PEMA director stresses importance of planning ahead
CALIFORNIA — The key to successfully dealing with any disaster is in the advanced planning of its possibility, according to the director of the state’s emergency management agency.
“We need to prepare before bad things happen,” said Glenn Cannon, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA). “We are constantly preparing for the unknown. If we think about that first, we can better manage the consequences of any event. If you wait for the event to happen to prepare, it is then too late.”
Cannon addressed the state’s emergency management plans and resources at the state level in the midst of both man-made and natural disasters last week during California University of Pennsylvania’s 6th Conference on Homeland and International Security, focusing on “Managing the Disaster.”
Cannon spoke specifically about the events of 2011, a time he said was the worst year of declared disasters in Pennsylvania’s history. He said last year’s blizzards, tornadoes, flash floods, ice storms, fires and flooding affected much of the state. He noted 2011 was also a devastating time as flooding from Hurricane Irene left nearly 500 families homeless and destroyed entire communities.
While PEMA’s first concern was directing rescue and recovery throughout the devastated areas of the state, Cannon said much of the agency’s work followed in the aftermath of the hurricane.
“Emergency management does not end with the initial response,” he said. “There is short-term recovery and long-term recovery.”
Cannon said PEMA worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist those affected by last year’s hurricane remnants by providing shelter, food as well as directing residents to counseling as well as helping them renew lost items such as driver’s licenses and other needed documents.
“It isn’t just saving a life in these situations,” he said. “It’s saving a community.”
As a result of Hurricane Irene, Cannon said PEMA has launched a new program this year that deals with long-term community recovery.
He said government agencies involved seek information from residents about the way they would like to rebuild.
“We ask them, ‘If you could rebuild the community, how would you want it?'” he said. “Rather than a government entity coming in and saying this is how we are going to rebuild, we come up with community economic development plans based on what the residents say. We manage that expectation, we get the plan, then we need to find the funding.”
While PEMA’s new plan allows residents involved in disasters to have input in the recovery, he said it is equally important to remember to always be part of the solution by planning ahead.
“Preparedness is part of everyone’s role and catastrophic events are a shared responsibility,” he said, noting there are levels to emergency preparedness, including state, local and family. “Be informed, be involved and plan for the ability to take care of yourself during these times by having medicine, food, basic first aid kits and a family plan. You should be preparing on the front, no matter what your level is in the system.”
The conference, sponsored by the campus Department of Justice, Law and Society, also featured guest speaker Dr. Karl Williams, chief medical examiner of Allegheny County, who presented on managing mass fatalities. Williams spoke about his involvement with the crash of US Air Flight 427 outside of Pittsburgh in 1994. At the time of the crash, he was responsible for setting up and managing the temporary morgue used in the identification of the victims.
Other speakers included Dr. Raymond Hsieh, a cybercrime expert and Cal U faculty member who spoke about managing cyber disasters; Rick Periandi, director of security at Reading Hospital and Medical Center in Berks County, who spoke about the trauma center’s role in mitigating the effects of a disaster; and Kevin Angelilli, a principal with the International Association of Public Safety Divers, who presented on managing the maritime disaster.