Addressing challenges for future strategic‐level emergency management: reframing, networking, and capacity‐building

The mounting frequency and intensity of natural hazards, alongside growing interdependencies between social‐technical and ecological systems, are placing increased pressure on emergency management. This is particularly true at the strategic level of emergency management, which involves planning for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Disasters 2017-04, Vol.41 (2), p.306-323
Main Authors: Bosomworth, Karyn, Owen, Christine, Curnin, Steven
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation
Australia
Building management
Capacity
Capacity Building
climate change adaptation
Community Networks - organization & administration
Disaster management
Disaster Planning - organization & administration
Disaster relief
Emergencies
Emergency management
Emergency preparedness
Governance
Hazards
Humans
Hurricanes
Management
Mounting
network governance
Networks
Planning
Risk
Risk management
Risk reduction
Strategic planning
strategic‐level emergency management
Strategy
Surveying
Vulnerability
Workshops
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Summary:The mounting frequency and intensity of natural hazards, alongside growing interdependencies between social‐technical and ecological systems, are placing increased pressure on emergency management. This is particularly true at the strategic level of emergency management, which involves planning for and managing non‐routine, high‐consequence events. Drawing on the literature, a survey, and interviews and workshops with Australia's senior emergency managers, this paper presents an analysis of five core challenges that these pressures are creating for strategic‐level emergency management. It argues that emphasising ‘emergency management’ as a primary adaptation strategy is a retrograde step that ignores the importance of addressing socio‐political drivers of vulnerabilities. Three key suggestions are presented that could assist the country's strategic‐level emergency management in tackling these challenges: (i) reframe emergency management as a component of disaster risk reduction rather than them being one and the same; (ii) adopt a network governance approach; and (iii) further develop the capacities of strategic‐level emergency managers.
ISSN:0361-3666
1467-7717
DOI:10.1111/disa.12196