NRF AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT 2

NRF and Disaster Management

Hurricane Harvey, which hit southern states of the US in 2017, was the first major
hurricane to hit the US since Florida was hit by Hurricane Wilma in 2005 (Sebastian et al.,
2017). The category four storm caused massive destruction in the US and the Caribbean.
Affecting more than thirteen million people in the US, leaving 106 dead, and destroying over
130,000 homes, the hurricane was one of the most devastating in the US history (Sebastian et al.,
2017). In terms of cost of damage, its over a hundred billion worth of damage is one of the
costliest in the US.

The hurricane was also the first major natural disaster in which response efforts were
conducted under the National Response Framework (NRF) structures. A major NRF principle is
unity of effort established through unified command. In any emergency situation involving
multiple jurisdictions, NRF requires that there is a unified command to manage the response and
manage assigned resources (Fagel, 2016). Immediately the scale of Hurricane Harvey became
known, it was clear that local and state emergency units alone could not manage to effectively
handle the storm. Federal assistance was, therefore, provided. In particular, FEMA used the
Coast Guard response efforts to the hurricane (Fandos, 2017). Coast Guards are considered
America’s maritime first responders. With their extensive training, they are suited for leadership
positions in NRF’s command structure (Fandos, 2017). The federal response units worked
closely with Texas and Louisiana emergency response to evacuate people, provide emergency
relief food, clothing, and shelter, and help in garbage clean-up (Fandos, 2017). Thanks to the
efforts of various units from different jurisdictions under the NRF framework, Hurricane Harvey

NRF AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT 3
did not lead to as much loss of life as Hurricane Katrina, a storm of similar scale, had done
around a decade earlier.

References

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

Fandos, N. (August 25, 2017). Trump Administration Faces Hurricane Harvey, Its First Major
National Disaster. The New York Times. Retrieved on 13 th October, 2019 from
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/25/us/politics/trump-hurricane-texas-
fema.html?mcubz=0

Sebastian, A., Lendering, K. T., Kothuis, B. L. M., Brand, A. D., Jonkman, S. N., van Gelder, P.
H. A. J. M., & Meesters, K. J. M. G. (2017). Hurricane Harvey Report: A fact-finding
effort in the direct aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in the Greater Houston Region.