HOLDERNESS EMERGENCY OPERATIONS PLAN 2

Holderness Emergency Operations Plan

An Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) describes the structures and mechanisms that
guide the response of an organization either to an actual or potential emergency situation (Fagel,
2016). Holderness, a town in the state of New Hampshire, has such a plan. The town’s
emergency operations plan establishes a framework that the town’s local government can use to
provide quick assistance and save both property and lives any time disaster strikes the town. It
outlines concepts of operations, policies, organizational structures, and planning assumptions
that help in preparations for emergencies.

Analysis of components of Holderness’ EOP

An emergency operations plan includes many components. They include staff
responsibilities, safety, resources, communications, and utility (Fagel, 2016). The emergency
operations plan of Holderness has detailed organizational structures, operations concepts, and
has each department and personnel assigned specific tasks and responsibilities to carry out in the
event of an emergency (Garneau, 2013). It also has extensive emergency plans that include
continuous emergency assessment. The town’s emergency operations plan also addresses
different emergency hazards and situations and how best they can be responded to (Garneau,
2013). Thus, the emergency operations plan for Holderness, New Hampshire, has all the critical
components of an emergency operations plan.

Strengths and weaknesses of the emergency operations plan of Holderness. Like almost all
emergency operations plans, Holderness’ emergency operations plan has strengths as well as
weaknesses. One of the strength is that it takes a functional approach to emergency planning.

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This approach details functions that will have to be undertaken in the event of an emergency and
then assigns different personnel and departments various functions based on capabilities and
resources (Fagel, 2016). Such a plan ensures that every function in disaster response will be
performed competently in the event of a disaster. Another strength of the plan is that it employs
time-tested and recommended procedures and operating rules. Using such standard procedures
and operating rules helps the town to better respond to emergency situations.

A major weakness of the town’s plan is that it does not have detailed instructions for each
individual involved in emergency response. It is important that individuals not only be assigned
responsibilities but also be provided with detailed instructions on how to carry out those
responsibilities.

How Holderness’ emergency operations plan can be improved

There are many areas that can be improved in the emergency operations plan to make it
more effective in guiding response to an emergency situation. One area that can be improved on
is providing detailed instructions to all individuals who will be involved in emergency response.
Such detailed instructions are important in making sure that personnel involved in the response
perform their tasks in an effective manner. Additionally, the emergency operations plan should
be more specific in the goals of each department or response unit in the event of an emergency.
The clearer the goals the more effective the response.

Conclusion

An emergency operations plan helps organizations or governments such the Holderness
local government to better respond to emergency situations. A good emergency operations plan

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should provide a framework that helps response units save as many lives and properties as
possible when disaster strikes. The emergency operations plan of Holderness town has most of
the critical components of emergency operations plan. However, they are not detailed enough to
help the town’s local government to effectively respond to emergency situations.

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References

Fagel, M. (2016). Principles of emergency management and emergency operations centers
(EOC). CRC Press.

Garneau, J. (2013). Emergency Operations Plan. Holderness, New Hampshire.