Disaster Response Plan

The Signature Assignment disaster response plan

The Signature Assignment disaster response plan’s goal is to efficiently coordinate and use available resources to provide protection for the general public against acts of terrorism. The goal of the strategy is to give guidance to the many organizations in charge of protecting public safety and to get ready in advance for a terrorist occurrence. A terrorist event’s operational objective is to minimize damage and protect as many people as possible (Weisburd, Jonathan, & Perry, 2009), with the aim of safely removing everyone from the impact area and transporting the injured to the closest emergency facilities. The first objective of the plan is to outline the roles and responsibilities of the various agencies involved in public safety protection and to prepare beforehand for a terrorist incident. The operational priority is to reduce as much harm and protect as many people as possible from a terrorist event (Weisburd, Jonathan, & Perry, 2009) with the goal of safely removing all people outside the impact area and get the injured to the nearest emergency cares. The first objective of the plan is to outline the roles and responsibilities of the various agencies in preparing for and responding to a terrorist incident. The second objective is to provide a vehicle that establishes and maintains a current assessment of the potential threat posed by acts of terrorism.

Threat Analysis

The Boston Marathon bombing took place at an event that was attended by many people, and three people died while more than 250 were seriously injured. Such an event punctuates the vulnerability of the state to similar attack. Individuals who perpetrate these events are motivated by personal reasons or could be part of a group whose aim is to cause fear and tension (Kruglanski & Fishman, 2009) all over the U.S. a large gathering of people presents malicious individuals with the opportunity of committing such an event again. A capability assessment indicates that the jurisdiction has enough emergency response team members, medical personnel, and police officers but the communications is an area that needs further improvement.

Concept of Operations

Terrorist events result in a unique environment of managing emergency response. It is crucial that the local responders are first on the scene. The primary goal at this time the evacuation of the surviving individuals and ensure that the emergency medical team is available to provide care to the public. The emergency responses are carried out under the direction of the affected local government in collaboration with designated state agencies. Resource requests for any response and recovery follow a chain of command where they originate from a lower level and are progressively forwarded to the next step until attended (Cox Jr, 2008).

Effective coordination

Effective coordination is crucial, and therefore, the various agencies must be aware of their roles and responsibilities. The standardized emergency management system has the responsibility of responding to and managing terrorist incidents it incorporates the incident command system (ICS), and its five functions are management, operations, planning and intelligence, logistics, and finance. A key goal of this plan is to facilitate effective implementation of the by enhancing communication among the various individuals to reduce conflict and build teamwork among the different teams which include medical personnel, police officers, and the emergency team.

Communications

Communications are crucial during a disaster response. Maintenance of a common operating picture is of essence and actions taken to facilitate this will range from radio frequencies and tactical channels, liaisons with the command posts, and the presence of a communications van (Von LUbitz, Beakley, & Patricelli, 2008). Communications shortfalls have to be anticipated for and actions to overcome these are amateur radio emergency services at the command positions and having individuals with incompatible equipment. The 9/11 dispatch centers will coordinate communications for the on-scene personnel and assist in documentation while only the senior officials at the emergency operations center will talk to private agencies and answer questions.

References

Cox Jr, L. A. T. (2008). Some limitations of “Risk= Threat× Vulnerability× Consequence” for risk analysis of terrorist attacks. Risk Analysis, 28(6), 1749-1761

Kruglanski, A. W., & Fishman, S. (2009). Psychological factors in terrorism and counterterrorism: Individual, group, and organizational levels of analysis. Social Issues and Policy Review, 3(1), 1-44

Von Lubitz, D. K., Beakley, J. E., & Patricelli, F. (2008). Disaster management: the structure, function, and significance of network-centric operations. Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, 5(1)

Weisburd, D., Jonathan, T., & Perry, S. (2009). The Israeli model for policing terrorism: Goals, strategies, and open questions. Criminal Justice and behavior, 36(12), 1259-1278