Response to Hurricane Matthew 2018 Management Case Study

National Response to Hurricane Mathew
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Institutional Affiliation
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National Response to Hurricane Mathew
The National Hurricane Program (NHP) provides data, resources, and technical assistance for hurricane evacuation planning and response for the state, local, tribal, territorial, and federal government partners. NHP is a partnership between the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the NOOA National Hurricane Center. Hurricane evacuation and response planning efforts span from deliberate steady-state planning to operational decision support and crisis planning when hurricanes threaten the United States (The Department of Homeland Security. 2019). Apart from its planning mandate, NHP provides preparedness training, operational tools, and risk information to emergency managers to support their hurricane evacuation and response decisions. The NHP supports the National Preparedness Goal since it functions based on its core capabilities, as can be demonstrated in its response towards Hurricane Mathew.
National Planning Frameworks applied to the Hurricane Matthew response
In late September 2016, Hurricane Mathew formed from a tropical wave that pushed off the African coast. It moved on westwards in the Atlantic, passed through the eastern Caribbean, Haiti, eastern Cuba, and the Bahamas. Eventually, Hurricane Mathew struck hard the southeastern United States as it moved very close to the coasts of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina (The Weather Channel. 2016). On October 9, the National Hurricane Center declared the hurricane as post-tropical as it moved away from North Carolina. While responding to Hurricane Mathew, NHP acted as a guide on how the nation can respond to the disaster. It helped in bringing together all levels of administrations, citizens, NGOs, and businesses to achieve the National Preparedness Goal.
In this case, all partners across the country collaborated to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from the risks and threats of the hurricane (The Department of Homeland Security. 2015). Reports from the National Hurricane Center had described Hurricane Mathew as 'extremely dangerous' and forecasted high flood risks. The National Weather Service had warned about extreme winds whose impact could leave some places uninhabitable for weeks or months. As a result, millions of residents were ordered to evacuate homes along the southeast coastline (Savannah Morning News. 2016). The people were provided with storm evacuation checklists as well as a list of open inland shelters that could be accessed via the internet. As the stormed approached, most people along the coastline had already stocked up on supplies and hunkered down.
Advance preparation of the federal government under the National Response Framework
Under the National Hurricane Program, FEMA briefed President Barack Obama about the impending hurricane season, which then declared emergencies in the four states. The president's emergency declaration opened up federal aid and assistance to the affected regions (Hernández & Barman, 2016). Also, the governors declared emergencies and activated thousands of National Guard members to help with the res...