Question

After the overall responder shortfalls of Hurricane Katrina, the use of the National Incident Management System and Incident Command Systems were beefed up in an effort to avoid such shortfalls in the future. Presumably, after years of training and emphasis, the next, similar, large-scale response will see better performance by responders at all levels.

Based on what you know of NIMS and ICS, what short-comings do you think might still exist overall that could hinder another large-scale response?

What solutions would you propose to avoid such issues proactively?

Answer 1

Answer 1:

After gaining knowledge and understanding about National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident Command Systems (ICS), I have identified following short-comings that I believe could hinder another large-scale response:

· One of the major flaws in NIMS and ICS is that critical decisions are made by officials in Washington. Such decisions could be taken in better manner by local or state officials that close to scene.

· Disconnection between local needs and NIMS and ICS response can be observed. Such disconnection reflection centralization problem.

· Integration of law enforcement and response & recovery is observed to be an issue that leads to ineffectiveness of response to disaster.

· ICS were developed to coordinate with large fire response. So it works best in that kind of hierarchical command structure in that environment. But it has limitation to other kind of disasters.

Answer 2:

In order to avoid above issues, I would propose following solutions:

· In order to overcome decision making issues; local, state or federal officials that are closer to the scene must have authority to take critical decisions rather than relying on officials in Washington.

· Centralization should be maintained but option for flexibility must be introduced in order to deal with sudden disaster.

· Law enforcement and training of military personnel for better disaster relief operations must be implemented.

· Unified command that is supports more conscious-based decision making should be ensured.

All the above solutions will ensure more effective response of National Incident Management System and Incident Command Systems.