The disaster management requires coordination among different states and federal agencies to help reduce the impacts and identify and punish the culprits as well as help the victims recover from the attacks or national disasters. In the United States, there have been several terrorist attacks and natural disasters in different regions. The response from these attacks varies based on the magnitude and their effects. Notably, the relevant agencies responsible for the disaster management often provide certain resources to aid victims recovering from the attacks or national disaster. In New York City, there has been an adequate collaboration between the city and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) when it comes to the provision of resources that can help aid the victims to recover from any natural disaster or attack by terrorist. Both the New York City and the FEMA donate specific resources when there is an emergency in the city.
The Resources Offered By the New York City
In the event of a national disaster or terrorism in the city, New York City office often devotes certain resources to support the victims. There are several resources the New York State office can provide to help cater for the various expenses of the victims of terror or national disaster. The two most important resources provided by the New York City include the medical and counselling expenses and lost or damaged property support.
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The medical and counselling expenses are a priority for the New York City since it plays an important role towards ensuring that the injured victims get adequate treatment and medical care (NYC, 2018). Majority of the natural disaster leads to injuries and deaths of the victims. In case of injuries, the New York City often ensures that there are adequate medical personnel and drugs to cater to the needs of all the victims. The individuals who have lost their families and those who suffer from the trauma and other related shocks are provided with appropriate counselling to aid their recovering from such effects.
The other resource offered by the New York City is the support for the lost or damaged property. The natural disaster or terrorist attack can lead to a significant damage to the property of individuals. Besides, it can lead to the loss of an essential property of individuals. As a result, it is the responsibility of the New York City to ensure that there is adequate support for the lost or damaged property (NYC, 2018). In order to provide the support for the lost or damaged property, the New York City can provide various essential amenities to the public. This can include the provision of houses water, food, and homes for the victims who might have lost their homes during the attack. The city often arranges for rental houses for the victims who are rendered homeless by the occurrence of the natural disaster or the terrorist attack. The houses provided by the New York City to accommodate the individuals who homes have been damaged or destroyed provides temporary accommodation to the affected individuals. The New York City can also assist the victims to acquire some loans with low interest to purchase some of the damaged or lost properties.
Resources Offered By FEMA
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is responsible for the coordination of the efforts and responses to manage a disaster that has happened in the United States. The agency is under the US Department of Homeland Security and works to ensure that the regions affected by natural disaster or terror attacks get adequate resources to help in the recovering process ( Waugh, 2015) . The FEMA comes in aid after the governor of the affected states declares a state of emergency and requested the president for FEMA and the federal government to assist in the disaster management program.
FEMA is responsible for the provision of various services that might not be at the disposal of the state government. Typically, FEMA comes in when the resources required to manage the disaster overwhelm the ability of the affected state or region (Kearns et al., 2014). The two primary important resources that FEMA provides to ensure that the victims of the disaster recover include fundings and provision of the expertise in specialized fields.
Funding is an important resource that can be used to help the victims affected by the disaster. One of the roles of funding is to help in the rebuilding efforts. When the disaster caused massive damage and loss of properties, it is important for FEMA to help organize for funds to help rebuild the destroyed properties that can include houses and other business enterprises ( Waugh, 2015) . The other role of funding is that it can be used as the relief contribution to support infrastructural developments. Normally, the state or a city can lose various infrastructures as a result of the disaster. As a result, FEMA can help provide the relief fund for the infrastructural developments to ensure that the state resumes back to normalcy.
The other contribution of FEMA is that it provides the necessary expertise in the various specialized field to help in the management of the disaster. The disaster management team within the state or New York City might lack adequate specialized personnel in certain areas such as bomb detection and control. As a result, they will depend on FEMA to provide the required expertise in the specified fields to help in the rescue operation after the occurrence of a disaster or terrorism.
Evaluation on How Local, State, and Federal Agencies Could Better Advertise
The local, state and federal agencies can better advertise on the natural disaster and terrorism using appropriate strategies to ensure that it does not affect the recovery of the victims and well as the investigation efforts. One of the ways that the local agencies can use to pass the information regarding terrorism is to use the local media channels such as radio, television and newspaper to inform the citizens and other relevant authorities about the issue. Furthermore, the national and state broadcasting channels and newspapers including others that operate nationally and are privately owned should be informed. In essence, the local, state and the federal government should contract the media fraternity in an effort to advertise and create awareness of the natural disaster or terrorism. The use of media can ensure that the information about the disaster reachers many stakeholders and thus help to protect the general public and other individuals against potential harm and consequences if the natural disaster. It is also important for the three government agencies to ensure constant flow and communication among themselves.
The three government agencies should ensure that the media is briefed with reliable and relevant information to avoid misinforming the public about the tragedy and impact. Providing accurate and reliable information can ensure that there are no conflicts of interest and that media pass the relevant information to the public. Other alternative media channels and the social media avenues should be avoided as they can cause tension and distort certain information. However, it is appropriate for the three level of the government to give brief comments on their social media avenues that can include Facebook and Twitter among others. In such social sites, a detailed account of the incidence should not be provided rather than a comment or brief on the tragedy. This can help control the spread of rumour which is a common phenomenon on the majority of the social media avenues.
Meaningful Mental Health and Trauma Support to Victims of Disasters
The victims of natural disaster and terrorism can be exposed to a lot of mental and health trauma that can affect there health and wellbeing. In many cases, the victims of the disaster lose their close families and friends as well as experience severe injuries ( Waugh, 2015) . As a result, it is important that the local, state and federal agencies ensure that the approach taken to manage the disaster provide support to the mental health and trauma.
One of the strategies that can be used by the agencies involved in the recovery process is to offer adequate counselling to all the people affected by the disaster. The local, state and federal government should ensure that the victims receive adequate counselling to help them recover from trauma caused by the tragedy. It is also important to ensure that all the advertisement provided by the agencies are neutral and designed in a way that does not cause further trauma to the victims. It is also appropriate to include religious organizations and other counselling groups in the recovery process to help offer emotional and spiritual support to all the victims of the tragedy.
References
Kearns, R. D., Skarote, M. B., Peterson, J., Hubble, M. W., & Winslow, J. E. (2014). Creating a state medical response system for medical disaster management: the North Carolina experience. Southern medical journal , 107 (9), 540-548.
NYC (2018). The New York City Home Web Page, available at https://www1.nyc.gov/ , retrieved on September 26, 2018
Waugh, W. L. (2015). Living with Hazards, Dealing with Disasters: An Introduction to Emergency Management: An Introduction to Emergency Management . Routledge.
