A Lesson from FEMA Administrator at IAEM Conference

Today, I listened to Mr. Craig Fugate, Administrator of the Federal Emergeny Management Agency (FEMA) at the 57th annual conference of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM). Since I joined IAEM in 2002/2003 I have come to know that Mr. Fugate is a very respected professional in the emergency management community here in USA. 

I was glad that Mr. Fugate was appointed was FEMA administrator, mind you that I had lived in Florida for over two years while he was the state emergency management director. Thus, today, I did listen him very attentively. By virtue of what he has done and accomplished, he did not even have work hard to earn my attention. He did not have to pay me a dime to listen.

The Public is Resource

The one lesson I learned from Mr. Fugate is that emergency management professionals should treat the public as a resource and not a curse. He explained that when a disaster happens, it is the public that reaches the ground or the incident site first. They are often the ones that deal with the situation before the first responders arrive. The family member, friends, by-passers, by-standers are people that we need to explore ways to engage them in the process of preparedness. They have information we do not have.

If those of us in emergency management treat these neighbors and friends as resource people, we should be able to harness the information that they have in designing response and recovery plans that are more inclusive than exclusive. When this happens, we can no longer talk about the recovery of those who were injured, without thinking about the situation of their parents, children and their neighbors.

I liked this idea very much. Some years ago, I read about the concept of converging responders. The by-standers, by-passers and so on. They too have their own story to tell. It may be useful, it is for you and me to select. Their feelings too matter. We can not afford to ignore them. Their views do matter, lets think of ways to engage them more often. 

Thanks Mr. Fugate for your service and words of wisdom.

Gideon F. For-mukwai, CEM

57th Annual Conference of Emergency Manager

Orlando, Florida

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