Interagency Relationships and the Policymaking Process

Purpose

The following Annex has been created to outline the actions and roles that need to performed to ensure a coordinated response within Plainsville, Colorado.  It is meant to provide guidance to the relevant agencies within Plainsville, Colorado with regard to the potential responsibilities before, during and after emergency situations. It also describes the interagency collaboration process, network, relationships all stakeholders and partners that should be engaged to prevent, respond, mitigate, and carry out consequence management stages.

Scope

The annex relates to all involved departments and agencies within the jurisdiction contained in the community of Plainsville, Colorado.

Situation Overview

1. Characteristics
2. Location
3. This annex covers the emergency plans in Plainsville town within Colorado State.
4. Geographic
5. The city of Plainsville is among the largest cities in the state of Colorado.
6. Demographics

As at 2014, the city of Plainsville had a total population exceeding 450,000. The main of region of concern being an industrial especially on the northern part registers inflow of people from other cities making the daytime population hit 500000.

• Designated Area of Interest

The jurisdiction covered in this annex covers the railway lines pass that serves the community in which chemicals are transported to manufacturing plants within the town.

• Hazard Profile
• Potential hazards

The community of Plainsville, Colorado is served by a railway line that has been associated with risks such as poor track maintenance which exposes the community to dire consequences of potential train derailment. This may expose different stakeholders to different levels and scope of the magnitude of that disaster.

This condition would be worsened by the acts of terror targeting the railway lines. These rail lines are known to be used for the transport of chemical that are routinely transported to different manufacturing plants with the jurisdiction. A possible derailment would thus result in mass deaths and injuries to the members of the community. The event is also likely to involve fear among the community members.

• Vulnerability Assessment
• The vulnerable area covered by this annex is the poorly maintained rail lines creating perfect conditions for a disaster. The chemicals in transit offer an easy target for the terrorists to hit with an aim of causing death, injury and instilling fear among the community members.

Planning Assumptions

1. There will be effective production and warning systems put in place that may be used to anticipate for disaster situations that may occur within the area covered by the jurisdiction or other neighboring regions served by the same rail lines.
2. It takes the assumption that contingencies put in place will differ in scope and intensity creating noticeable and distinguishable differenced for area where devastation may be isolated and limited to those that devastation may be wide-ranging and devastated.
3. The local authority will initiate mitigation action to reduce the effects of emergency situation within the shortest time possible.
4. There will supplemented response efforts by other response organizations within the jurisdiction meant to achieve efficient, effective and well -coordinated response when the main jurisdiction is faced with a situation of insufficient resources.
5. It should be a top priority of the officials under this annex to work their level best in attempts to save lives, offer protection of property , mitigate human suffering, protect the environment and restore essential services and facilities.

1. CONCEPT OF OPERATIONS

General

1. The mayor of the town may declare localized state of emergency and thereby request for more assistant from the State. All requests for State Assistance need to be channeled through the local emergency manager for the town to the State Emergency Operations Center.
2. When the State Emergence Operations Center has been activated, the responsibility falls to the State Emergency Response Team under the leadership of the director of emergency management.
3. The local emergence manager will lead the operations of the local response team from various stakeholders.
4. Adequate preparations will be made to facilitate rapid deployment of resources necessary to ensure recovery

Hazard Control and Assessment

1. Perceive the threat: The threat of a possible train derailment will be considered. The possibility of occurrence is fueled by poor track maintenance and possible terror attack. The magnitude of the threat is increased by the presence of the manufacturing chemicals that are transported by rail.
2. Assess the Hazard

The rail lines serving the community are vulnerable to occurrence of disaster which may lead to injuries and fatalities of the community members. The problem is made worse by the chemicals transported but are needed to support the manufacturing activities within the city.

• Select control strategy: this should be aimed at improving track condition, protection form terror attack and safe transport of chemicals.
• Control hazard
• Monitor hazard

Process of Protective Action Selection

1. Review and analyze the hazard
2. Come up with protection action’
3. Determine ways of achieving public warning
4. Determine protective action implementation plan

Public Warning

1. Determine the contents to be used to relay the message
2. Choose appropriate public warning systems
3. Channel the public warning

Protective Action Implementation

1. Carry out monitoring of the protection action implementation
2. Control access and isolate danger area
3. Facilitate evacuation process
4. Carryout decontamination support process
5. Avail medical services
6. Offer special population support
7. Search and rescue any trapped victims
8. ORGANIZATION AND ASSIGMENT OF RESPONSIBILITIES
9. Elected official; Mayor and Deputy Mayor
10. Declaration of disaster
11. Give evacuation orders
12. Make other relevant decisions necessary to solve the disaster in hand
13. Homeland security and emergency management  agencies
14. Emergence Operations Center (EOC) staffing and functioning
15. Communications
16. Alert warning systems
17. Offer emergence information sensitization to the public
18. Anti-terror unit
19. Assess the possibility of the derailment being a terror attack
20. Collaborate with other relevant agencies to gather evidence for the disaster
21. Provide information aimed at eliminating fear related to a terror attack
22. Railway management services
23. Provide details for the train plan and the chemical content
24. Terminate any further operations along the rail lines
25. Law enforcement agencies
26. Maintain law and order
27. Ensuring smooth flow of traffic
28. Controlling and limiting access to the scene
29. Assist in the evacuation effort
30. Fire departments
31. Offer fire protection and combating fire that my erupt
32. Search and rescue trapped victims
33. Emergency medical services agencies
34. Emergency medical transportation
35. Provide medical treatment
36. Facilitate the process of medical evacuation
37.  Health departments
38. Emergence medical care information and coordination
39. Offer medical advisories with regard to the chemical exposure and contamination
40. Public work agencies
41. Maintain major routes of access
42.  Assist in the process of heavy rescue
43. Debris removal
44. Environment management services
45. Measure the level of environmental pollution by the chemical spillage
46. Coordinate the process of reducing adverse effects to the environment
47. Offering sustainable solutions for the transportation of the chemicals (FEMA, 1996)

References

FEMA. (1996). Guide for All-Hazard Emergence Operations Planning.

FEMA. (2009). Basic Emergency Operations Planning: Emergecny Operations Plan Annex Template.

Winona State University. (2009). Emergency Operations Criss Preparedness Plan. Retrieved from https://www.winona.edu/emergency/…/Emergency_Operation