1st Edition

The Future of Disaster Management in the U.S. Rethinking Legislation, Policy, and Finance

Edited By Amy LePore Copyright 2017
    260 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    U.S. congressional debates over the last few years have highlighted a paradox: although research demonstrates that emergencies are most effectively managed at the local level, fiscal support and programmatic management in response to disasters has shifted to the federal level. While the growing complexity of catastrophes may overwhelm local capacities and would seem to necessitate more federal engagement, can a federal approach be sustainable, and can it contribute to local capacity-building?

    This timely book examines local capacity-building as well as the current legal, policy and fiscal framework for disaster management, questioning some of the fundamentals of the current system, exploring whether accountability and responsibilities are correctly placed, offering alternative models, and taking stock of the current practices that reflect an effective use of resources in a complex emergency management system. The Future of Disaster Management in the U.S. will be of interest to disaster and emergency managers as well as public servants and policy-makers at all levels tasked with responding to increasingly complex catastrophes of all kinds.

    Chapter One: The Centralization of Emergency Management

    Amy LePore, Ph.D.

    Section 1: Legislation

    Chapter Two: Intents and Outcomes for Local Businesses in Post-Disaster Contracting Under the Stafford Act

    Christopher L. Atkinson, Ph.D.

    Chapter Three: Revising Federal Disaster Management Policy: Establishing an Officer in Charge

    Marc Landy, Ph.D. and Jessica Goley

    Chapter Four: Assisting Individuals with Access and Functional Needs: The Intersection of Disabilities, Planning, and Disaster Policy

    Melissa Pinke, Stacey Mann, Ph.D. and Elizabeth Todak

    Section 2: Policy

    Chapter Five: Local Recovery: How Robust Community Rebound Necessarily Comes from the Bottom Up

    Emily Chamlee-Wright, Ph.D., Stefanie Haeffele-Balch, and Virgil Henry Storr, Ph.D.

    Chapter Six: Small Businesses as a Vulnerable Population

    Mark R. Landahl, Ph.D. and Tonya T. Neaves, Ph.D.

    Chapter Seven: Managing Human Capital in Times of Crisis: The Role of Employees in Disaster Management

    Stacey C. Mann, Ph.D. and Jonathan W. Gaddy

    Section 3: Finance

    Chapter Eight: Major Disasters and Private Financing

    Pete Vloedman

    Chapter Nine: Financial Resiliency by Local Governments to Natural Disasters

    Simon A. Andrew, Robert Bland, and Jesseca E. Short

    Chapter Ten: The Effects of Natural Disasters on Local Government Finance

    Orkhan Ismayilov and Simon A. Andrew

     

    Biography

    Amy LePore is President of Anthem Planning, LLC and past President of the Maryland Emergency Management Association. In 2015 she earned a Ph.D. in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from the University of Delaware, U.S.A. Her research specialization is in federalism, dependence, and emergency management.