Newswise — Elizabethtown College professor Robert Wheelersburg knows firsthand the difficulties encountered by federal government officials trying to provide assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina. He's been in their shoes.
As an Army Reserve major, Wheelersburg spent more than five years assigned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Region III headquarters in Philadelphia as a Department of Defense Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officer. He was trained by FEMA and worked closely with the Response and Recovery Division for his regular monthly drills and active duty assignments.
Wheelersburg was activated for several natural and man-made disasters in Region III and other regions, including Hurricanes Bonnie and Fran, the Florida Wildfires and Y2K. He was also one of the first Department of Defense troops activated for the Pentagon attack on 9/11. In addition, he trained active-duty troops out of Fort Meade and other places to respond to those disasters in their role of Military Support to Civilian Authorities. For that service, Wheelersburg received a Defense Meritorious Service Medal, endorsed by, among others, former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge.
"Unfortunately, there are two structural problems with emergency management in the United States that have resulted in human-made and natural disasters such 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina having greater impacts than necessary," Wheelersburg said. "The first problem is that the federal, state and local emergency management efforts are response-based. Although FEMA and state/local-level emergency management agencies have prevention capabilities, most of their operational activities are put in place after the disaster has occurred.
"The second major problem with emergency management in the United States is that it has been subsumed into Homeland Security, especially the war on terrorism. While FEMA and state/local emergency management agencies continue to hire and train emergency management professionals, they are often subordinate to lawyers (e.g., prosecutors) and enforcement officials. That means natural disaster planning takes a back seat to terrorism response."
At Elizabethtown College -- central Pennsylvania's premier small, comprehensive college -- 1800 men and women enjoy personal attention, breadth of curriculum, experiential learning and a commitment to serving others. Elizabethtown has been ranked for 12 consecutive years by "U.S. News and World Report" as one of the top comprehensive colleges in the North.
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