Leadership in Managing Disasters and Crisis

Leadership in Managing Disasters and Crisis

In 2017, various places were hit by Hurricane Harvey. The response to this natural disaster has since been found to be one of the best in the history of major disasters in America (FEMA, 2017). Good leadership is part of the reason behind the quick and effective response to the disaster. One of the leaders who showed exceptional skills in dealing with the disaster is Greg Abbott, the Texas governor.

One of the leadership tasks demonstrated by this leader is sense-making. He was able to make sense of the information given to him by the weather department predicting that a destructive hurricane would occur (Romo, 2018). He used this information to warn the people in areas that would be affected to evacuate before the hurricane occurred. This leader also expressed good decision-making skills after the occurrence of the disaster. He guided the rescue of the people hit by the disaster and helped to get temporary shelters for people without options. He issued resources to help deal with the rescue process including assistance from law enforcement officials like police. Lastly, great leadership was expressed in the recovery process. He performed the terminating task by giving half a billion dollars which would be used to recover the damage that had been caused by this disaster (Romo, 2018).

In conclusion, the performance of this leader and his collaboration with other emergency management agencies was a major factor leading to the successful response to Hurricane Harvey. Many leaders can learn from Greg Abbott in managing disasters in the future by recognizing that their emergency management skills are important in managing the crisis successfully.

References

FEMA (2017). Historic Disaster Response to Hurricane Harvey in Texas. Retrieved from: https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2017/09/22/historic-disaster-response-hurricane-harvey-texas

Romo, V. (2018, February 13). Texas Governor Announces A Half-Billion Dollars For Hurricane Harvey-Hit Areas. NPR. Retrieved from: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/13/585587300/texas-governor-announces-a-half-billion-dollars-for-hurricane-harvey-hit-areas

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“Decision Making in Managing Disasters and Crises” Please respond to the following:

From the e-Activity, analyze the problematic decision that the agency made during the disaster or crisis with respect to preparedness, response, recovery, and/or mitigation. Specify the main reason(s) why you believe the decision in question was problematic.
From the e-Activity, put yourself in the role of the emergency management agency director. Explain whether or not you would have handled the situation differently. Provide a rationale for your response.

e-Activity
Visit the Emergency Management Agency Website for your county (or another U.S. county you are familiar with). Research an operational decision made by this agency during a specific disaster or crisis which ended up causing additional problems. Be prepared to discuss.

Number of pages: 1
References/sources: 1

“Leadership in Managing Disasters and Crises” Please respond to the following:

From your research, prioritize the leadership tasks that a leader must possess during an emergency. Next, speculate on an example or scenario where weak leadership could have made matters worse during an emergency situation. Select ONE task from the following and discuss:
Sense making connotes the task of recognizing the extraordinary conditions from ambiguous and contradictory signs.
Decision making in managing disasters covers prioritization of needs and use of resources as well as making effective decisions under stressful conditions.
Meaning-making refers to the process of reducing the uncertainty, communicating clearly with the public, and explaining to stakeholders what the current condition is, how the situation is managed, and what they are supposed to do to reduce the uncertainty.
In the terminating task, leaders eliminate the disaster conditions and bring the routine life conditions back to life again.
Learning involves recognizing lessons from the mistakes and building up experience to ensure that more accurate policies, procedures, and regulations are established going forward.
From the e-Activity, give your opinion on how well your selected leader performed leadership tasks and response to the disaster or crisis during the emergency situation. Provide a rationale for your response.

e-Activity
Use your textbook and the Internet databases to research one (1) U.S. government official who played an important leadership role in managing a disaster or crisis which occurred over the past ten (10) years. Be prepared to discuss.