Emergency Response Research Paper

Hurricane Harvey was one of the most devastating natural disasters to occur in the US. It
hit many Central American and Caribbean countries before eventually hitting southern parts of
the United States. The hurricane reached the states of Texas and New Orleans in August of 2017
(Sebastian et al., 2017). The category four hurricane made a devastating landfall in the southern
US before quickly weakening into a tropical storm. It then stalled over the southern parts of the
state of Texas bringing with it trillions of gallons of rain water that caused one of the worst
flooding the region has ever experienced (Sebastian et al., 2017). The excessive flooding is the
one that caused most of the destruction of the storm. By the time it was over, a hundred and six
American lives lay dead and more than a hundred and thirty thousand homes had been destroyed
(Sebastian et al., 2017). Factories, cars, roads and other critical infrastructure were also
destroyed. In total, property worth over a hundred billion dollars had been destroyed (Sebastian
et al., 2017). The cost of the storm’s destruction is the highest ever witnessed in the USA
(Sebastian et al., 2017). Only Hurricane Katrina of 2005, twelve years earlier, compares with
Hurricane in sheer scale of destruction.

The population affected by the hurricane

The hurricane affected the lives of millions of people in the United States. It affected both
directly and indirectly over thirteen million people (Sebastian et al., 2017). The large number of
people affected could have been a result of the high population density of the area that the storm
hit. The area most affected by the hurricane, Houston Metropolitan in the state of Texas, has over
six and a half million people (Sebastian et al., 2017). Not all demographics were, however,
affected equally. Like in other such disasters, the poor and the elderly proved to be the most

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vulnerable group to be affected by the storm. This is because of the unavailability of financial
resources and physical energy needed to effectively evacuate and get into a safe place in
appropriate time (Yeo et al., 2018). Given the vulnerabilities of these demographics, response
units placed special attention to the needs of the poor and elderly who could not effectively
evacuate themselves.

Operations Command Center

The sheer scale of the hurricane led to the activation of the National Response
Framework (NRF). This framework requires that any time there is a disaster that requires various
jurisdictions to work together to effectively respond to it, a unified command is established to
manage the response as well as the resources that have been assigned to respond to the disaster
(Fagel, 2016). This unified command is in line with one of the framework’s core principles
which is unity of effort through a unified command. In the case of Hurricane Harvey, the disaster
mainly hit the states of Texas and New Orleans. Apart from hitting multiple jurisdictions, its
sheer size also meant that the federal government had to be involved in the response in
accordance with the provisions of the National Response Framework (Fagel, 2016). This unified
command worked as the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) whose operations were based in
Austin, Texas (Fandos, 2017). The emergency operations center was in charge of coordinating
various efforts involved in responding to the disaster. It’s goal was to provide an arena where
response team personnel and decision-makers could gather and get intelligence to guide their
response efforts, coordinate their activities, get all the important information required to perform
their work, and manage the personnel involved in the response efforts depending on the dictates
of the situation (Fagel, 2016). The location was chosen because it was relatively safe. It was

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equipped with state of the art technology to allow the response teams and staff to effectively
communicate with each other.

Overall, the emergency operations center served as central coordination place for
gathering of information and disseminating it to teams involved in the emergency response,
coordinating all emergency operations, and liaising with local, state, and federal governments as
well as volunteer organizations, and contractors in order to ensure that the response efforts are as
effective and efficient as possible. Its core functions were finance, logistics, operations, planning,
and command. With regards to finance, the emergency operations center was responsible for
payment of contactors, responders, and all claims associated with the response (Fagel, 2016). It
was also tasked with forecasting and tracking all incident costs of the hurricane. As for logistics,
it was responsible for procuring and distributing materials, equipment, personnel, services, and
facilities required for effective response to the emergency (Fagel, 2016). These materials and
services had to be procured at the right time, in the right quantities, and then availed to the
response teams at the appropriate time. It was in performance of this function of logistics hub
that the emergency operations center also procured volunteers to help in the response efforts
(Yeo et al., 2018). Apart from logistics, the emergency operations center also served a command
function. It carried out the overall management of rescue efforts of Hurricane Harvey.
Additionally, it also served as a planning center. As a planning center, the emergency operations
center collected, evaluated, and disseminated information that was required for coordinating
response plans and actions (Fagel, 2016). As part of this role, it was in charge of determining
which information was true and which one was fake. Lastly, the emergency operations center
served as an operations center. In this role, it was responsible for coordinating all response
operations meant to save lives and property during the disaster.

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In performing these core functions, the emergency operations center carried out many
tasks that were instrumental in having an effective response to the emergency. For instance, it
ensured that there were highly trained personnel for every task that needed to be performed
during the response operations (Fagel, 2016). It also ensured that these personnel had all the
required equipment and materials. Additionally, the EOC constantly monitored social media,
radio, and television to make sure that the public was getting accurate information about the
hurricane (Fagel, 2016). It also ensured that all the procedures and regulations of the local, state,
and federal governments were followed in carrying out the response efforts.

Given the nature of these tasks it is important that the emergency operations center have a
personnel drawn from multiple areas of expertise. In the case of Hurricane Harvey, the
emergency operations center indeed had personnel drawn from various fields. There were
lawyers to handle the legal aspects of the operations and to offer legal advice. There were local
government officials and politicians to help in mobilization of resources. There were also
representatives from various departments such as police, transportation, fire, public works, and
technology (Fagel, 2016). Additionally, there were representatives of various businesses in the
affected region, both big and small including Walmart which was the main provider of foods and
other materials to survivors of the hurricane (Fagel, 2016). Having personnel who are experts in
different fields certainly improved the effectiveness of the work of emergency operations center.

Conduct of media relations during the disaster

Communication is very important during times of emergencies. The response teams need
to have effective communication amongst themselves in order to carry out their activities in a
seamless manner. The emergency operations center needs to communicate with the public in the

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affected area to provide them with the relevant information that will help them to better respond
to the emergency. This information includes where to get evacuation buses and locations of safe
evacuation shelters (Nguyen et al., 2019). In Hurricane Harvey the emergency operations center
used a combination of traditional and new media. It used both radios and television to pass its
message to the public. It used video conferencing to communicate with unit leaders tasked with
various responsibilities. It also used emails to make timely communication to its staff and other
personnel involved in the response operations (Nguyen et al., 2019). Additionally, it made heavy
use of social media. Hurricane Harvey was the first major emergency where social media played
a central communications role. Millions of people, including those in the affected watched the
unfolding events using social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook (Nguyen et al.,
2019). Thanks to the use of these platforms, many people were able to get timely information.
While certainly making the work of emergency operations center easier, social media also
brought a lot of problems because of its democratic nature. Unlike traditional media platforms
such as radio and televisions where it is easy to control information, it is hard to control the
information that people receive on social media. As a result, there was widespread
misinformation that the emergency operations center had to deal with (Nguyen et al., 2019). It
was constantly verifying information that was out on social media sites and either confirming
and labeling it as fake news.

Stress management during Hurricane Harvey

Hurricane Harvey upended many lives of people from the states in which it hit the
hardest. The events of the disaster resulted in extensive trauma and stress for those involved
(Schultz & Galea, 2017). The stress was particularly terrible for people who lost their loved ones
to the hurricane. Not only did they have to live with the pain of such loss but also loss of their

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homes, neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, and other community facilities. In the short term,
millions of people had to live without basic amenities of life such as power and clean water. It is
in recognition of the immense stress that survivors were going through that FEMA organized
ways in which stressed survivors could receive the needed help (Schultz & Galea, 2017). The
health support offered was confidential and free. FEMA had contacts agencies that survivors
needing help could contact and receive help at no cost. Survivors could contact the agencies if
they were suffering from anxiety, depression, substance abuse resulting from the stress related to
the events of Hurricane Harvey, insomnia, and chronic pain (Schultz & Galea, 2017). Since the
region that was affected by the hurricane has large Spanish-speaking population, contacts were
also provided for survivors needing stress management help in Spanish (Schultz & Galea, 2017).
By minding the needs of Spanish-speaking population, FEMA sought to ensure that language
does not become a barrier to access to important mental health services.

Analysis of the performance of the emergency operations center

The emergency operations center did a good job at managing one of the worst disasters to
ever hit the United States. Compared to Hurricane Katrina twelve years earlier, Hurricane
Harvey was handled in a far better manner. That explains why there were relatively fewer lives
lost compared to the lives lost during Hurricane Katrina. Some of the areas that the emergency
operations center got right include communication, logistics, and planning. The emergency
operations center met twice every day (Chivas et al., 2018). Such frequent meetings helped all
concerned parties to increase their awareness of the disaster situation. The information got
through these meetings was then quickly sent to relevant teams involved in the rescue efforts
through a number of communication channels including emails (Chivas et al., 2018).
Additionally, it set up a website where it posted all the important information that the public

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needed (Chivas et al., 2018). From its website, information could be picked up by media stations
and individuals and disseminated to millions of people who found the information useful.

Apart from communication between the response teams and personnel at the emergency
operations center, the communication between the emergency operations center and the public
was also relatively effective. In particular, the center effectively handled medical-related
information. Initially, it made the mistake of not involving medical personnel in the
communications center (Chivas et al., 2018). The result was that many patients were directed to
hospital facilities without knowledge of bed capacity or whether they could handle the conditions
that the patients had. However, this situation was quickly corrected and medical personnel
involved in the communications unit (Chivas et al., 2018). With their vast knowledge of hospital
facilities in the region affected by the hurricane, they were able to direct patients to hospitals
with available beds and with medical professionals able to handle their conditions.

The emergency operations center also did a good job at making effective plans for the
hurricane. They anticipated worst case scenarios and made adequate preparations for the
scenarios. For instance, anticipating that the hurricane may destroy power infrastructure, the
EOC had multiple diesel generators in place to provide power (Chivas et al, 2018). Thanks to
these preparations, when the hurricane came and destroyed electricity infrastructure, hospitals,
shelters, and many other important facilities got adequate power from the generators.

Another area that the emergency operations center did perform relatively well was
coordination of various units involved in the response operations. Given the scale of the disaster,
response units from the federal government joined units from state and local governments in
responding to the disaster. They all needed to work together to ensure that the response

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operations were as seamless as possible. The job of coordinating all these units, including the
Coast Guards, fell on the emergency operations center (Chivas et al., 2018). Apart from
assigning responsibilities, the emergency operations center provided the units with up-to-date
information and resources that they needed to perform their tasks. As a result of the efforts of the
EOC units from various jurisdictions effectively coordinated their efforts.

Like other disaster response efforts, the emergency operations center involved in
managing Hurricane Harvey response efforts had some weaknesses that should be improved one.
First, they seem not to have anticipated the scale of the disaster. Preparations, therefore, seem to
have been made with in anticipation of a normal hurricane. When it finally came, Hurricane
Harvey caused massive flooding even in areas where there had never been floods before (Chivas
et al., 2018). For such areas, there were just not enough resources to handle the effects of the
hurricane in time.

Secondly, the emergency operations center did not make adequate preparations for
volunteers and its employees. Adequate hotel rooms ought to have been identified to
accommodate the many volunteers and other staff working with emergency operations center.
This, however, did not happen. As a result, many of the people working with EOC had to put up
with little sleep and rest because of unavailability of adequate comfortable spaces (Chivas et al.,
2018). Certainly, without adequate rest, such staff are likely to make mistakes that may cause
harm to the response efforts. Additionally, the EOC did not develop flexible quarters for sleeping
for its staff. Such quarters would have allowed staff to get some sleep at any time of day or night
as the situation may demand.

Conclusion

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An emergency operations center plays a very important role in managing responses to
emergencies. Tasked with finance, logistics, planning, operations, and command responsibilities,
mistakes committed by emergency operations center can seriously impair the response efforts.
As this paper has shown, the emergency operations center managing response efforts of
Hurricane Harvey did a much better job at managing the response to the hurricane than it was the
case in Hurricane Katrina. They anticipated the worst case scenario and made adequate
preparations it. As a result, even though Hurricane Harvey ended up causing extreme damage to
property, many lives were saved through effective efforts of the emergency operations center.
The mistakes made were, however, not insignificant. It is important that agencies involved in
preparing for response efforts carefully analyze them and find ways of avoiding them next a
hurricane of similar magnitude hits the USA.

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References

Chivas, G., Patrick, C., Schultz, K., Dickson, R., Decker, C. (2018). Preparation, Response, and
Lessons from Hurricane Harvey. Journal of Emergency Medical Services. Issue 3 Volume
43.

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

Nguyen, L., Yang, Z., Li, J., Pan, Z., Cao, G., & Jin, F. (2019). Forecasting people’s needs in
hurricane events from social network. IEEE Transactions on Big Data.

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.

Shultz, J. M., & Galea, S. (2017). Mitigating the mental and physical health consequences of
Hurricane Harvey. Jama, 318(15), 1437-1438.

Yeo, C. J. J., Roman, G. C., Kusnerik, D., Burt, T., Mersinger, D., Thomas, S.,& Powell, S.
(2018). Trainee Responses to Hurricane Harvey: Correlating Volunteerism With
Burnout. Frontiers in public health, 6, 224.

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