MHE503 Survey of Emergency and Disaster Mgt Module 5 SLP - Essay Example

In 1642, a Chinese rebel army shattered the Kaifeng dikes of the Yellow River resulting to deaths by inundation of some 370,000 denizens (Xu et al,1995,p.87). In November 13, 1970, a tidal wave accompanying a cyclone in today's Bangladesh snuffed out 500,000 lives (Young,1985,p.66). Lately, during the World Trade Center attacks by Al Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001, more than 30,000 people perished as the whole world watched in abject horror via their televisions (Craighead,2009,p.84).

Man has learned to react systematically to these disasters. All that man must do is to prepare beforehand for the time when these arrive to wreak havoc on humanity, to respond to emergencies that spawn great distress and to establish recovery measures so that losses will be mitigated and alleviated. Humanity must particularly brace itself for dire, disastrous effects that global warming may at any time inflict on peoples' lives. Man has learned to institute and organize an Incident Command System.

system that manages an expeditious and efficient response to all emergency incidents which response is flexible, multi-jurisdictional and complex and involving the coordination and orchestration of the functions and energies of state, federal and local responders. This also entails the utilization of a competent on-scene tool for the management of such response where the first persons or agencies to respond take control of the situation and adopt a standard, integrated organizational framework until an Incident Commander or any higher ranking responder takes over the command and control of the emergency scene (Hogar & Burstein,2007,p.143). Answer to Question 1 The Key Features of an Incident Command System or ICS: First, there is a legally delegated Incident Commander or IC who has absolute authority for directing all operations at the incident scene.

The IC also has the power to appoint and delegate his or her responsibilities to alter egos who are most likely heads of government agencies. In the assigned Philippine scenario, the President is the IC and the appointing power on the basis of Section 17, Article VII of the 1987 Philippine Constitution. The agencies in charge of responding to calamities and