Emergency Ops Plans: Examining Florida County's Annexes - Essay Sample

Introduction

Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs) refer to the extent of preparedness and incident management techniques. A complete EOP should provide an overview of preparedness, response strategies, and should include annexes that describe the procedures to manage or mitigate risks. As Montgomery and Kunreuther (2018) stipulated, hazard-specific annexes describe the strategy used in managing specific hazards. Therefore, this paper analyzes danger, threat, and incident annexes of Florida County by focusing on how the county plans and mitigates the identified risks of floods and hurricanes.

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The identified hazards in Florida are flooding and hurricanes. The threats could lead to loss of life and damage to the economy. Between the years 2000 and 2017, the majority of the disasters in Florida resulted from floods, hurricanes, and severe storms, which emanated due to the harsh weather conditions (Montgomery & Kunreuther, 2018). Importantly, flooding is considered a significant risk in Florida since it affects over 3.5million people residing along with the coastal areas (Montgomery & Kunreuther, 2018). More so, predictions have been made to show that an additional 1.1 million are likely to be affected by flooding and hurricanes by the year 2050 (Montgomery & Kunreuther, 2018). Most of the people die and lose the millions worth of properties during storms and flooding. Therefore, this explains why flooding and hurricanes due to the harsh weather conditions is a challenge in Florida.

Hazard mitigation and management of flood in Florida aim to ensure that human development and the natural environment is safe and resilient. Mitigating the risk often involves enhancing the built environment in a way that will foster a significant reduction of risks and vulnerability. Other strategies also include removing the temporal structures from the areas frequent to the disaster and maintaining the natural features such as floodplains and wetlands ("State of Florida 2020: Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan," n.d). Such techniques are considered essential since they aid in ensuring that recovery from disasters is less expensive. In addition to that, eligible activities such as elevation and relocation are included as measures of managing the hazardous effects of floods and hurricanes in Florida.

Importantly, all the plans for mitigating and managing risks are coordinated through the state, local, and regional agencies. It is also worth noting that different non-governmental interest groups are also significantly involved in the planning process. The State Hazard Mitigation Plan (SHMP) of Florida has the mandate of providing the necessary guidance in merging of efforts from all the relevant authorities. The SHMP strategy is to reduce the influence of all the hazards and threats within the Florida state through the administration of grant programs. Mainly, this happens from the integration of a coordinated approach aimed at mitigating planning and floodplain organization. All this is made possible by initiatives made by the federal, state, and local governments. Besides, the state government works with other states to enhance coordinated approaches aimed at managing the threats and risks caused by floods and hurricanes.

Lastly, the state of Florida sets aside funds to be used in the event of hurricanes and floods. Such funds often assist in relocating affected individuals and providing them with foods and other amenities when a flood or storm occurs. It is critical to understand that it would be challenging to ask people out of the coastal areas of Florida before any floods and hurricanes projections since most businesses, particularly in the tourism industry, do well in the regions. With this in mind, funds are used to project hurricanes and floods. More so, it aids in providing support to the affected persons.

Conclusion

In conclusion, floods and hurricanes are a significant threat in Florida. Considering the millions of people likely to be affected by the threat identified, the state of Florida has set aside measures to mitigate and manage the risks. Some of the techniques discussed are setting aside funds to aid in disaster management and enhancing the environment to ensure that it is free from the dangers. From the analysis conducted, it is clear that Florida has an emergency management plan that is effective in preventing any costly damages from floods and hurricanes, particularly in the coastal areas.

References

Montgomery, M., & Kunreuther, H. (2018). Pricing storm surge risks in Florida: implications for determining flood insurance premiums and evaluating mitigation measures. Risk Analysis: An International Journal, 38(11), 2275-2299. doi: 10.1111/risa.13127

State of Florida 2020: Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan. (n.d). Retrieved from https://www.floridadisaster.org/globalassets/cemp/2020-cemp/preliminary-draft-2020-state-cemp.pdf