Community emergency planning : false assumptions and inappropriate analogies.

Material type: Text

TextSeries: Article (University of Delaware. Disaster Research Center) ; 275Publication details: Newark, Del. : The Center, 1994Description: 18 pDDC classification:

P 363.347 COM

Subject: Community emergency planning had its roots in military analogies, which viewed emergencies as extensions of "enemy attack" scenarios. Such thinking was embedded in early structural arrangements and was generalised as the appropriate normative model for all emergencies. This model viewed emergencies as conditions of social chaos which could be rectified by command and control. This paper argues that such a view is inadequate based on a knowledge of behaviour in emergencies, and that the model is dysfunctional for planning. A more adequate model is presented, based on conditions of continuity, coordination and cooperation. This problem solving model, based on research rather than military analogies, provides a more adequate set of assumptions as the basis for planning. However, legislative and technolgical "improvements" often make emergency planning more rigid and increasingly inadequate

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Books	Australian Emergency Management Library	BOOK	363.347 COM (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		005737202

Includes bibliographical references

Reprinted from International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters; Vol. 12, no. 2; Aug. 1994; p. 141-158

Community emergency planning had its roots in military analogies, which viewed emergencies as extensions of "enemy attack" scenarios. Such thinking was embedded in early structural arrangements and was generalised as the appropriate normative model for all emergencies. This model viewed emergencies as conditions of social chaos which could be rectified by command and control. This paper argues that such a view is inadequate based on a knowledge of behaviour in emergencies, and that the model is dysfunctional for planning. A more adequate model is presented, based on conditions of continuity, coordination and cooperation. This problem solving model, based on research rather than military analogies, provides a more adequate set of assumptions as the basis for planning. However, legislative and technolgical "improvements" often make emergency planning more rigid and increasingly inadequate

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