Table of Contents
National Guard
When talking about the military response, the National Guard is typically the first to be deployed to respond to natural disasters. The person responsible for deploying the National Guard would be the governor of the state (FEMA. 2011). The main goal is to protect the citizen and properties of the affected area. The National Guard also assists with Emergency Medical Service calls, Fire calls, Law enforcement calls, Dialysis patient transport, Civilian transport to warming stations and removing debris in intent to reopen critical transportation routes and providing water (FEMA. 2011).
Hurricane Katrina
An example of the immense help the National Guard provided would be during Hurricane Katrina in August, 2005. Hurricane Katrina was a category five storm that had winds going over 170 MPH. The aftermath of the hurricane we’re catastrophic. Without hesitation 30,000 were deployed to the site and helped in the search and rescue, medical treatment, evacuation and security process (Orrell. 2010). With the amount of damage caused to the city of New Orleans the recovery process wasn’t going to be a fast one. Nevertheless, by the end of September, 88,000 passengers were airlifted to safety, 18,000 tons of supplies and relief aid were transported, and 17,000 lives were saved (Orrell. 2010).
Military
When natural disasters occur the damages as massive. The resources used to help victims quickly diminish with such capacity. The assistance received from first responders is minimal and staff is often overworked. During massive catastrophes the Military Commander may utilize their armed forces to help in the rescue, evacuation, and emergency treatment of casualties and safeguard public health (Federation of American Scientists. n.d.).
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The military has the essential equipment to respond immediately in the short notice such as manpower, equipment, training, and organization necessary to gather the relief efforts necessary during the recovery process. The military role is to help as many victims as possible by either providing first aid, transportation logistics and deploy immediate help when required. The military is very limited to what they can do when helping respond to natural disasters, the reason being the primary responsibility relies on the local, state, and federal agencies (Federation of American Scientists. n.d.).
National Emergency Involvement and Functions
The essential roles of the military forces would to minimize the quantity of deceased, malicious destruction of property and to help reestablish governmental operations and public order when unexpected civil disturbances, or catastrophes that seriously endanger life and property and interrupts normal governmental functions to such an extent that local authorities are unable to control the situation (Dunlap. 2017).
Additionally, federal actions such as military forces are deployed when federal properties and federal government functions require protection and local authorities are unable to deliver adequate protection (Dunlap. 2017). Natural disasters typically don’t require federal military forces to perform law enforcement duties, unless requested from the state. The military troops were also deployed to Hurricane Katrina.
When the levees failed to stop the flood in New Orleans residence panic and lost hopelessness. The troops arrived to assist, using their expertise from Iraq to bring order to a confused situation. Nevertheless, troops teamed up with airport staff to help direct passengers to their flights as soon as possible. Within a twelve-hour period, the troops and staff successfully evacuated 9,000 people (Berthelot. 2010).
References
- Berthelot, R. (2010). The Army response to Hurricane Katrina. Retrieved from https://www.army.mil/article/45029/the_army_response_to_hurricane_katrina
- Dunlap, C. (2017). Disasters and Emergencies: Legal authorities and the military’s role.
- Federation of American Scientists. (n.d.). Disasters and Domestic Emergencies. Retrieved from https://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm100-19/fm100-19_5.html
- FEMA. (2011). Military Resources in Emergency Management. Retrieved from https://training.fema.gov/emiweb/is/is75/student%20manual/student%20manual.pdf
- Orrell, J. (2010). Hurricane Katrina response: National Guard’s ‘finest hour.” Retrieved from https://www.army.mil/article/44368/hurricane_katrina_response_national_guards_finest_hour
