Disaster management is the ability to help control the chaos immediately following a natural disaster or man-made emergency, and then the facilitation of the recovery in the longer term. It’s important for many types of people to be knowledgeable about disaster management information. There are many sources of information and education about emergency preparedness, and these are the top five:
1. The Federal Emergency Management Agency – FEMA
FEMA is the large organization that handles most disaster recovery operations in the United States afterlarge-scalee incidents like hurricanes and the subsequent flooding that disrupts the lives of victims.
FEMA offers independent study courses that award certificates after completion through the Emergency Management Institute. The EMI has an online library of over two hundred courses that can be taken by emergency management personnel, volunteers, or citizens who simply recognize the value of being prepared for anything.
To take EMI courses, participants must register for a Student Identification number, or SID. Registration is free and allows FEMA to give credit to students who need to complete courses as professional development in their careers.
Ranking: Top 10 MPH Programs with No Out-of-State Tuition Fees
2. International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies – IFRC
The IFRC, or simply Red Cross, is the best-recognized emergency management organization. Present around the world, the Red Cross is often very quick to respond to humanitarian crises.
The organization provides educational information about how individuals and communities can help themselves, as well as information about how the Red Cross has helped respond to disease, fire, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other emergencies. The Red Cross also helps develop infrastructure and install preventative measures to help minimize the effects of catastrophic emergencies.
3. ArcGIS maps
ArcGIS is an online resource that allows users to create and share maps of variables like population density, flood risk, proximity to risk factors like nuclear power plants, disease vectors, and many other things. Esri is an organization that uses ArcGIS to help businesses plan for emergency management by dealing with the more scientific side for people who may not seek to be cartographers.
Insurance companies, or people in the market to buy a new home, can use ArcGIS to evaluate landslide risk, for example, in a particular geographic location. The instructions to help interested parties learn how to use ArcGIS the interactive maps are available online.
4. EdX
EdX is a free online university that partners with powerhouses in education like Harvard, Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and others to share content with the mission of creating a more educated world. EdX offers nearly two thousand courses in a wide variety of subject areas, including self-paced disaster management courses like Humanitarian Response to Conflict and Disasters, Seguridad Vial en América Latina y el Caribe: de la teoría a la acción, Epidemics, and others.
5. State Agencies
Each state and United States territory has an Emergency Management Agency, and sometimes more than one government organization that is responsible for the logistics of life-saving and disaster recovery in the event of a disaster. FEMA has categorized and listed the names, contact information, and websites of key organizations in each state.
State-level emergency management organizations offer trainings, guest speakers, and various other resources on a regular basis. In times of emergency, they will provide incident updates to local news, work to communicate with residents as effectively as possible, and be the home base for an emergency operations center, if necessary.
People from all walks of life have reasons to educate themselves about emergencies, and these five resources will meet many of those needs.
