Aspects of National Incident Management System (NIMS) Training
Abstract
It is necessary for the society to be aware of what they will do in case of a disaster. A prepared community is less likely to have many negative impacts of a catastrophe. This paper explains the origin of the National Incident Management System. It started in 2006 when the parliament passed the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act. The system trains people on the emergency management. It helps the society to improve their economic, political and social status.
Aspects of National Incident Management System (NIMS) Training
A disaster is a calamitous event that causes harm to the political, social and economic aspects of people’s life (Doss, Glover, Goza, & Wigginton, 2015). The catastrophes usually overwhelm the society such that it cannot cope using the available resources. In most cases, disaster happens and affect the vulnerable people in the community. The occurrence of the same event will not be a catastrophe to a resilient society. Instead, it will remain a hazard, which means it has the potential to cause harm. However, the resilient society has the required training and resources to cope with such events. Consequently, the community is prepared. However, if a society is not prepared to handle a hazardous occurrence, it will be a disaster that will affect their lives negatively. Thus, it is necessary to the community, the government and all relevant agencies and stakeholders to be prepared to deal with emergencies so that the negative impacts on the society will be reduced. The national incident management system is a program that is intended to train the society, individuals, government agencies, humanitarian agencies and all stakeholders involved in emergency management (McElreath et al., 2014). It is aimed at reducing the impacts of a hazardous event. The program lowers the vulnerability of the society and increases resilience. This paper discusses the aspects of the national incident management system (NIMS) training and its economic, social and legal implications.
Implications of Aspects of National Incident Management System (NIMS) Training
After Hurricane Katrina that caused social, economic, and political damage to hundreds of people, the government saw it necessary to initiate a program that would assist the society to lessen the consequences of such events, and where possible, prevent such catastrophes from recurring. In case it is not possible to prevent the occurrence of all hazardous situations, then the impacts should be mitigated so that they will have fewer effects (Wilson, 2010). The Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 created a platform for the NIMS training. The personnel with the responsibility of saving lives and preventing injuries, loss of lives, property, and environmental conservation should have the required knowledge of how to handle emergencies. The national incident management system offers training to organizations, individuals, and agencies which are involved in emergency management (Korstanje, 2011).
NIMS training ensures that the relevant authorities and individuals understand the potential risks. They are trained on the probability of suffering harm, damage, destruction or loss in case of a certain event. Thus, the society is prepared that if a certain disaster occurs, they will suffer specified losses that will make their lives different. Therefore, they have to do the best they can to reduce the impacts of the event (Doss et al., 2015). Therefore, the training gives the society a chance to learn how to identify hazardous situations and mitigate them. Mitigation is the initial phase of emergency management. The relevant authorities are trained on the activities aimed at eliminating or reducing the probability of occurrence of an emergency or a disaster (Karanasios, 2011). The mitigation process includes activities designed to postpone, dissipate or lessen the effects of any catastrophe. Consequently, people are aware of what they should do to reduce the occurrence of a disaster. Even if they might not be in a position to stop the catastrophe from happening, they are taught how to reduce its impacts (Wilson, 2010).
The NIMS training prepares people against emergencies. Since it is practically impossible to prevent hazardous events from occurring, the program gives the society an “insurance policy” (Korstanje, 2011). It enlightens the community on the activities that ensure the most effective and efficient responses to minimize the damages caused by a hazardous occurrence. Such activities include forecasting, forecasting and system warning. The training makes people accept the reality that emergencies are part of their lives. There will be disasters and events that will cause harm to their lives. Therefore, the training offers the required skills to help people respond appropriately in case the catastrophe occurs (McElreath et al., 2014).
According to the aspects of the national incident management training, there is the need to make people ready to respond appropriately. The course trains the individuals, communities, agencies, organizations and people in authority how to give assistance during casualties (Wilson, 2010). They are equipped with skills of search and rescue, shelter, and first aid. The program aims at helping the society reduce the extent of secondary damage through such measures as anti-looting and to mitigate damage through efforts such as remedial movement of shelters from heavily contaminated fallout areas (Doss et al., 2015).
After the occurrence of the calamitous event, there is a need to help the affected people to recover. Thus, the NIMS training educates people on the recovery and restoration. It trains them on the activities that will return the systems to its normal state (McElreath et al., 2014). The NIMS training explains the short-term and the long-term activities that the society requires to carry out. On the one hand, the former attempt to return the vital human systems to minimum operating standards, a training duration of approximately two weeks. For example, the victims require counseling to deal with the psychological trauma. On the other hand, long-term activities aim at stabilizing all systems. They involve redevelopment loans, legal assistance, community planning, exposure control and reduction (Karanasios, 2011).
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You have problems with academic performance and your marks are not good
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Reputation and the feeling of self-esteem are important for you
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You are unable to cope with writing the academic assignment
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You cannot cope with the assignment due to the hectic schedule
The aspects of the national incident management system training help the community to work together. The training makes people understand the importance of teamwork. It is hard for an individual to work alone to handle an emergency. It requires people to work together to reduce the impacts of a disaster and save lives. Therefore, the training enhances cohesion in the society. People form groups where they learn practice emergency drills. It reduces unnecessary hatred as it makes individuals value teamwork (Wilson, 2010).
McElreath et al. (2014) point out that the NIMS training goes beyond political boundaries. People from all political divides are trained together. A disaster does not choose which community or individual to affect. It attacks all vulnerable people irrespective of the political orientation. Therefore, political leaders are encouraged to help the community without discrimination (McElreath et al., 2014). When a disaster strikes, political leaders come with promises of what they will do to help the society. The training equips them with the necessary actions that they should take as the representatives of people. They should conduct an organized assessment and implement the policies in all parts of the region irrespective of whether they have political support or not (Korstanje, 2011).
According to Doss et al. (2015), preparing for emergencies and mitigating them is cheaper than coping with the negative impacts of a disaster. Thus, the NIMS training reduces the cost of living in the current world. It trains the society on what to do to be resilient. Thus, the community manages to prevent some disasters from occurring. The hazardous events that take place do not necessary turn to catastrophes as the society takes the necessary measures. The government also benefits from the training, as it does not have to use a lot of money to reconstruct the community after a disaster. Preparedness and mitigation ensure that the society has the proper knowledge and skills to cope with the hazardous event using the available resources (Karanasios, 2011).
Summary of Findings
The national incident management training is a program initiated to offer emergency management courses to individuals, organizations, communities, and agencies. It trains people responsible for emergency management on different activities surrounding the emergency management cycle. The institutions that offer NIMS training include Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), United States Fire Administration (USFA), and Emergency Management Institute (EMI). It assists the society politically, as it helps people to work together without considering which political party they support. It also improves the economic status of individuals as they are prepared to handle emergencies. Thus, they use less money to mitigate disasters as compared to what they can use to cope with the negative consequences of the former. The training also improves the economy of the country, since the money that the government could have used on responding to emergencies is spent on other development activities.
Conclusion
In conclusion, every individual is prone to a hazardous event. The difference occurs when one person or society is prepared to reduce the impacts of the catastrophe, and the other one has no idea what he/she will do when a disastrous event strikes. The prepared community, on the one hand, is resilient and copes with the situation using the available resources. On the other hand, the unprepared society is vulnerable and loses lives and property to the disaster. The national incident management system trains people on how to lessen the impacts of catastrophes, respond when they occur and recover from the impacts after the event. The training is beneficial politically, socially and economically as discussed in this paper. It helps individuals from different races, religions, political groups and genders work together to mitigate disasters. People forget their political support and consider their lives and their future. It also helps save money that would be used in responding to emergencies. The society and the government use less money to mitigate and prepare as compared to what it would use to respond to emergency and recover the lost glory of the affected community.