The Importance of Being Prepared Before a Disaster

An emergency plan refers to a set plan of action put in place to combat major urgent issues which are always uncertain but very disastrous. Some of the emergencies include flooding, fire-outbreaks, terrorist attacks, and explosions among other hazardous conditions. Emergency planning is very significant as it not only help in providing guidance during an emergency, but it is also an imperative tool for quick formulation and implementation of decisions to prevent or minimize the likelihood of occurrence of such risks in the future.

The Impacted Segments with the Plan

Metropolis, the largest city in Florida largely suffers the risk of frequent terrorist attacks resulting in merciless loss of innocent lives and destruction of properties. This poses a threat to core city stakeholders such as the government agencies, the metropolis fragments, Florida, population, as well as the business community. Of late, terrorism has become so rampant in the metropolis city as a result of its vast expansion of the recreational centers with an enormous population.

Moreover, failure to plan is planning to fail. On this notion, it is evident that developing a smart emergency plan significantly helps in discovering the unrecognized disastrous conditions and taking an alternative measure to eliminate them (Perry, 2003). Indeed, emergency planning involves setting a considerable series of steps and action plans for executions in order to prevent certain risks from occurring.

Since emergency planning involves identification of the risk, determining its impacts on the lives of the people, and selecting the most appropriate action to be undertaken to deal with the urgent situation at hand, this approach is appropriate to help deal with the threats that engulf the region. Terrorism has affected a section of the metropolis city drastically. It has resulted in massive loss of lives, an act which has significantly reduced the population of the Florida state.

The business communities have also recorded drastic financial losses and massive destruction of properties. This has resulted in a decline in the economic growth of the Florida state due to a fall in revenues from Tourism and hospitality sector, transport, and international trade. The terrorism aftermath has also caused emotional distortions in the minds of the affected victims. The attacks have also raised fears in the state, making Florida’s government stability weak, thus affecting the government agencies negatively.

Emergency planning is an integral process that involves four major steps. The steps include Establishment of a planning team, analyzing the capabilities and the possible Hazards, Thirdly, developing the plan and finally, Implementation of the developed plan (Schafer, 2008). Establishing a planning team refers to a forming a group of individuals who are in charge of formulating the emergency plans to be executed. It involves the establishment of authorities, defining the purpose of the plan and determining the budget.

Why Focus on the Area

It is important to note that analyzing of hazards and capabilities through the gathering of the information about the capabilities and current emergencies are essential in determining the vulnerability test which is vital in determining the capability of handling such emergency issues affecting Florida Metropolis (Schafer, 2008). The comprehensive plan outlining the operational approaches to the hazardous situations would help in dealing with the threats of terrorism and other natural hazards.

Finally, implementing the set plan of action and bringing it into use during an emergency involves acting on the recommendations from the vulnerability analysis and deployment of resources. The need for an effective emergency planning is therefore necessary so as to help in devising proper mechanisms of making rapid decisions with the available resources to counter the risk of terrorism (Han, 2006). An effective Emergency planning involves five major phases which include Prevention, Preparedness, Response, Recovery and Mitigation Measures.

Prevention measures aim at preventing speculated hazards. They are designed to provide utmost protection against the associated risks on a permanent basis. It involves the use of proper environmental planning techniques and proper design standards to reduce the risk of losing lives and injuries. Secondly, being prepared is a recurring cyclic process that entails planning, organizing plans and resources, training the evacuators, evaluating and taking an action plan. Moreover, training and exercising of plans focus majorly on being ready to respond to all emergencies.

On the other hand, Response is the management and coordination of resources. This is the reaction phase of an emergency. Recovery phase consists of the events that continuously go beyond the emergency period. It aims at restoring normalcy after the life intimidations in some affected areas. The final phase is mitigation which aims at minimizing the loss of lives and destruction of property by limiting the effects of such emergencies. Below is a five-phase emergency planning model.

An Overview

Action plans that can be taken to deal with terrorism include tightening security forces with tough rules to protect the border. This will help in regulating unauthorized foreigner’s entry into the country. All immigrants are to have the valid documents which permit them to stay within the state. Increasing Air transport security measures is a key strategy towards curbing the terrorist problem. It involves random checking of luggage, personal frisking with the help of scanners and regular monitoring of persons entering and leaving the airport grounds.

The use of air tickets, digital observation cameras, and other modern equipment are so essential in minimizing the risk of occurrence of such emergencies in the airport. The implementation of Visa policies and imposing restrictions on the application is another best action that can be used to minimize the probability of risk occurrence. Such regulations include raising the visa costs and increasing the timeline for the waiting period.

However, The United Nation Office of Counter-Terrorism on 8, September 2006 adopted common strategic approaches to combat terrorism (Foot, 2007). Subject to terrorism, the considerable counter-terrorism strategy steps involved in emergency planning include designing of an action plan focusing on limiting the human hazards, assessing the conducive conditions leading to the spread of terrorism, adopting the appropriate measures to prevent and combat rampant terrorist attacks. It also involves building the state’s capacity to prevent and combat terrorism. Finally, it reveals the measures aimed at ensuring respect and dignity to all and the rule of law as the fundamental basis of the fight against terrorism.

To conclude, terrorist attacks in the metropolis can be best minimized using an emergency planning approach. Emergency planning is a four-step process which is aimed at preventing the future occurrence of emergencies. The steps involve the formation of a planning team, analyzing the capabilities and hazards, developing and implementing the set plan. However, minimizing the attacks which result in loss of lives and property destructions requires execution of other action plans which includes tightening security forces in the state, ports and the borders. Monitoring of entry and exit of individuals is also an important action.