When disaster management agencies create disaster risk: a case study of the US's Federal Emergency Management Agency
Disaster Prevention and Management
ISSN: 0965-3562
Article publication date: 28 September 2021
Issue publication date: 25 October 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Disaster management agencies are mandated to reduce risk for the populations that they serve. Yet, inequities in how they function may result in their activities creating disaster risk, particularly for already vulnerable and marginalized populations. In this article, how disaster management agencies create disaster risk for vulnerable and marginalized groups is examined, seeking to show the ways existing policies affect communities, and provide recommendations on policy and future research.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors undertook a systematic review of the US disaster management agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), examining its programs through a lens of equity to understand how they shape disaster risk.
Findings
Despite a growing commitment to equity within FEMA, procedural, distributive, and contextual inequities result in interventions that perpetuate and amplify disaster risk for vulnerable and marginalized populations. Some of these inequities could be remediated by shifting toward a more bottom-up approach to disaster management, such as community-based disaster risk reduction approaches.
Practical implications
Disaster management agencies and other organizations can use the results of this study to better understand how to devise interventions in ways that limit risk creation for vulnerable populations, including through community-based approaches.
Originality/value
This study is the first to examine disaster risk creation from an organizational perspective, and the first to focus explicitly on how disaster management agencies can shape risk creation. This helps understand the linkages between disaster risk creation, equity and organizations.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: This study was supported by Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center, a federally funded research and development center operated by the RAND Corporation. Aaron Clark-Ginsberg was also funded by the National Science Foundation/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, under the project entitled “Belmont Forum Collaborative Research: Community Collective Action to Respond to Climate Change Influencing the Environment-health Nexus” (Award number 2028065) and by the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Gulf Research Program, under the project entitled “Capacity and Change in Climate Migrant-Receiving Communities Along the U.S. Gulf: A Three-Case Comparison” (Award number 200010900). Lena Easton-Calabria was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences under the project entitled “NOLA HEAT-MAP: New Orleans Home, Environment, and Ambient Temperature: Measurements and Analysis for Preparedness” (Award number R01ES031955). Sonny S. Patel was supported by the Fogarty International Center and National Institute of Mental Health, of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number D43 TW010543 at Harvard University.
Citation
Clark-Ginsberg, A., Easton-Calabria, L.C., Patel, S.S., Balagna, J. and Payne, L.A. (2021), "When disaster management agencies create disaster risk: a case study of the US's Federal Emergency Management Agency", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 30 No. 4/5, pp. 447-461. https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-03-2021-0067
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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