Disasters have a catastrophic nature that calls for all levels of the society and the government to have a shared responsibility in trying to mitigate the situation. The responsibility of the emergency management is vivid in coordinating the responsibility of the multiple agencies by offering a central point of command. With the responsibilities of the agencies given from an overseeing point of command, there is minimal collision and streamlines the implementation of the response plans through the help of Emergency Operation Centers (EOCs) and Multiagency Coordination Systems (MACS). It has also the responsibility of sharing vital data or information across all agencies which creates ease in responding to emergency events (Waugh, 2015).
Mutual aid in the emergency perspective is the collective agreement among all the available emergency responders to be of assistance to each other during emergency events across the existing jurisdictional boundaries. This is a critical understanding that sees to it that resources closest to the site of need are dispatched even if they are out of their jurisdiction. This is important in deescalating the available situation instead to waiting to work the requests during emergencies and disasters. They ensure quick response by cutting down the need to request permits in order for an agency to offer assistance during the hour of need.
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Mutual aid is important for various reasons among them building relationship and communication ties. Through the agreement, the parties involved have to work together which helps them keep in touch in helping each other. Another advantage is growth of experience through shared action reports, exercises, learned lessons among other experiences therefore improving performance during execution of the required responsibilities. There is also the extensive range of service. However, there are cons associated with this agreement including the central command losing track of who is where in some situations. There is also the challenge of the personnel responding not having the appropriate equipment depleting the very valuable time during response (Andrew et al., 2015). Finally, the information on the threat may be flawed or nonexistent some time.
References
Andrew, S. A., Short, J. E., Jung, K., & Arlikatti, S. (2015). Intergovernmental cooperation in the provision of public safety: Monitoring mechanisms embedded in interlocal agreements. Public Administration Review , 75(3), 401-410.
Waugh, W. L. (2015). Living with Hazards, Dealing with Disasters: An Introduction to Emergency Management: An Introduction to Emergency Management. Routledge .
