ANNUAL HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

REPORT

### June 28--29, 2000

Emergency Management Institute

Emmitsburg, Maryland

**Annual Higher Education Conference**

**June 28-29, 2000**

Introductions 1

Purpose of Conference 2

Kay Goss Opening Remarks 3

Status of the Emergency Management Higher Education Project 8

Status of Fire/Emergency Services Higher Education Project 11

**Group 1: Course Development Sessions**

Marketing Programs/Building Student Interest 14

Public Administration and Emergency Management Course 16

A Social Vulnerability Approach to Emergency Management Course 17

Accreditation of Emergency Management Programs 19

Needs of Emergency Management Students 22

Emergency Management Resources 24

**Group 2: Course Development Sessions**

Disaster Response and Operations Course 26

Community Hazards Risk Assessment 28

Building Disaster Resilient Communities Course 29

Distance Learning Panel 31

**Group 3: Course Development Sessions**

Community-Based Emergency Management 32

Terrorism and Emergency Management Course 34

Earthquake Hazard and Emergency Management 36

Fundamentals of Emergency Management 37

**Appendices**

Appendix A "Development of Specialized Accreditation for Emergency

> Management Degree Programs" A-1

Appendix B Service Learning References and Resources B-1

Appendix C LRC Forms C-1

Appendix D Disaster Photos D-1

Appendix E Case Studies E-1

Appendix F Attendee Roster F-1

Higher Education Project

One of the goals of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is to
encourage and support the inclusion of emergency management-related
education in colleges and universities across the United States. FEMA
believes that in the future, more emergency managers in government, as
well as in business and industry should come to the job with college
degrees in emergency management. FEMA would like to see an emergency
management-related degree program in every State of the Union by the
year 2001.

To further this end, FEMA's Emergency Management Institute (EMI) in
Emmitsburg, Maryland, has undertaken several projects which promote
college-based emergency management education. An annotated listing of
colleges and universities in the United States that teach one or more
emergency management courses ("The College List") is available. This
document (available at
[www.fema.gov./emi/edu](http://www.fema.gov./emi/edu)) describes courses
and programs offered, and provides point-of-contact information for each
institution listed. This listing is now routinely provided to emergency
management personnel interested in continuing their education, as well
as to academics wishing to develop their own emergency
management-related courses.

A compilation of course syllabi and outlines of existing emergency
management-related courses taught in academia today is also available.
More than 100 course outlines or syllabi are included, and this
compilation is free of charge to any college wishing to investigate the
development of emergency management-related courses.

Next, in partnership with the academic community, EMI developed a
prototype emergency management curriculum consisting of classroom-based,
upper division (junior/senior), baccalaureate-level courses. EMI is now
working with a variety of colleges and universities to develop this
curriculum, as well as other courses which expand university-based
hazards and emergency management education. Recently, EMI developed a
prototype curriculum for associate degrees in emergency management based
on existing EMI training courses, which may be used or adapted by
community colleges.

**[Purpose of Conference]{.underline}**

The purpose of EMI's Emergency Management Higher Education Conference is
to bring together Higher Education Project course developers,
representatives of colleges and universities that have hazard, disaster
and emergency management programs, and representatives of schools that
are actively seeking to develop and implement such programs. Attendees
were brought together to discuss the needs of potential course users and
emergency management degree program developers, as well as general items
of interest pertaining to hazards, disaster and emergency management
higher education.

![](media/image1.jpeg){width="4.010416666666667in"
height="3.011111111111111in"}

*Attendees review the meeting agenda and select*

*the workshops in which they will participate.*

Opening Remarks by Kay C. Goss, CEM

**FEMA's Associate Director for Preparedness, Training, and Exercises**

**Third Annual Higher Education Conference**

**Emergency Management Institute**

**Emmitsburg, Maryland**

**June 28, 2000**

\[Edited\]

Good morning everybody. It\'s a pleasure to be here. This is my favorite
activity of the year, so I\'m glad it finally arrived. I\'ve been
counting the days and weeks until we got together again. This is our
third annual higher education conference. It gets bigger and better
every year. The President, Vice President and Director Witt are all very
proud of our activities here and very proud of the work you do day-in
and day-out in building the professionalism of our jobs.

I wish to thank each of you for taking the time to do this because I
know it\'s really hard to schedule to fly to Washington, spend two whole
days with us, and then fly back home. It takes about four days out of
your year, but I know you do so much with the other 361 days, I know it
will work out okay. I think this is a great opportunity for all of us to
get together in these interactive sessions. It is a great opportunity
for those of you who are developing courses to see, meet, and hear the
anxieties of those of you who are delivering our courses. I also think
it\'s an excellent opportunity for those of you who are looking toward
developing programs to talk with those of you who have successful
programs.

I know that this conference, like the other two we have had, will
encourage us all to do more and better work and that you will feel that
you have a large support group. I think that truly we are each other\'s
support system in this, and I consider myself your chief cheerleader.
That\'s why I wanted to be among the first to greet you today and among
the last to say farewell as you leave tomorrow evening. We have in this
room, representatives of colleges and universities that have successful,
established programs, those of you who are just beginning to develop
programs, and those of you who are just tentatively thinking about
developing those programs.

I hope that our enthusiasm will be contagious to those of you who are
tentatively thinking about it, because there are people in this room who
have done everything from fight their way to get a certificate program
or a bachelor\'s program, or a master\'s program, or a Ph.D. program, to
those who had no trouble establishing it. Like my friend Mary Ann
Rollans at the Arkansas Tech University; she just snaps her fingers, and
things happen magically. I truly appreciate what some of you have to go
through to get the support you need to put together a new degree
program.

Collectively, there are 36 States, Puerto Rico and Canada represented
here today. I think that\'s pretty impressive and speaks volumes about
the importance of what we are doing and the leadership you are
providing.

Our newest partner in this higher education project is Istanbul
Technical University. We just yesterday got the funding for them to
participate in this conference. They did not have an opportunity to
attend this conference, but they will join us next year. Later this
summer, they will participate in our building design institute, which
will be their first official undertaking here in the U.S. We are looking
forward to having them. We may go there on August 17, which is the
anniversary of the earthquake they had last year, the one in Izmit.

This project, and all the work you are doing throughout the country, is
attracting a lot of international attention. I was contacted by a
private sector group called M2T2, the Millennium Multi-cultural Training
Technology Corporation. They have established a network among
universities in Africa and are interested in our project here. Their
program has really taken off since all the flooding in Mozambique.

I am pleased to tell you that, as of today, the count and the amount is
66 emergency management related academic programs across the country, in
47 states. I\'m interested in expanding that more, specifically into the
historically black colleges, the tribal colleges, and the Hispanic
colleges. Also, this project is a good news project, and it is a win-win
project.

But we did have our first disappointment this year. Wyoming\'s Laramie
Community College became discouraged and decided to no longer offer our
emergency management program. We are looking to establish another
program at an institution in Wyoming along with new programs in Montana
and Rhode Island. Then we will have our goal of a program in every state
by the year 2001. There is quite a bit of activity in Montana and more
in Rhode Island. If any of you have contacts in Montana, Rhode Island or
Wyoming, I hope you will give them encouragement, suggestions and advice
for moving the program forward in those states. Dr. Wayne Blanchard will
give you the statistical information on this. He has more counts and
more amounts than I do. He is your preacher, and I am, more or less,
your cheerleader.

Our Higher Education project is always building. I am really proud of
the staff here. I want to say a special thanks to Steve Sharro who has
made this project a priority as our acting superintendent and acting
division director. Also, a special thanks to John Peabody for being such
a good leader and Wayne Blanchard, Juliann Frantz and Linda Straka. They
are dedicated individuals and I hope they have been helpful to you in
that process.

We are doing a little bit of a new project, since I reported to you last
year. We are working on feeding you informed students with our K-12
project. We are developing a curriculum in emergency preparedness for
school children and partnering with the National Fire Protection
Association (NFPA), the Maryland Emergency Management Association, and
the Arkansas Emergency Management Association on this. By the end of
this year we should have a prototype that we can spin out to every
State.

This spring we did a pilot project in Bowie, Maryland. The National Fire
Protection Association has something called Risk Watch. It is a
curriculum that is really a personal injury prevention curriculum. It is
glitzy, exciting, and effective. We have asked them to add a component
on natural disasters, and we are working with them to develop it. We
have tried it in suburban Maryland, and it was quite successful. We are
going to try it in a small, rural county in Arkansas this fall and then
put our findings together. Hopefully, next year you will be able to take
a look at this and see if you think it is well founded. We will have
done the research and the early exploratory work on the development of
this curriculum.

Now, I think there are a lot of reasons why this is a good time to build
this program and why you have been successful. First, there is no way to
overestimate the importance of your willingness to simply dig in and do
the work and the willingness of colleges and universities to take a
realistic look at the huge need that exists out there.

Alan Walker mentioned dorm fires earlier. Senator Frank Lautenberg from
New Jersey, right after the Seton Hall University fires, introduced
legislation that would provide \$100 million to make university dorms
disaster resistant, including sprinkler systems and smoke detector
systems. We think this is really good in that it looks at the need for a
national program of disaster management for university campuses.

In addition to our Higher Education project, FEMA has a disaster
resistant universities project. And, of course, the U.S. Fire
Administration is pushing, as their number one priority, fire
prevention. So if we all work together, we think that with some proper
funding from Congress, we can encourage all of our universities to work
in this area.

Many universities (I\'m sure all those that you are affiliated with)
have disaster recovery committees or emergency preparedness committees
and have a plan in place. Lynn Canton, our new executive director at
FEMA and myself, are starting a little pilot project. Alan Walker at
Western Michigan University, and the State University of New York at
Stonybrook have agreed to be a part of the pilot. They will work with
FEMA, the State, and local emergency management in their college
communities in putting together an emergency committee, developing a
plan, and then taking those initial steps to make their university
community disaster resistant. Also, next year, hopefully, we will be
able to report to you on those two pilot projects and decide where we
want to take them.

I think another reason why we have had this success together is because
everybody is now recognizing the importance of emergency management. And
that is true for a number of reasons. First, it is big business; a lot
of money is involved with disaster management. The rising cost and the
frequency of disasters are just astronomical. During the 1990\'s, FEMA
declared 460 major disasters. We have had such severe weather, and the
weather phenomenon is changing.

The National Weather Service has said that the hurricane season this
year is going to be above average in severity. Dr. William Gray says
that it\'s going to be really severe. He said, we could have 12 systems
of hurricane proportions, 8 of which will turn into definite hurricanes,
4 of which could hit along the coast of the U.S.

FEMA did a poll from Massachusetts to Texas about what people had done
to prepare for this upcoming hurricane season. This was done right on
the heels of the devastation suffered last year in Florida, the
Carolinas and up the coast. We found that most people had done nothing
since last year. Most of the people knew what they needed to do, and
they could even recite it. They had gotten our preparedness message;
they just hadn\'t acted on it.

Later in the questions we had framed it such that the expense would be
approximately \$2,000 for retrofitting an existing residence. We asked,
\"If you knew it would cost about \$2,000 to retrofit your home, would
you do it?\" Three quarters of the people surveyed said they would do
it, if they knew the cost. That is the part of the message we have to
get out; that it is affordable. In the U.S., when we consider everything
spent at each level; Federal, State, local, and in the private sector
including the insurance industry-we spend about \$1 billion a week. That
covers managing emergencies, preparing for them, and recovering from
them. So it is big business. Worldwide that figure jumps to \$5 billion
a week.

According to the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the 53
greatest natural disasters in world history occurred between 1990 and
1999. So those alone have resulted in almost \$500 billion worth of
economic losses. In addition to that, it takes a heavy human toll. On
average, 510 people in the U.S. die every year because of disaster and
globally that goes up to an average of 128,000 a year. Last year it was
almost 140,000. It does indicate that it is getting worse.

Emergency managers are faced with a tough job having to work with a
broad range of Federal, State and local partners to lower the
vulnerability of our citizens, particularly those most at risk to
disaster. By investing in solid educational and training programs, we
can ensure that they will have the tools they need to perform this very
important work. In fact, I am prejudice; I believe that there isn\'t a
problem in human society that can\'t be solved with education, training,
and more information. So when we have this increasing severity, I think
that FEMA\'s work on a day-to-day basis is extremely important.

Another factor in our success is the proactive development of such high
quality courses. I am particularly proud of our course developers and
the work that all of you are doing. The courses are being developed very
rapidly, but I don\'t think we are sacrificing quality, and I want to
thank you for that. Together we have developed 10 college-level courses
and we have another 10 under development. This is very exciting and very
positive. We have received some very good suggestions from you on how we
can improve existing and future courses. All of the courses that have
been developed to date are available in electronic format-CD-ROM, and
also via our higher education Web site. We have taken steps to insure
that your recommendations are worked into all phases of our programs.
Please keep your suggestions coming, because we need them and appreciate
them.

The third factor is the students and their demand for emergency
management. There is a growing interest in emergency management
education because of the challenging opportunities the profession
offers. I am glad that we are going to have an opportunity to hear from
those students during this conference. Our students are finding good
jobs. I often brag on Arkansas Tech University. Their first graduate got
a job right away for \$50,000 a year. The second graduate became the
fire chief of a major city in Arkansas.

I remember last year Jack Carrol from George Washington University
talking about how his graduate students were getting offers before
graduating just because they were enrolled in his programs. I also
remember hearing how the program at Oklahoma State University became the
University\'s largest graduate program within about a year\'s time of
being established. The final and most important key to our success is
the growing professionalism in the job. Increasingly, we have people who
are going into emergency management who are actually emergency managers
by degree, education, and life-long interest.

Our vision is that we have children in the first, second, and third
grades saying, after seeing something on CNN or EENET about disaster
management, \"I\'d like to be an emergency manager.\" Children often say
that about fire fighters and police officers. If they say that about
emergency managers, then I think our work will have been successful.
More people in mid-career are returning to college or to EMI to enhance
their skills and build their knowledge. That is a tribute to your hard
work in this higher education project. We have a new breed of
professionals; this is raising the standards.

In the meantime, we are working at FEMA, with the State emergency
management systems. Eric Tolbert of North Carolina and Mike Austin of
Arizona, who co-chair the preparedness committee of National Emergency
Management Association, are leading the way toward an accreditation
process. We hope our Capabilities Assessment for Readiness assessment
piece will be a part of that overall accreditation and standards
setting. As those standards go into place over the next few years, that
will also build the market for higher education programs in emergency
management.

So everything is going well out there. We have a few challenges that
will keep us quite busy over the next several years, but I think we have
only just begun.

Sometimes I like to quote Winston Churchill who said, \"This is not the
end. This is not even the beginning of the end. This is just the end of
the beginning.\" And I think that is essentially where we are right now.
I thank you for being here. I thank you for the work that you are doing.
I think you are making a real difference. Keep up the good work. Keep
the faith. The best is yet to come!

![](media/image2.jpeg){width="6.0in" height="2.3854166666666665in"}*Ms.
Goss fields questions after her speech*

*and conducts one-on-one talks with conference*

*attendees.*

![](media/image4.jpeg){width="2.5in" height="2.3854166666666665in"}

**[Status of Emergency Management Higher Education
Project]{.underline}**

Presented by Dr. Wayne Blanchard, CEM (wayne.blanchard@fema.gov)

![](media/image5.jpeg){width="2.0in" height="2.375in"}Dr. Blanchard
began his presentation by stating the three goals of the Emergency
Management Institute's (EMI) Higher Education Project: 1. Enhance the
Emergency Management Profession and Study of Hazards, Disasters, and
Emergency Management. 2. Support the Development and Maintenance of
College and University Programs. 3. To Have Degree Programs in Every
State by 2001.

Recent large-scale disasters, such as Hurricanes Hugo and Andrew, proved
that existing resources were not able to meet the emergency demands of
these disasters. The emergency infrastructures in these situations were
severely taxed, showing a weakness in the emergency management "system."
In response to these needs EMI refocused its programs to offer less
philosophy and more operational skills; but that was not enough. There
is a definite need for a cadre of professionals at every level of
government and within the private sector who can bring to an
organizational management team requisite education and training.

One problem facing the "professionalization" of Emergency Management
(EM) is that the current stereotype of an emergency manager is a
middle-aged, white, male who does not have a college degree. He has
entered EM as a second or third career from the fire, police, or
military professions, and he has obtained the EM position without any EM
knowledge, skills, or abilities. Dr. Blanchard said, "We are working to
create the next generation of emergency managers who will be college
educated, more professional, have a better knowledge base, be younger,
more diverse, and culturally sensitive. We want them to choose Emergency
Management as their profession of first choice, not come to it later in
their career."

The current EM knowledge base is experiential, through consensus and
reactive to disasters. The next generation of emergency managers will
bring a scientific knowledge base to the job, will have chosen the
profession as a career, be pro-active, life-long learners and join
professional associations.

Risk Assessment skills are central to the next generation of emergency
managers; they must be able to conduct community social vulnerability
analysis. This will be accomplished through building the profession and
teaching our graduates to create disaster-resilient communities.

The economic environment, the natural environment, and the social
environment need to be brought more into the mainstream of what
emergency management does. The hope of many is that the role of
emergency management will be equated with building disaster-resilient
communities. Educating future emergency managers to use the "social
vulnerability" model as well as the traditional "technocratic" model
will help to build the profession.

Higher Education Project activities include maintenance of the college
database/list, compilation of EM course syllabi, proposals compendium,
letters of support, the annual conference, intern opportunities, course
development and Learning Resource Center (LRC) access. The material
available at the LRC is an excellent resource of new information for
course developers, instructors, and students alike.

There is a definite need today for associate, bachelor and graduate
degree programs. The courses being developed pursuant to this need are
aimed at college students, and thus they are academic in nature and are
not advanced training courses.

The higher education courses that exist are all upper division and
classroom-based. We are striving to create courses that are
ready-to-teach with more interactive student involvement. There are 11
existing courses and another 9 under development. Thirty-two States and
Puerto Rico have Emergency Management programs; nine States are
investigating EM programs and six States have EM-related programs (\*For
current statistics see "Higher Education Slide Presentation: on this Web
site). All 11 existing courses are available via the Internet
\[http://www.fema.gov/emi/edu\]; CD-ROM; and the National Technical
Information Service at the Department of Commerce. Approximately three
courses are produced per year; however, this rate can change due to
funding.

Dr. Blanchard concluded by thanking all the attendees for all the hard
work they have done in the past and urged them to forge on into the
future.

The PowerPoint slide show that accompanied Dr. Blanchard's presentation
can be found on the Higher Education Project Web page

> <http://www.fema.gov/emi/edu>

**[Status of Fire/Emergency Services Higher Education
Project]{.underline}**

Presented by Edward J. Kaplan, Education Specialist, USFA
(ed.kaplan@fema.gov)

![](media/image6.jpeg){width="1.9in" height="1.75in"}

Mr. Edward Kaplan began his presentation by explaining that the U.S.
Fire Administration (USFA) administers the Federal fire programs for the
U.S. Government, and is a part of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA). The USFA offers a variety of programs in public fire
education, sprinkler research and other applied technologies. Within the
USFA is the National Fire Academy (NFA), which is responsible for
delivering training to the Nation's fire service.

Mr. Kaplan's major responsibility is NFA's higher education program,
including the Degrees at a Distance Program. This higher education
program is an upper-level independent study program comprising 300- and
400-level courses delivered by seven U.S. colleges and universities with
which NFA has agreements.

Mr. Kaplan's goal is to build a national network of schools offering
fire science degree programs. In 1999, NFA hosted 65 attendees at its
first Fire and Emergency Service Higher Education Conference, which
provided the goal to: establish an organization of post-secondary
institutions to promote higher education and to enhance the recognition
of the fire and emergency services as a profession and thus to reduce
loss of life and property from fire and other hazards.

Mr. Kaplan stated that the "other hazards" portion of this statement
means emergency management. While it's too soon to call it a fire and
emergency management consortium, his ultimate vision is to have a
convergence of these two programs. Mr. Kaplan is aware that emergency
management degrees are the "hot" degree programs right now, and there
are many fire science programs currently trying to incorporate emergency
management components. Mr. Kaplan says it is only a matter of time
before the union does exist.

Two additional objectives were formulated at this meeting. The first is
to develop and recommend initiatives that would support the mission of
Fire and Emergency Services higher education to include:

-   Curriculum development, support, and standardization;

-   Promotion and support of networking;

-   Basic and applied research; and

-   Promotion of higher education as a component of professional
    development.

The second objective is to establish a partnership with FEMA/USFA and
this Nation's accredited institutions offering higher education degrees
in fire and emergency services. USFA is trying to build a higher
education network modeled after NFA's Training Resources and Data
Exchange (TRADE) program. There would be co-chairs elected: one from a
baccalaureate degree program and one from an associate degree program in
each of the 10 FEMA regions. They would meet and set standards of
education.

The outcomes of this year's Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education
Conference:

-   Improved collaboration between the academic fire programs and
    national and State fire service leaders.

-   Recommended model fire science curriculum:

> \- Fire Prevention
>
> \- Building Construction
>
> \- Fire Protection Hydraulics
>
> \- Introduction to Fire Protection Systems
>
> \- Introduction to Fire Science
>
> \- Fire Behavior and Combustion

-   National Survey of Academic Fire Programs.

The ultimate goal is to foster partnerships between training and
institutions of higher education where certification and academic
credits are understood and accepted by both parties.

Mr. Kaplan noted that there is a leadership void at the State level in
fire science; many fire science degree program coordinators do not talk
to each other; consequently, NFA is trying to get the directors of State
fire service training to sponsor leadership programs to bring fire
science coordinators together where they can begin to map Statewide
curriculums. Mr. Kaplan would then like to see open dialogue between the
degree programs and the State fire service training coordinators.

Mr. Kaplan pointed to the following online resources for follow up
information:

http://usfa.fema.gov/nfa/tr_ddp.htm

http://usfa.fema.gov/nfa/tr_high.htm

http://www.fema.gov:8080/\~USFA

http://www.firedawg.com

He noted that the last Web site offers a compendium of associate and
baccalaureate degree programs by State and those institutions offering
degrees through distance learning.

Mr. Kaplan said that the Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education
Consortium's goal is to foster the collaboration between fire service
training and higher education. And, with that in hand, he would like to
see expand cooperation with emergency management degree programs.

# Group 1: Course Development Sessions

## 

## Marketing Programs/Building Student Interest

**Moderator:** Carter Jones

## [Marketing Programs]{.underline}

Some of the issues in attracting students include:

-   Tough questions that can't be answered; e.g., "What kind of a salary
    can I expect as an emergency manager?" Because there aren't many new
    jobs as emergency managers.

-   Programs have to be flexible. In some areas of the country, when the
    wildfire season occurs, courses can't be offered because emergency
    management specialists, law enforcement personnel, and fire
    personnel work day and night and are unable to take the courses.
    Therefore, the courses may have to be offered seasonally. Also, many
    working professionals have to take the courses at night or on
    weekends.

-   The political atmosphere does not always encourage career
    development. Innovative ways must be developed to get around the
    political atmosphere.

-   Bureaucracy hurts in servicing students. For example, in many
    institutions it is a mammoth undertaking just to register. The whole
    process needs to be streamlined.

-   State emergency people do not always support our program. Much work
    needs to be done in this area. Channels of communication must be
    established and maintained.

-   Many of our own representatives in institutions are in competition
    with each other.

-   There is a need for course exchange in order for some programs to
    survive.

-   Professional development: We need to look at health care facilities
    and safety people in industry, mental health personnel, fire,
    police, emergency management specialists, Red Cross, Salvation Army,
    ham radio operators, and accreditation opportunities for educators,
    principals, and assistant principals.

-   Course developers need to do a better job of communicating with EMI,
    giving more input so that EMI can advertise.

-   Demographics play a significant role. The larger, urban areas have
    more money and can attract more students. The rural areas don't have
    that drawing capability.

-   Institutional resources---many institutions have excellent faculty
    and money to spend.

-   Matriculation---that is an issue that must be addressed concerning
    courses and transferring to other institutions.

#### [Building Student Interest]{.underline}

-   Clear, focused advertising is needed. The program must attract
    students who are asking themselves, "What do I want to do and where
    do I want to go?"

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
-   Innovation, energy, and excitement are key ingredients to the
    recruitment and retention of students.

-   It is necessary that outside experts come in and reinforce our
    programs.

-   Case studies are important, exploring recent events as well as past
    ones.

-   Also important are: student clubs, interactive opportunities,
    internships with pay.

-   Realistic drills and exercises are important. Suggestion: Students
    could observe a simulated hurricane, tornado, or terrorist event
    response.

-   New technologies: geographic information systems and components.

## Public Administration and Emergency Management Course 

**Moderator:** Dr. William Waugh, Jr. (wwaugh@gsu.edu)

This course was developed for use by emergency management or public
administration professors. Topics covered include: intergovernmental and
private sector relations, paying for large-scale disasters, land-use
planning and hazards, legal and liability issues, and implementing
emergency management policies. This course is currently available.

This group discussed:

-   Undergraduate, basic, public administration classes dealing with
    issues such as the amount of American government that necessarily
    needs to be discussed in a class dealing with public administration
    and emergency management. One must understand the intergovernmental
    system fundamentally to understand how emergency management operates
    and how to deal with such things as disaster declarations and how
    governments interact at the local, state, and federal levels.

-   Basic concepts of public administration and the relationship to
    emergency management.

-   Concepts such as acceptable risk, organizational culture, how
    military organizations may deal with non-profits, how police
    departments may deal with fire departments, and the differences of
    the organizational cultures.

-   Issues such as disaster insurance---why we don't rely on that rather
    than the system we have currently.

-   How basic things like planning and land use planning would be
    necessary in certain courses and how important computing would be.
    It has been decided that in teaching public administration classes,
    administrators need only be computer literate; they don't have to be
    computer experts.

-   Practical side of how to get lists of videos. There is a wealth of
    videos that are useful in class; e.g., the Nova series on the
    Spanish flu outbreak of 1918, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and
    the Three Mile Island video.

-   Professionalism---what it means in terms of the state of the
    profession of emergency management, where we are going, how to deal
    with students, and how that fits into the context of other
    professions.

**A Social Vulnerability Approach to Emergency Management Course**

**Moderators:** Dr. Elaine Enarson (<enarson@uswest.net>) and Dr. Ben
Wisner (bwisner@igc.org)

This course development project is being led by Dr. Elaine Enarson of
Metropolitan State University, Denver and will support emergency
management curriculum. Topics include introduction to vulnerability
analysis, social construction of disaster vulnerability, social power
and constraints in disaster, implications and practical applications,
and reducing vulnerability; change strategies. The course is expected to
be available March 2002.

This group discussed the following:

-   Social vulnerability as an alternative approach to emergency
    management and how that has a lot of implications for how emergency
    managers relate to communities, how communities in turn relate and
    become involved in the planning process and the mitigation process,
    the kinds of classes that need to be designed, and the kinds of
    conversations in community dialogs that emergency managers need to
    have.

![](media/image7.jpeg){width="2.625in" height="1.5in"}

-   Root causes that might create a differential distribution of risk in
    any society. The question "What is it that is so deeply rooted in
    our culture that puts certain key groups of people more at risk than
    others?" was posed. Factors such as racial inequality, gender-based
    inequality, and economic inequality were mentioned.

-   Starting from the notion of root causes, the group then looked at
    social and structural trends that exacerbate conditions. These
    include global and environmental degradation and the international
    political economy. There are factors such as hyper-urbanization, the
    global rise in female-heads of households and epidemics like AIDS,
    that are creating more and more crises for the work at hand. That
    puts certain groups of people in risky, unsafe living conditions.
    The point is to break the concept that special people have special
    needs. The vulnerability approach looks at these as social sets of
    relationships between people which can and need to be changed.

-   The need to balance the notion of vulnerability with capability,
    resourcefulness, and the strength of local people.

-   Creative ways to work; e.g., using the community policing model. The
    vulnerability approach opens up different ways of thinking about
    interventions and organizing.

-   Need for more case studies and the real concern that students need
    to understand that these issues are not something that is happening
    in some other part of the world. The United States is part of the
    global community, and these same factors are at work here.

-   Need for a course on social vulnerability that draws on concrete
    case studies not only of the impact of disasters of various kinds on
    vulnerable populations but on how vulnerability is constructed and
    the long-term recovery needs of people who live in risky situations.

**[Accreditation of Emergency Management Programs]{.underline}**

Presented by Alan Walker, Ph.D., Western Michigan University
(alan.walker@wmich.edu)

![](media/image8.jpeg){width="2.0in" height="1.625in"}Dr. Walker began
his presentation by explaining that accreditation in foreign countries
is usually established and maintained by a central government bureau. By
comparison, in the United States, public authority in education is
constitutionally reserved to the States. This accreditation system is a
voluntary, nongovernmental evaluation performed by associations that
recognize educational institutions and programs within institutions.
There are two fundamental types of accreditation in the United States:
institutional accreditation and specialized accreditation.

Institutional accreditation is granted by regional and national
accrediting commissions of schools, i.e., Middle States Association of
Colleges and Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and
the Accrediting Council for Independent Schools and Colleges. Committees
or commissions within national professional associations accredit
professional and occupational schools and programs within colleges and
universities; e.g., The American Bar Association, American Medical
Association (AMA), and the American Board of Funeral Service.

Many organizations that conduct accreditation hold membership or are
recognized by one or both of the following organizations: the
Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors (ASPA) and/or
the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). ASPA is an
organization whose members are specialized and professional accreditors.
ASPA sets national educational standards for entry into approximately 40
specialized disciplines. CHEA acts as the national policy center and
clearinghouse on accreditation for the entire higher education
community.

The first professional association, the AMA, was founded in 1847. At
about this time, States began enacting licensing statutes intended to
protect the professions and to combat fraud and the low quality of
educational programs. Over time, accreditation became a collaboration
among practioners, educators, and regulators. A good example of this
partnership is seen in the accreditation of Funeral Service Education
(Appendix C, pp. 11-12).

Dr. Walker then spoke about the history of accreditation for
fire-related degree programs. In 1979, a special report, *Accreditation
in Fire Training and Education*, was completed by the Advisory Committee
on Fire Training and Education of the National Academy for Fire
Prevention and Control. Based on this report three recommendations were
made: 1. An independent organization should be established that is
responsible for the review/evaluation process for fire-related education
programs. 2. The organization should meet the recognition requirements
of the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation (COPA), a forerunner of
CHEA. 3. The National Fire Academy is to act as a catalyst to secure
accreditation, financing, and to assist in determining operational
format.

There has been criticism and concern over accreditation in the United
States. Some of the argument has its basis in the constant struggle
between the need for rigor, standardization, and quality assurance
versus the need for flexibility, innovation, and diversity. At times,
these interests can be working at cross-purposes. Other concerns
regarding accreditation are more straightforward, such as distance
learning. Some concerns include how accrediting bodies are going to
provide for quality assurance and how they are to take into account the
effect that distance education has on student life and the roles of
professors when evaluating the quality of education courses. These and
other questions form the core of the distance education conundrum.

Because the development of emergency management as an academic
discipline is in its formative stage, leaders in this industry have a
unique opportunity not only to build and strengthen existing degree
programs, but also to simultaneously provide a sound basis for these
programs, which will earn them the public's trust. This can be achieved
through specialized accreditation.

Dr. Walker's paper "Development of Specialized Accreditation for
Emergency Management Degree Programs" can be found in Appendix A.

**[Needs of Emergency Management Students]{.underline}**

**Panelists:** Daniel Robeson, University of North Texas; Jane Kushma,
University of Tennessee; and Jeffery Hartle, CFPS, Arkansas Tech

There are three areas of need for EM students according to Mr. Daniel
Robeson: in the classroom, the structure of programs and external
support. In the classroom there needs to be a better selection of texts,
more case studies, more varied topics, more up-to-date materials used,
and more outside speakers, i.e., experts who can relate EM experiences.
Under structure of the program, Mr. Robeson, said there needs to be a
balance between practical, "hands-on" experience and theory. Students
also need better routes of transition from the classroom to the
workplace. Through interaction with experts and existing emergency
professionals, students have the chance to "visualize" themselves as EM
professionals. More alumni support would also help students secure jobs.
It was also noted that EM faculty and programs need to reflect more
quickly the current trends in training.

With regard to external support, Mr. Robeson said that internships are
one of the best learning experiences for EM students. His fellow
students suggested that the EM field needs more internships on the
regional level, not only in Washington, DC. More scholarships and
student discounts for conferences, professional memberships, and
publications were suggested. Mr. Robeson also said that paid internships
are wanted and needed by most EM students.

The final point Mr. Robeson made was that EM students need to be
unified. The formation of the International Emergency Management Student
Association (IEMSA) offers students a chance to exchange information and
helps them find opportunities for both internships and employment.

Ms. Kushma and Mr. Hartle agreed with all of Mr. Robeson's points. Ms.
Kushma provided a list of Service Learning references and resources.
(See Appendix B.) EM students need to have access to active learning, be
able to develop an identity with the profession, and have a chance to
network within the profession, according to Ms. Kushma. Mr. Hartle spoke
of the need for full-time, tenured EM professors. Adjunct staff cannot
focus on the future of the EM profession when their first duties are to
a different major. Dedicated instructors can offer EM students
mentoring; career planning; networking opportunities; and modeling of
attitudes, behaviors, communication, education, and professionalism.
Conference attendance was also discussed: which ones to attend,
facilitating student travel, and networking opportunities. Mr. Hartle
reiterated the need for paid internships outside of Washington, DC. Mr.
Hartle said instructors need to come up with creative solutions to
internships.

**[Emergency Management Resources]{.underline}**

**Panelists:** Tom Behm, Julie Beecken, Dr. Sarah Michaels, Juliann
Frantz, Jane Kushma,

Bruce Marshall

Ms. Linda Straka introduced a panel of resource specialists who provided
information on how to collect publications, audiovisuals, photos, case
studies, and videotape footage for use in current and developing
courses. According to Mr. Tom Behm, there are thousands of publications
available through the FEMA's publication division. A catalog can be
requested by calling 800-480-2520. The request line is open 8 a.m. to 5
p.m. Monday through Friday. E-mail requests for the catalog can be sent
to \[ron.guthrie@fema.gov\].

The Learning Resource Center (LRC) has more than 50,000 books, research
reports, journals, and audiovisual materials for emergency management
and fire service and emergency medical services. The LRC Web site is:
\[www.lrc.fema.gov\]. Phone requests for publications are taken at
800-638-1821 or 301-447-1030. The E-mail address is:
\[netclr@fema.gov\]. The LRC offers free article research and
inter-library loans. (See Appendix C for the proper forms).

Dr. Sarah Michaels said that the The Natural Hazards Research and
Applications Information Center has a Web site
\[http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/index.html\]. There are two
publications available through the Web site: *The Natural Hazards
Observer* and *Disaster Research*. Both have searchable databases.
Anyone is welcome to visit the center in Colorado, but it is not a
lending library nor does it have the staff to conduct bibliographic
research. The Center does charge research and retrieval fees.

Ms. Juliann Frantz gave a presentation on how to retrieve free disaster
photos from the Web. (Please see Appendix D for the full PowerPoint
presentation that includes free photo Web sites.)

Ms. Jane Kushma compiled a list of case study references, Web sites, and
journals. Please see Appendix E. She is also coordinating an electronic
discussion group on Emergency Management Service Learning. To
participate in this discussion group, contact Ms. Kushma at
\[jane-kushma@utc.edu\].

Mr. Bruce Marshall of the Support Systems Branch of EMI is responsible
for the Independent Study Program, EENET, and a video library. The
weekly EENET broadcasts (90 minutes) offer excellent television
instruction. They are available through each State emergency management
agency or the FEMA regional offices. Mr. Marshall has a large collection
of disaster, emergency management, and exercise footage available. This
footage is free in VHS format. If Beta-SP format is needed, the producer
needs to provide tape stock to Mr. Marshall. He is always looking for
additional footage for the library.

**[Group 2: Course Development Sessions]{.underline}**

**Disaster Response and Operations Course**

**Moderator:** Dr. David Neal (daveneal@prodigy.net)

This course is being developed by Dr. David Neal of the University of
North Texas and supports the emergency management curriculum. Topics
will include case studies, warning, evacuation and sheltering, the
Federal Response plan, the emergency operations center and disaster
response issues and special considerations. This course is expected to
be available by May 2001.

Some of the main topics covered were:

-   The context of learning about disaster response and operations,
    especially in terms of the disaster phases

-   Looking at the big picture of a disaster

-   Defining what a disaster is and realizing that multiple definitions
    exist

-   Issues of knowledge-based education, what kind of knowledge, and
    whose knowledge is valid in a disaster

-   Issues of emergence and flexibility

Two themes emerged during the discussions:

-   *Curriculum development:* How are these ideas developed and
    integrated into the curriculum; what is meant by the professions of
    emergency management and disaster management; what is meant by the
    sociology of disaster or people in public administration who study
    disaster? How much overlap or lack of consensus is there amongst
    those different fields and professions?

-   *Issues of management and leadership theory:* What types of tools do
    disaster managers need to be effective before, during, and after a
    disaster? Are these management leadership issues an art or a
    science; is there something that can be pulled from studies to make
    the disaster manager's job easier?

> The group discussed the "Star Trek" model or metaphor of what type of
> leadership style might be better in a disaster.
>
> They considered the Kirk versus Picard Model, or Kirk versus Spock
> Model, or Kirk versus Data Model: pure, raw rationality versus "gut"
> intuition to make decisions. How can these be combined to make
> effective disaster managers, especially during a disaster response
> phase?

In differentiating between the professions of emergency management and
disaster management, emergency management refers to those day-to-day
activities that police, fire, paramedics, and others do versus disaster
management, where people are getting ready or responding to the low-
probability, high-consequence types of events such as disasters.

**Community Hazards Risk Assessment**

**Moderator:** Dr. Ben Wisner (bwisner@igc.org)

This course is being developed by Dr. Ben Wisner, Oberlin College, and
will support emergency management curriculum. Topics include hazard
identification, community mapping, risk analysis, using risk assessment
for plans and programs, and policy implications and issues. This course
is expected to be available March 2002.

The hazards risk assessment outline should be familiar because it has
been promulgated by FEMA for about 10 years; it is world wide; and it is
a fairly standard risk assessment methodology beginning with hazard
identification, moving into hazard analysis, and dealing with various
spatial and temporal aspects of extreme events.

The group discussed community profiling or community mapping, which is a
key to vulnerabilities in terms of the physical infrastructure, the
built environment, business exposure, and population groups. Also, it
pertains not only to vulnerabilities but also to capacities and
resources.

The group also discussed how hazards risk assessment fits into
preparedness and mitigation planning. They talked about policy issues
that need to be discussed at community and other levels. Some of these
were very difficult issues; e.g., acceptability of risk. What is the
level of acceptable risk that a community is willing to accept?

The instructor's guide cannot go into these political and ethical issues
in great depth, but the issues have to be included as part of the
context. The instructor's guide should have in it a whole range of tools
at the bottom-up, low-end of community-based risk assessment (such as
interviewing, listening). At the high- end, Hazards-United States
(HAZUS), computer-assisted kinds of risk assessment, and the Geographic
Information System (GIS) are some of the topics that need to be
addressed. The fact is that there are parts of the United States where
there are no resources to do full-blown, high-end analysis. On the other
hand, if you can motivate people (broad partnerships involving faith
communities, businesses, etc.), it is always possible to do
community-based work

The group then discussed pedagogy. The products being developing must be
student friendly and user friendly. There must be case studies, use of
primary data, hands-on opportunities, desktop exercises, and team
efforts.

**Building Disaster Resilient Communities Course**

**Moderators:** Dr. Robert Patterson (rgfp@mail.utexas.edu) and

Dr. Edward J. Kaiser (ekaiser@imap.unc.edu)

This course development project is being led by Dr. Ray Burby, UNC,
Chapel Hill. It is being designed as a capstone course for seniors
within a emergency management curriculum. Topics will include legacy of
vulnerability/vision of resilience, sustainability, smart growth,
managing change to build hazard resilience, using resilience-building
tools, and creating resilience. This course is expected to be available
September 2001.

The group talked about sustainability and smart growth and went on to
try to clarify sustainability, which was the ultimate goal. Dr.
Patterson used the Ballagio Principles, developed by an international
group of measurement practitioners and researchers from five continents,
who, in 1996, met in Ballagio, Italy to review progress to date and to
synthesize insights from practical ongoing efforts. Sustained growth is
based on the following principles:

-   Guiding vision and goals

-   Holistic perspective

-   Essential elements

-   Adequate scope

-   Practical focus

-   Openness

-   Effective communication

-   Broad participation

-   Ongoing assessment

-   Institutional capacity

Dr. Kaiser presented a study he is doing with the University of North
Carolina in Kenston, a city that has a lot of flood issues and that was
badly affected during the last hurricane. Emergency personnel tried to
move people out of the flood zone into areas that were not so prone to
flooding. Actually, they tried to move the entire town to a new
location; however, the community decided against it.

There are four parts to the course:

-   Part 1: Vulnerability and the vision of resilience

-   Part 2: Managing change to building a housing-resilient community

-   Part 3: Using resilient building tools

-   Part 4: Creating resilience

There are exercises for each part, and each part builds on the next
part, with the final presentation of Part 4. The responses they received
from a group that was previously there included:

-   Build more preparedness, response, and recovery into the course

-   Address special populations; e.g., the economic forces and determine
    how these forces will impact the overall community

-   Assess the stakeholders more closely

-   Consider the social implications of moving communities out of a
    flood-prone areathe poor, the different ethnic groups, group homes,
    foster homes, battered women's shelters, etc.

**Distance Learning Panel**

**Moderators:** Dr. Alan Walker, Dennis Hickethier, Dr. Walter Green,
Don Schramm, Dr. Harold Stone, and Sally Turner

Some of the realities of distance learning include:

-   It is actually quite expensive

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
-   There is a definite time commitment

-   There may not be a shared vision among all of the faculty

-   There is the question of faculty compensation

-   There is the question of why a faculty person should do distance
    learning

-   There is resistance to change

-   There are policy issues

Some types of programs that have been developed aim at specific
audiences. Some target groups may live a distance away and are unable to
get to the campus. Distance learning is a way of targeting that
particular audience. From an administrative viewpoint, aren't we
competing with each other for, in many cases, the same pool of students?
We don't have the same number of traditional students, so aren't we all
going after the non-traditional students? That means offering evening
courses, weekend courses, short courses, distance learning
coursesanything that can be done to make our individual universities
more competitive. In a sense, that is what some of these programs are
very effectively doing.

The group discussed specific courses that have been developed; some were
on the Internet, and some were done with computer discs. The point was
made that even though Internet-based education is time consuming,
difficult, expensive, and risky, it cannot be ignored.

Where to start? Start small; start with one course; start with what you
know; start with a known audience; and start where you have competitive
advantage.

Look at the software that is available directly to your universities;
also look at the software that is available commercially.

**[Group 3: Course Development Sessions]{.underline}**

**Community-Based Emergency Management**

## Moderator: Sam Isenberger

Following a significant disaster event, emergency managers tell people
the truth. The people are told that they must take care of themselves,
that local, State, or federal personnel will not be there for any length
of time, and that the people need to have disaster supply kits. If you
think about it, that's acting as if all these people need after this
particular event is some water to drink, some food to eat, and some
other things. However, we have the premise that when these events occur,
there are going to be a lot of things out there that will be
"responsive" in nature. Do emergency managers have a responsibility at
the community level, the neighborhood level, and at the bottom-up level
to prepare these people to take care of themselves if we are not going
to be there? The answer is "Yes."

Emergency managers take on this concept by:

-   Going into and sectoring communities

-   Recruiting teams of people from neighborhoods, training them to take
    care of themselves, and teaching them some very straightforward
    skills that will make a difference

-   Teaching the community about disaster preparedness and the hazards
    to be faced

-   Teaching about the vulnerability to disasters

-   Telling the community what can be done before, during, and after
    particular events and the truth about what is going to happen and
    what they are going to have to do

Emergency management personnel teach people hands-on skills, such as

-   How to turn off utilities

-   The importance of staying away from hazardous materials even if
    people in the vicinity are hurt

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
-   Fire chemistry, the use of fire extinguishers, fire suppression

-   Medical skillshow to stop bleeding, open an airway, and how to treat
    for shock; triage; head-to-toe assessment; how to set up a treatment
    area; and how to do light search rescue.

-   Not only what *to* do but also what *not* to do

-   Size-up capabilitieslook at a situation and decide whether it is
    lightly, moderately, or heavily damaged and then to make some
    response decisions based on how the problem is determined

-   Disaster psychology and team organizationthere is a need for
    somebody to be in charge, to organize, to have accountability, to
    keep records, and to interface

The goal is to integrate people into the emergency management system at
the grassroots level. How does that apply? If there were a significant
event, be it a tornado, an earthquake, or a terrorist incident, and if
there were numerous people hurt, this would be a situation that would
overwhelm the community resources. Who would you depend on? Who would
you call? Personnel need to be trained to help each other. Take a look
at staff, administration, and maintenance. All those people should be
integrated into the system, and they should be trained in skills that
will make a difference in terms of saving the lives of people.

That is what the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is all about.
It was borrowed from the Los Angeles City Fire Department. They
developed this program based on an earthquake threat. It is an 18-hour
program, and typically it is taught in a community 1 day a week for 2 ½
hours over a 7-week period. It really has made a difference; and it has
really grown. At present, there is some form of a CERT program in about
23 states. Probably 80,000 to 100,000 people have gone through the
program. These are people who know they will have to care for
themselves, their families, their neighbors, and their community after a
disaster event, and this training program is the way to do it.

To find out more about the program, visit the Web site:

[www.fema.gov/emi/cert](http://www.fema.gov/emi/cert)

**Terrorism and Emergency Management Course**

**Moderator:** Dr. William Waugh, Jr. (wwaugh@gsu.edu)

This course was developed by Dr. William Waugh, Jr. of Georgia State
University for use by emergency management college curriculums. It
consist of 374 pages and topics include: history of terrorism in the
United States, domestic and international terrorism, law
enforcement/national security aspects, applying emergency management
framework, the structure of antiterrorism programs and preparing and
responding to major events.

Terrorism in the United States is a hazard that has been with us
throughout our history and will continue to be with us. As such, perhaps
it ought to be handled much like other sorts of environmental hazards;
that is, the hazard needs to be defined in terms of the key elements.

The group discussed the nature of domestic terrorism in the United
States in terms of what we are familiar with: Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis,
Aryan groups, the Order, the Christian Patriots, the skin heads,
survivalists, militias, and the Freemen. This diversity makes it
difficult to predict and avert terrorist attacks.

They discussed the notion of the threat to Americans overseas. For the
most part, Americans are not that threatened. Last year, there were only
four or five Americans killed. That is a small number given our overall
population. Violence does, however, tend to run in cycles. There are
dangerous places in the world, and Americans tend to be targets; we are
not universally loved.

The United States has a range of violence, but it is a lower order of
violencefrom school violence to work place violence. How can
counter-terrorism and anti-terrorism programs be structured in a way
that is far more comprehensive in terms of preparedness, mitigation, and
response efforts? Perhaps it should be built from the ground up in terms
of looking at the fundamental security of buildings, to behaviors in
organizations, to the layering of security.

The group discussed weapons of mass destruction. It was stated that we
might include more than just nuclear devices, biological weapons,
chemical weapons, and radioactive material. It was suggested that we
ought to include cyber terrorism and conventional weapons that can kill
a large group of people: explosives, assault weapons, and fertilizer
bombs. It was suggested that maybe the United States should expand its
definition of the weapons of mass destruction. It is the simple sabotage
of complex systems that endangers lives.

They discussed the politics of the way counter-terrorism and
anti-terrorism programs are being structured in terms of how the money
is being distributed among jurisdictions that may or may not have a
genuine risk; how there is conflict and competition among agencies for
monies; how, perhaps, the hazard might be defined in a way that makes it
easier to deal with in a comprehensive way, along with other hazards,
but also in a way whereby the amount of exposure and risk might be
reduced.

Questions were raised about civil liberties and civil rights in relation
to counter-terrorism issues; e.g., if there were a debate or a class on
terrorism, would that stimulate someone to do something they should not
do? That *is* a real possibility.

**Earthquake Hazard and Emergency Management Course**

**Moderator:** Dr. Walter Hays

This course is being developed by Dr. Walter Hays, USGS (Ret.) and
currently, Senior Program Manager, Sustainable Built Environment,
American Society of Civil Engineers. It is being designed to support a
general emergency management curriculum. ASCE supports emergency
management curriculum. Topics will include causes, characteristics,
consequences, societal impacts of earthquakes, the community's hazard,
build and policy environments and examples of policies and programs.
This course is expected to be available by September 2001.

This group discussed the development of Dr. Walter Hays' course, which
is an attempt to blend the scientific knowledge of the earthquake hazard
with emergency management principles in an attempt to look at all of the
different aspects of how to deal with earthquakes, how to assess risk
and vulnerability, and how to translate that into specific strategies
for dealing with the hazard.

Dr. Hays used what he refers to as the "virtual reality situation
assessment." He showed 60-80 slides of different earthquake
effectseither the physical effects or potential effects on people. He
asked the students to generate some sort of a narrative: "What do you
see from these pictures?" The strategy behind this is that the more
people can get into this and experience it, the more they will
personalize the risk. His ultimate goal in the course is to take people
who are uneducated in regard to the earthquake hazard and to transform
them, by the end of 15 weeks, into advocates for the program.

**Fundamentals of Emergency Management**

## Moderator: Dr. Wayne Blanchard, CEM (wayne.blanchard@fema.gov)

Dr. Blanchard presented excerpts from the "Fundamentals of U.S.
Emergency Management" session of his working draft Higher Education
Project course---"Hazards, Disasters and the U.S. Emergency Management
System---An Introduction."

In outline form the fundamentals of U.S. emergency management, as
presented in this draft course are:

1.  Bottom-up approach

2.  Intergovernmental

3.  All-hazards (comprehensive emergency management)

4.  Integrated Emergency Management (IEM or IEMS)

5.  Four phases of disaster life-cycle

6.  Building disaster resilient communities

This group discussed the following:

-   Emergency management has changed radically in the past 20 to 30
    years. In the beginning, FEMA focused on a national security
    perspective; then it switched over to a natural disaster
    perspective. More recently, it has moved into immediate response.
    Most recently, it has begun focusing on mitigation. The newest
    emerging trend is building disaster resilient communities and
    sustainable development.

-   There were discussions and presentations on the fact that there is
    no clear definition or consensus on exactly what emergency
    management is, what it means, and the scope of the subject.

-   There are two particular models to describe the various approaches:

> *Technocratic or structural model*the focus is on the hazard and
> problem- solving techniques, engineering approaches, and top-down
> approaches.
>
> *Vulnerability or behavioral model*the focus is on the social,
> economic, and behavioral aspects of the disaster; the idea is more to
> reduce the vulnerability of people. This is more of a bottom-up
> approach.

Currently the technocratic model seems to be the most prevalent
approach.

The group discussed the fact that these courses were designed to bring
beginning students into the foldmainly the 18 to 22-year-old students.
What is happening is that second career and continuing education
students are enrolling. That is great, but the long-term focus is to
start with young students coming into college and having them say, "I
want this to be my major."

The group also discussed the need for more statistics on job
availability and salaries; these are the first questions asked by the
deans.

They discussed the need for some advanced courseworkmore academic rigor
in some of the courses, particularly in having more details of case
studiesnot just a brief history of what happened someplace, but how to
really integrate and use a case study as a learning toolintegrating
economic analysis, quantitative and statistical approaches to the fields
so that information can be taken back to the deans, department chairs,
and accreditation bodies to show that this is a significant academic
discipline.