DHS official touts ongoing revisions to emergency response plan
Aim is to “make sure people actually pick [the plan] up and use it,” emergency management official says.
When the next national disaster occurs, federal, state and local responders will be ready to react in partnership with mutually supporting capabilities to assure the safety and security of citizens. At least that's the idea behind the draft National Response Framework released by the Homeland Security Department earlier this month.
The draft document, when finalized, is to replace the National Response Plan that was released in the summer of 2005, shortly before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, wiping out 90,000 square miles of Gulf Coast territory and forcing more than a million Americans from their homes.
In ways large and small, the new National Response Framework aims to change the way officials at the federal, state and local level prepare for and respond to disasters, said retired Coast Guard Vice Adm. Harvey Johnson, now the deputy administrator and chief operating officer at the Federal Emergency Management Agency within DHS.
The National Response Plan made a "very nice doorstop," Johnson said during an interview Wednesday, but its size (a three-ring binder several inches thick) and dense bureaucratic language made it virtually impenetrable to all but the most determined readers. The replacement 84-page National Response Framework (plus 383 pages of detailed annexes available online) was renamed to more accurately reflect the document's purpose, which is to provide responders with a user-friendly, easy-to-read manual that outlines the organizational structure for emergency operations.
"Part of the goal was to make sure people actually pick it up and use it as opposed to just having it on their shelf and then pulling it out when a disaster occurs," Johnson said.
Johnson, who led the Coast Guard's West Coast support to the Hurricane Katrina response, said, "This document lays out much more clearly [than the 2005 National Response Plan] what the roles and responsibilities are across all levels [of government]. It will help people understand how they should communicate with each other, what they should expect from each other and when they should expect it."
The new framework also describes a clear structure for establishing a joint field office that can be scaled from small to catastrophic events and explains more clearly than the previous plan what role the military can and cannot play in domestic emergencies. Along those lines, the framework spells out the different authorities National Guard troops may exercise when operating in state status under the control of a governor, versus federal status under the control of a federal military commander -- an issue that proved confusing to some during the Katrina response.
The draft framework also addresses the issue of pets, something that was important in managing the mass evacuation of New Orleans in 2005. "That clearly was an issue that came out of Katrina," Johnson said. "Someone may not leave their home or get on a bus and evacuate unless they can take their pet with them."
Louisiana now has thousands of pet cages and vehicles specifically designed to move pets should the need arise, Johnson said. "It is a very significant issue if we want to have a successful evacuation," he said.
The draft document is available for review and public comment here.