Emergency Operations Plans

1. What are three Purposes of Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs)? Clarity

There exist a number of Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs) purposes, among the mainly significant are as follows:

1. EOPs outline response along with recovery procedures relating to varying kinds of emergencies affecting individual’s lives and property destruction. Emergencies/disasters appear in dissimilar hazards namely: natural and human-instigated. An effectual disaster recovery and response calls for systematic preplanned resources along with equipment to reduce losses significantly.
2. EOPs extend a harmonized plan to all the agencies and organizations charged with the responsibility to aid during emergency/disaster circumstances carrying precise objectives and expectations. The procedures provided offer specific guidelines to mop out confusion when conducting recovery and response. Every personnel involved in recovery and response knows their duties and responsibilities (United States, 2010).
3. EOPs introduce coordination of disaster operations amongst government, private-sector along with volunteer groups. The coordination generates an understanding amongst entities, the requirements and ways of implementing resources comprehensively whilst undertaking disaster operations.
4. What are three Questions/Issues addressed by EOPs? Clarity

The first question that the EOP addresses how should be individuals respond to a disaster? EOP provides ways in which first responders require to be trained to undertake their roles whilst responding to a disaster (United States, 2010). The response guidelines are laid out in addition to the specific duties allocations to the initial responders.  The second question is what communications are required to be developed amongst agencies to develop a unified response system? EOPs provide guidelines establishing ways to strengthen communications and provide efficient and coordinated communication amongst all first responders. The third question is what measures need to be taken in preparation of responding to any disaster occurrence? EOP presents strategic measures to be taken and practiced in preparation of an imminent disaster. This enables protection of crucial facilities, records and equipment.

• What are three examples of Information/Data/Observations/Experiences provided in an EOP?

EOP utilizes information from the past disasters and disaster responses in order to create better future responses and recovery methods. The reasoning behind this is that the weaknesses and strengths of the past incidents can be utilized as learning viewpoints. Secondly, EOPs examines the responding equipments accessible to the first responders along with the Emergency Manager in case of an incident occurrence (United States, 2010). Awareness with the available equipment is the initial success to responding to an incident. The manager will be able to determine what equipment requires to be added in order to guarantee an efficient response. Thirdly, EOP offers the statistic relating to the probable loss with regards to occurrence of a natural disaster for instance an earthquake. This gives the responding team an idea of what equipment and personnel are required to deal with the probable losses (Perry & Lindell, 2007).

• What are three examples of Interpretations/Conclusions/Solutions found in an EOP?

The first interpretation entails actions to be undertaken once a fire emergency occurs, for instance, how to evacuate, what kind of appropriate equipment require to be used grounded on location and intensity of the fire. A second interpretation describes how to contact and request external assistance so as to mobilize adequate response team if the emergency is demanding, that is, the facility’s team has insufficient capacity to deal with the emergency.  The third interpretation regards the outlining of the priorities once an emergency occurs and ways to distribute the accessible equipment and personnel (United States, 2010).

• What are three Concepts/Principles/Models/Theories found in an EOP?

Concepts and Models found within an EOP:

1. Continuity of operations checklist is a model utilized within the Emergency Operations Plan. This checklist takes an organization through a series of steps explaining how to perform a certain duty and attain the objective. It outlines varying plans and procedures aimed at ensuring functionality (United States, 2010).
2. A sticky-note chart is an additional model within an EOP. Sticky-notes charts present a list of the probable scenarios, response times, and team’s tasks designation during a scenario. It is usually a timeline utilizing multicolored stickers or at times taped index cards.
3. The step phase listing concept is usually utilized within EOPs. This is a sequential order representing a chain of events along with priorities. This list is utilized by the emergency operations command to monitor tasks in the process of the emergency operation.
4. What are three Assumptions found in an EOP?

The assumptions found within the EOP are:

1. External resources are readily accessible during an emergency response and that their response will be fast and without limitations (United States, 2010).
2. The EOP procedures are easily comprehensible to any individual since it utilizes easy and direct lingual terms.
3. A third assumption regards the listing of the most probable hazards owing to the past statistic of disaster occurrence in area.
4. What are three Points-of-View provided in an EOP?

The EOP provides three viewpoints namely:

• Formulation of an EOP should include the views of every emergency responder and experts. These will provide critical information on ways of addressing disasters.
• The community viewpoint requires to be considered when formulating an EOP. Special training and equipment is needed during evacuations once an emergency arises. For instance a particular area may have huge population numbers (United States, 2010).
•  The private sector along with volunteer groups’ viewpoint ought to be considered. These groups may offer expertise, advice and training procedures. Additionally, these groups could assist formulate an effectual response plan for local volunteers in order of avoiding conflict during an emergency response (Perry & Lindell, 2007).   

References

Perry, R. W., & Lindell, M. K. (2007). Emergency planning. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

United States. (2010). Developing and maintaining emergency operations plans. Washington, D.C.: Dept. of Homeland Security. Federal Emergency Management Agency.