Question

The Incident Command System is a standardized management tool designed to allow its users to adopt an integrated organizational structure flexible enough to meet the demands of small or large emergency or non-emergency situations. But the Incident Command System has been at times criticized for ignoring the importance of inter-organizational relationships, the spontaneous nature of response, the role of unorganized volunteers, and the potential for conflict between organizations. Often the challenge can be reconstituting command and control after an improvised incident response. To better coordinate, a unified command often utilizes Web-accessible resources to assist in the setup and operation of an Emergency Operation Center during a response. Can you describe a disaster management challenge that could have been better addressed by using ICS, what were the lessons learned? And/or was there an incident that demonstrated an ICS Unified Command was effective in minimizing communication conflict between responding agencies amid a disaster that led to greater resiliency in whole community sustainment?

Answer 1

1. Can you describe a disaster management challenge that could have been better addressed by using ICS, what were the lessons learned?

One natural disaster that could have benefited from using the ICS was the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. An earthquake in the Indian ocean caused a series of massive tsunami waves that grew to 100 feet in height before crashing on land. Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand were severely impacted and an estimated 228,000 people died in the tragedy. The third-largest recorded earthquake remotely triggered earthquakes as far as Alaska. There was immediate panic and no clear understanding of the extent of the damage.

Lessons learnt

- Implementing the ICS would have given first responders a clear command hierarchy to approach and rescue attempts could have been coordinated from the higher end of the hierarchy to better manage the scant resources available at the time.

- The command system would also have linked government heads to the local authorities to immediately and efficiently activate aid for the survivors.

- Local services were largely unprepared for the mammoth task ahead and clear directions from a control head would have helped streamline the functions and actions. With ICS, the 4 main countries affected could have had a single control head (with multiple subordinate) and coordinated the water rescues and recoveries that went on for a long time after the tsunami.

- ICS could have helped in planning for the overwhelmed rescue parties to help them track their individual capacities, abilities and resources to spread out help across the infected areas.

- ICS could have helped coordinate logistics between rescue and NGO organisations to ensure that only required help was given to affected areas so that they could extend unused resources to areas that needed it more.

2. And/or was there an incident that demonstrated an ICS Unified Command was effective in minimizing communication conflict between responding agencies amid a disaster that led to greater resiliency in whole community sustainment?

The 2001 Attack on the Pentagon was an example of the ICS performing its function efficiently. A plane crashed into the Pentagon on 11 september 2001 killing anyone on the plane as well as 125 pentagon personnel. ICS was used to get responders quickly to the site to contain the fire and rescue the remaining occupants. The incident commander added other agencies to the control system to ensure all aspects of the disaster were contained, effectively managing communication and conflict between the different groups involved. ICS had a positive impact in handling this event and in ensuring prompt and effective action was taken when needed by coordinating between Fire and rescue, emergency and medical services and federal agencies, ensuring communication lines were open and clear directions were provided to contain the situation. The prompt and swift action by all the responders ensured survivors were rescued and provided with medical treatment right away, showcasing a resilient response and recovery thereby instilling a greater sense of strength in the community in an uncertain time.