Assignment: Response and Mitigation

Choose one of the two disaster scenarios below:

1. A hurricane has hit the Southeast U.S. Gulf coast, leaving over 500,000 people homeless, without food or medical attention.

2. A tornado touched down in a Midwestern U.S. city, destroying the entire city, including four major hospitals and the police department / emergency services dispatch center.

Refer to the National Response Framework's Emergency Support Function Annexes and the National Disaster Recovery Framework's Recovery Support Functions Index.

Write a five to eight page paper in which you:

1. Develop the response plan as a member of the emergency and crisis management team for your chosen scenario. Determine at least two federal agencies that should assist in the response plan for the disaster scenario and summarize their duties, responsibilities, and actions as outlined in the National Response Framework's Emergency Support Function Annex.

2. Develop the mitigation plan as a member of the emergency and crisis management team for your chosen scenario. Determine at least two federal agencies that should assist in the mitigation plan for the disaster scenario and summarize their duties, responsibilities, and actions as outlined in the National Disaster Recovery Framework's Recovery Support Functions Index. Specify how your chosen federal agencies assist in the recovery mission of your discussed disaster scenario.

3. Speculate on the main difficulties (e.g., the ability to utilize federally funded relief, the problems associated with the infrastructure of the community struck with the disaster, etc.) that would be involved in the emergency response for your chosen scenario. Next, propose one strategy that you could take as a member of the emergency and crisis management team in order to overcome the difficulties in question. Provide a rationale for your response.

4. Use at least three quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other related websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow 6th edition APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.

• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the professor's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Determine how the major forms of emergency management work - mitigation, response, recovery, preparedness, and communications - are interrelated.

• Analyze the difficulties of emergency response and propose strategies for overcoming obstacles.

• Use technology and information resources to research issues in emergency management.

• Write clearly and concisely about emergency management using proper writing mechanics.