{"id":13577,"date":"2013-04-02T02:38:15","date_gmt":"2013-04-02T09:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/ClaireWolfe\/?p=13577"},"modified":"2013-04-02T02:38:15","modified_gmt":"2013-04-02T09:38:15","slug":"emergency-management-and-the-rest-of-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/2013\/04\/02\/emergency-management-and-the-rest-of-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Emergency management and the rest of us"},"content":{"rendered":"

Was growling over last week’s semi-useless disaster preparedness talk<\/a> and pondering the wisdom of some of your comments. <\/p>\n

Then I came upon this: John Longenecker’s thoughts on why emergency management (EM) “experts” are having such a hard time getting through to the rest of us<\/a>. (Tip o hat to the Dutchman over on Sipsey Street<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Longenecker says (in short) that the fact that millions are buying guns shows we’re more than willing to take responsibility and prepare for danger. We’re just not buying the elitist, top-down, “do it to us” (as opposed to “do it with us”) approach to disaster management (DM). Or so he perceives.<\/p>\n

Longenecker, who apparently thinks about this a lot, goes so far as to say that gun owners and disaster management pros should get together<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The particular way<\/i> he envisions this creeps me out just a little:<\/p>\n

To ‘act’ means to aid law enforcement in keeping the peace, as another example. Many Sheriffs, for instance, are announcing that they are examining deputizing gun owners, people who pass background checks, people known to the Sheriff, people who know how to use a handgun or rifle and people who can take orders and follow leadership. This is an example of planning disaster management which would include utilization of a disaster’s most understated assets: volunteers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Turning approved friends-O’-the-Sheriff into a centrally controlled “volunteer” corps working for the gummint to order their fellow citizens around? Uh … no thanks!<\/p>\n

But certainly he’s hitting the mark when he says that any approach to DM\/EM that looks down on or distrusts We the People is part of the problem. (And the book he mentions, A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster<\/i><\/a> by Rebecca Solnit has absolutely gone on my must-read list.)<\/p>\n

You and I know that we are our own first line of defense in any tough times. We can hope and suppose that neighbors will help neighbors and strangers help strangers. What we really can’t know until something bad happens is whether officials — local or otherwise — will interfere with us or stay out of our way.<\/p>\n

Work with us? In an ideal world, sure. But in this<\/i> world? I don’t know.<\/p>\n

Longenecker mentions CPR training as one of the great successes calling on volunteers to handle emergencies. And it is, of course. But then, CPR is one-on-one and doesn’t involve “controversial” skills, actions, or possessions (e.g. firearms, food storage). Nor does it usually get called on at times of mass chaos. Nor does it warp a volunteer into an agent of government — something that, in my mind, destroys the very concept of volunteering.<\/p>\n

I admit that if I become a helpless victim of a disaster (and it could happen to the best prepared), I’ll be overwhelmingly grateful for help and I won’t care if it comes “freelance” or from government. I also admit that I’m no expert at handling disasters or even routine emergencies. But when I think of myself as a potential helper<\/i>, I just can’t see working with anybody’s command-and-control structure. Nor do I think the greatest benefit will ever come from putting the most capable, competent, available<\/i> volunteers into such a structure.<\/p>\n

I don’t know how decent my local DM\/EM people are likely to be (guess I’ll know more about that if I take their CERT training this spring). The more I think about state<\/i> DM\/EM officials, the more convinced I am that “incompetent” is perhaps the kindest thing one can say about them. “Dangerous” comes to mind; I’m glad they’re not likely to be in charge of anything if disaster strikes. Let them sit in the state capital an churn out brochures and programs.<\/p>\n

It is<\/i> a problem that so many people don’t even attempt to prepare for disasters, or even hard times. <\/p>\n

It is<\/i> a problem that DM\/EM efforts fail to reach so many people.<\/p>\n

At the disaster-prep meetings I’ve gone to, I notice that attendees are virtually always already<\/i> knowledgeable and prepared. They’re just looking for greater depth of information. For plans. And for connections. What we’re given instead are basics designed for those people who aren’t<\/i> showing up at the presentation.<\/p>\n

One part of me thinks the DM\/EM managers are wasting a valuable resource by not understanding that the people going to these meetings are all potential volunteers, potentially great resources for drawing in and working with friends, family, and the broader community. That we should be recruited and utilized. Another part of me looks at the way they’re thinking and doesn’t want anything to do with them, anyhow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Was growling over last week’s semi-useless disaster preparedness talk and pondering the wisdom of some of your comments. Then I came upon this: John Longenecker’s thoughts on why emergency management (EM) “experts” are having such a hard time getting through to the rest of us. (Tip o hat to the Dutchman over on Sipsey Street.) Longenecker says (in short) that the fact that millions are buying guns shows we’re more than willing to take responsibility and prepare for danger. We’re just not buying the elitist, top-down, “do it to us” (as opposed to “do it with us”) approach to disaster…<\/p>\n

Continue readingEmergency management and the rest of us<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,12,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books-and-movies","category-guns-and-gun-rights","category-preparedness","ratio-natural","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13577\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clairewolfe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}