BerkeleyLaw Library

"The ability to measure emergency preparedness—to predict the likely performance of emergency response systems at future events—is critical for policy analysis in homeland security. It is also key for answering the fundamental question that the public and policymakers alike have about those systems: How much confidence should we have that they will function as planned when the next large-scale incident or disaster occurs? Though substantial effort has been devoted to developing measures of preparedness in a range of fields, good measures are still elusive. This work makes a contribution to that larger effort, by drawing on the fields of systems analysis and engineering and applying concepts of system reliability to the evaluation of response systems. By laying out a planned response operation in detail and systematically asking what might go wrong that will prevent the response system from performing as designed, this approach can help to estimate the likelihood that the response system will be able to meet the needs of a future large-scale incident or disaster. . . .

"This work should be of interest to individuals at the federal, state, and local level involved in preparedness and planning; members of the private sector involved in contingency and business continuity planning; members of the executive and legislative branches interested in homeland security, emergency management, assessment, and performance measurement; and members of the public interested in disaster and emergency preparedness."—Preface.

"The amount of assistance provided through presidential disaster declarations has exceeded $100 billion. Often, in recent years, Congress has enacted supplemental appropriations legislation to cover unanticipated costs. While the amounts spent by the federal government on different programs may be reported, and the progress of the recovery can be observed, much less is known about the process that initiates all of this activity. Yet, it is a process that has resulted in an average of more than one disaster declaration a week over the last decade.

"The disaster declaration procedure is foremost a process that preserves the discretion of the governor to request assistance and the President to decide to grant, or not to grant, supplemental help. The process employs some measurable criteria in two broad areas: Individual Assistance that aids families and individuals and Public Assistance that is mainly for repairs to infrastructure. The criteria, however, also considers many other factors, in each category of assistance, that help decision makers assess the impact of an event on communities and states."—Summary.