe. It means that they need to have been prepared and had some teaching instantly to fight the disaster. They all have their roles, and that information should be made known to the public to keep them informed. Their work is to develop the safety measures to be put in place whether analysts make the predictions. In addition, they are in charge of knowing how communication will be made to essential services once the hurricane hits and destroys the telephone lines. Whether they will be forced to resort back to using old techniques like fax or whether they will need to deploy an entirely new system of communication to the authorities and other essential services in case the hurricane strikes. In addition, they need to know how to be accountable for people during the storm and set up assembly points in schools and hospitals where people can be accounted for and attended to if needed.
Positioning
The crisis team comprises several specialists who help at all stages. The work of the rescuers depends on how close the hurricane is. The best option is to inform people about the impending storm urgently. Immediate safety is most important, so people must move quickly to safety. These locations are basement-type rooms and areas with reinforced masonry (Emergency Response Plan 2021). After a hurricane in a certain area, rescuers look for casualties, take them to hospitals or safe shelters (KHOU.com Staff, 2016). For such operations, it is necessary to organize the transportation of those in need to state shelters by buses. People then turn to their insurance agents if their home is damaged and start rebuilding. Moreover, in shelters, people may need medical and psychological assistance; therefore, specialists must be delivered in an organized manner to an agreed place to work with victims.
The Time Line for Preparation
The rapid response begins immediately after reports of an impending disaster by meteorologists. If people do not have the time and opportunity to leave the disaster site independently, they should hide and wait for special services. Rescuers arrive a few hours after the area becomes safer and do major work on the first day. UNICEF USA delivers help to secure spots in 48-72 hours (Hurricane Relief, 2021). The response speed directly depends on the situation’s criticality and the security services capabilities of a particular area. In the event of a resources shortage, regions turn to the federal government for additional forces, which takes more time.
Communication Methods to be Used During the Disaster
The crisis team is in charge of all the communication methods and strategies to be implemented during the storm. This task could be designated to the heads of families to ensure they know where their family members are. When the crisis plan is being evaluated, it is essential to develop a system that will relay the information to everyone at once to give them the time to do what is required of them. An example of how to go about that is to have everyone subscribed to local texts alert controlled by the crisis team and the essential services found in the area (Yonatan, 2020). It is a good way of keeping everyone in the know without physically informing people of the hurricane about to happen.
Communication during storms can be a bit messy because telephone lines may be disrupted or the networks jammed, so it is vital to get methods of communication that do not get affected by that. An example would be to get radio services in the area. The importance of doing this in advance is to avoid the rush in setting them up. Other radio services need licensing, which could be a lengthy process to get according to the time frame set (Yonatan, 2020). Walkie-talkies are advisable but will only work within the town, making it a helpful communication tool amongst the individuals in the crisis team at different assembly points.
Once the communication is set, the essential services should be notified to be prepared and know what to do. They will also give feedback and provide more helpful information on the crisis plan since they have more experience dealing with calamities of all sorts. It is critical to make an emergency list with all essential services to have all the numbers required simultaneously to avoid confusion.
Evaluation of the Crisis Plan
Once the plan is created and shared with the relevant people, it must be evaluated on its credibility and workability to prepare for the worst-case scenario. It shows how serious the crisis care plan is and how seriously it should be taken. It has to be taken through stages of its workability to avoid finding out about faults when it is time to take action (Wright, 2017). Evaluation is going through the plan and finding weak points as you make adjustments to the crisis plan to make it as workable with the worst circumstances as possible.
Firstly, the plan should be designed to be working no matter the location of the crisis. It should be flexible enough to work from any crisis place mentioned in the program. It is vital to discuss the technology and people needed to be set (Wright, 2017). Once this is done, the audience for the program should be determined. The audience will be affected by the calamity and should be appropriately incorporated in the crisis plan. Then test out the communication channels is to relay the message in the crisis plan (Wright, 2017). It confirms whether the track is best suited for forwarding the information during the hurricane. In addition, the people in charge of the crisis plan should all be notified of their role and the necessary training carried out.
Finally, the last step of the crisis plan is to share it with the audience and gather their thought using surveys and questionnaires on what the loopholes to the program are, and other places that may have been overlooked as the plan is being created (Wright, 2017). Once enough feedback is gotten, the project is then reviewed and evaluated once more until a better plan covers all the issues raised by the audience because the hurricane crisis plan is meant to help them remain safe. It is best to treat the situation as a life-or-death crisis to achieve the said purpose of the program.
Conclusion
Crisis plans are supposed to be created, tested, and evaluated before a crisis occurs, not when the situation arises. This way, all the loopholes are tested and corrected, and the necessary audience is informed of the plans to be on high alert. The recovery process is equally important because it determines how long an area will return the lives and their town to normal.
References
Emergency response plan. (2021). Ready.Gov.
Get assistance after a disaster. (2021). FEMA.Gov.
KHOU.com Staff. (2016). When to evacuate: Should I stay or should I go? KHOU.
Reference. (2020). How do scientists predict hurricanes?
Stewart, M. C., & Gail Wilson, B. (2016). The dynamic role of social media during hurricane #sandy: An introduction of the STREMII model to weather the storm of the crisis lifecycle. Computers in Human Behavior, 54, 639–646.
Strategic priorities. (2018). Uscg.Mil.
Hurricane relief. (2021). UNICEF USA.
Wright, I. (2017).7 ways to start evaluating your crisis plan.
Yonatan, R. (2020). How to communicate during a disaster.