10 Sep Write a 200 word reply to Anthoy post, provide an appreciative inquiry response.

Write a 200 word reply to Anthoy post, provide an appreciative inquiry response. You will not be marked on your opinion but on your ability to present a valid argument and to manage constructive discussion with your cohort while integrating the material being discussed in the course.  When responding to other students please refrain from simply stating “great comment/response”. Offer your thoughts on what he/she may have added to make the discussion more substantive.  Remember to be respectful and focus on only the discussion points and arguments posted.  This forum is intended to provide an opportunity to integrate all of the learning objectives into practice. 

Anthony,

 Recent months have revealed a gross lack in adopting the progressive principle of emergency management in the United States. Covid-19 was a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness of this principle but was lost on those ultimately in charge of the response, and the nation has suffered unnecessarily because of it. Progressive emergency managers anticipate future disasters and take preventive and preparatory measures to build disaster-resistant and disaster-resilient communities.(Blanchard et al., 2007) In the lecture material, three different schools of thought are presented as a way to mitigate and reduce vulnerability in the sense of being progressive.

Catastrophic Events

        In the lecture materials there is a quote from Eric Tolbert stating that Americans will see one or two catastrophic events within the next couple of decades that will be beyond comprehension.([EMA 305 Week 3 Online Lecture], n.d.) Eric couldn’t have been correct. In EMA-205 I was just studying the Deepwater Horizon disaster which happens to be the largest hazardous materials spill in U.S. history. Jump to January 2020 when the first U.S. case of Covid-19 was confirmed and we are now in the midst of the second catastrophic event predicted by Tolbert. To add some icing on the proverbial cake the country is also facing multiple challenges in regards to social justice in the wake of multiple questionable uses of force complaints against people of color, and clear systemic racial biases built deep into our country’s political and judicial system.

Sustainability

        Milleti has several objectives and tools that could and should be used to promote sustainability in progressive emergency management, and it all essentially boils down to disaster reduction through environmental protection, social justice, and other mitigation techniques.([EMA 305 Week 3 Online Lecture], n.d.) Each of those objectives arguably has a long way to go given the current political climate. Environmental protection certainly wasn’t addressed when one examines the giant blunders and lack of oversite regarding Deepwater Horizon, and reforms in social justice have a long way to go as well although it is on the forefront of Americans mind at this time whether they are supportive or not, it is at least being discussed.

Resistance

        This is one area where I think we are succeeding more so than in the others. The goal of resistance in part by FEMA is to create disaster-resistant communities. If you live in or have visited Florida you are likely aware of major reforms enacted after Hurricane Andrew in regards to building code changes and construction techniques. I live in a home built in 1987 before those new codes and even before Hurricane Andrew but I have still been proactive in bolstering my home’s resistance to storms by replacing my roof with up to date changes. I also lived in a brand new construction house in the early 2000s made with concrete block construction, hurricane rated windows, and hip roof design like most buildings built post Andrew.

Resilience

        If you take the Geis definition of resilience “the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change”,([EMA 305 Week 3 Online Lecture], n.d.) I argue that we are as a nation far from resilient, though our talking heads like to say that we are extremely so. You cannot turn on the news these days without multiple examples of Americans not just having difficulty adjusting to misfortune or change, they deliberately resist it and look for someone or something to blame because of it. Numerous studies indicate that the wearing of masks reduces the transmission likelihood of Covid-19 yet some will brazenly walk into a Walmart waving Nazi flags screaming about their freedoms being taken away. In part because of that our country is unnecessarily suffering from a likely avoidable infection and death rate from Covid-19. The lecture materials highlight New Zealand’s efforts to