EMAN600 Essay 2 Latest 2021 JULY

EMAN600 Comprehensive Crisis and Emergency Management

Essay 2

PILOT PROJECT WEATHER EVENT STATUS

The latest National Hurricane Center update places Hurricane Lani at approximately 125 miles slightly southeast of the Wilmington, NC metropolitan area. Hurricane Lani is now a classified as a Category 3 hurricane with sustained wind speeds of 115-120 miles per hour.

Based on the current forecasts, the National Hurricane Center projects that the “eye” of Hurricane Lani will make landfall between Wilmington NC and Myrtle Grove, NC (just south of Wilmington city proper). A storm surge of 18-20 feet is projected. Landfall is expected between 5:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. East coast time.

BACKGROUND

Several weeks ago, FEMA’s Congressional Affairs Division within the Office of External Affairs hosted a group of congressional staffers representing various congressional members from the

U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Homeland Security. Based on this meeting, the EMRAAS Pilot Project Team received a tasking to address the Team’s approach to an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP). According to FEMA’s Congressional Affairs Division, the staffers were extremely pleased with the EMRAAS Pilot Project Team’s initial approach to an EOP.

Since the staffers have maintained a situation awareness of the EMRAAS Pilot Project Team initiative and the tracking of Hurricane Lani, the staffers have subsequently submitted a new tasking for the Team to address.

Specifically, with the pending landfall of Hurricane Lani, the staffers would like to see the EMRAAS Pilot Project Team approach to our Emergency Operations Center (EOC). At this point, the staffers are satisfied with a “big picture” reply rather than a voluminous document. The staffer rationale for this four-page or so EOC description is so they can have an idea of how the EOC was intended to operate compared to how the EOC actually did operate as Hurricane Lani unfolded. This information will be used as an additional data point for the staffers to evaluate how successfully the overall EMRAAS Pilot Project Team initiative turned out and, more specifically, how well the Team’s EOC was structured to carry out its mission roles and responsibilities.

As a result, the Congressional Affairs Division has forwarded this congressional staffer request for further information to the OPPA Associate Administrator’s office. Subsequently, the OPPA Associated Administrator’s staff has tasked the congressional staffer request to the EMRAAS Pilot Project Team with a suspense date of no later than the end of Week 8.

Therefore, I’d like our Team to discuss this congressional staffer request. I’ll use your feedback/comment inputs to develop our EMRAAS Pilot Project Team point paper back to the OPPA Associate Administrator’s staff, who will review and then forward the Team’s point paper to the Congressional Affairs Division for action closure.

SHORT-TERM ANALYTIC STUDY #2 TASKER

Discuss your concept of an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) that’s relevant to the projected landfall of the Category 3 Hurricane Lani along the U.S. East coast between Wilmington, NC and Myrtle Grove, NC.

Note that the Congressional staffers are only seeking a “big picture” perspective with this tasker. Therefore, it is acknowledged that some details are not necessary at this time. Rather, your response should be one of providing a general overview of how the EMRAAS Pilot Project Team intends to “stand up” its EOC relevant to the unique challenges associated with the Hurricane Lani event.

Part 1: Briefly discuss the role of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) as it pertains to disastrous events requiring emergency management community support. From a “big picture” perspective”, what is the overarching mission of an EOC?

Part 2: Specific to the impending landfall of Hurricane Lani along the U.S. East coast between Wilmington, NC and Myrtle Grove, NC:

•             Are there any overarching policy documents that you’re relying upon to structure your EOC?

•             Who leads your EOC?

•             What are the functional roles and responsibilities associated with your EOC management structure?

•             Who are the primary external stakeholders (i.e., not part of the EOC government structure) that you intend to rely upon?

•             Who are the primary EOC functions and/or agencies/stakeholders that you would depend upon for advice/guidance when it comes to major decisions?

•             Which specific Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) are designated as “most important” as associated with the Hurricane Lani incident?

•             How are the inevitable limited resources being adjudicated between various offices/stakeholders?

•             How does the EOC plan to “message” both within the EOC structure, internal FEMA organization, relevant external stakeholders (both oversight and support), and local community?

•             How do you intend to ensure your logistics – to include supply chain – are maintained throughout the response and recovery phase?

•             Anything else you believe should be communicated to the Congressional staffers to provide them with an adequate “big picture” of the EMRAAS Pilot Project Team’s approach to a functional EOC in support of the conditions posed by Hurricane Lani?

There is no template for your proposed EOC structure, roles, responsibilities, etc. There is no “right” template; rather, your EOC response should be would you believe to be appropriate based on the specific instance of Hurricane Lani making landfall in the Wilmington, NC metropolitan area.

Potential references to use or get you started include, but are not limited to, the following. Note that hardcopies are provide as a separate folder within the tasking folder.

a)            FEMA EMI IS-2200, Basic Emergency Operations Center Functions dated May 17, 2019 Link: https://training.fema.gov/is/courseoverview.aspx?code=IS-2200

b)            National Incident Management System (NIMS) Emergency Operations Center (EOC) How-To Quick Reference Guide [Draft]

Link: https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_eoc-how-to-quick- reference_guide_0.pdf

c)            FEMA Operations Center Toolkits, December 14, 2020 to include Senior Leaders Toolkit link [FEMA website]

Link: https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/nims/components/emergency-operations- center

d)            NIMS EOC Senior Leader Toolkit Brief, Summer 2019

Link: https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/nims/components/emergency-operations- center

e)            NIMS EOC Senior Leader Toolkit Department Head, n.d.

Link: https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/nims/components/emergency-operations- center

f)             NIMS EOC Senior Leader Toolkit Elected Officials, n.d.

Link: https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/nims/components/emergency-operations- center

SUBMISSION GUIDANCE

Your completed individual Short-Term Analytic Study #2 assignment should be submitted as a single Word document in accordance with the following guidance.

•             Length = minimum expectation of at least 4 full pages of text

•             The following do not “count” towards a written Word document receiving 100% credit for the Length criteria: title page, table of contents (not required), abstract (not required), executive summary (not required), illustrations (tables, figures, graphs, pictures, etc. …all not required), appendices (not required), or reference list

•             References = at least 5 high-quality “external” references (i.e., not part of the class required readings)

•             Paragraph = 2.0 (double-spaced) … no right-margin justification

•             Font = 11- or 12-point

•             Margins = 1-inch

Post your individual Short-Term Analytic Study #2 essay response to this tasker along with supporting in-text citations and reference list (in APA 7th edition format) to your applicable personal Assignment folder as a single file.

As always, let me know if you have any questions about this tasker.

// signed //

EMRAAS Pilot Project Team Lead