On August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 tropical storm near Rockport, Texas. Harvey's outrageous breezes and tempest flood caused annihilation along the Texas coast. As Harvey moved gradually inland, meteorologists anticipated that Harvey would drop between 900 - 1000 mm (35-40 in) of rain during the following week in coastal Texas (Risser). In certain regions, these expectations were surpassed, especially in the greater Houston region. As a result, unprecedented flooding occurred over an area the size of the Netherlands. Houston, the fourth biggest city in the U.S., was particularly hard hit, inciting a huge crisis reaction running from nearby grass-attaches endeavors to formal disaster management. Initial reports place the harm from Hurricane Harvey among the top five historical weather events in the United States (Van).
More than 20,000 individuals had to look for emergency temporary shelter during the disaster and an estimated 120,000 structures have been impacted by flooding. Extreme flood events like Harvey are tragic but also very rare to occur frequently. The families who were exposed to the floods had to be rescued (by emergency workers/responders), escape (by themselves or with help from other citizens), or wait until the water levels had decreased. In multiple areas, the water level declined so quickly that people did not have to escape or be rescued (Van). Nonetheless, there were some places where evacuation was necessary.
Following the disaster declaration for the state of Texas by President Trump, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) began to go about as the government planning body for crisis reaction. My role as part of the FEMA is to initiate a few different systems at both the national level (National Response Coordination Center in Washington D.C.) and in the impacted locale (Regional Response Coordination Center in Denton). These planning components upheld individual states in actualizing a range of crisis readiness measures. The measures included data to the populace through weather alerts, data on evacuation temporary shelters, and safety tips in numerous dialects (“Historic Disaster Response”). FEMA not only helped at the government level but also at the citizen level.
FEMA allotted 28 Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) groups from the country over to send to Texas to help state and neighborhood organizations with the lifesaving strategy. The groups saved 6,453 individuals and 237 animals, utilizing boats and high-water trucks. Search and rescue endeavors included the USAR, National Parks Service, U.S. Fish, and Natural life Service, Customs and Border Patrol, and the Department of Defense. FEMA provided “3 million meals, 3 million liters of water, 9,900 covers, 8,840 bunks, 10,300 hygiene packs to the state to distribute to survivors. FEMA rapidly gave $186 million in Public Assistance subsidizing to repay neighborhood and state organizations for the expense of emergency protective measures and debris removal.” FEMA conveyed groups of authorities to neighborhoods and calamity recuperation focus to help Texans with enrollment and inquiries concerning calamity help. FEMA composed National Business Emergency Operations Center calls among 150 private segment accomplices chipping away at catastrophe reaction, worked with social media companies to share catastrophe data, and helped cell administration organizations in giving charging stations to catastrophe survivors (“Historic Disaster Response”).
Aside from communicating with people in general, FEMA moreover prepositioned groups and assets, including Incident Management Assistance Teams (IMAT) the crisis activities focuses. Through the reaction to Hurricane Harvey, more than 15 other government (federal or state) organizations have been included. In addition to these formal, governmental organizations, the American Red Cross and another 300 voluntary associations were assembled (Flowers). The sum and size of these associations, each with their commands, mastery, assets, methods, and structures added to the multifaceted nature of the reaction and difficulties in coordination. All the different organizations involved with different roles resulted in keeping the citizens safe
The American Red Cross (ARC) gave $45 million to more than 100,000 disaster survivors to support them with prompt needs. The Red Cross deployed more than “3,000 staff and volunteers, 171 emergency reaction vehicles, served 965,000 meals and 1 million snacks and worked shelters” throughout the affected districts (Flowers). These organizations mutually sorted out the emergency response for the influenced territories. This reaction included operational exercises, for example, search and rescue, evacuation, and medicinal consideration. Besides, the response likewise secured the provisioning of help things to the influenced populace, for example, nourishment and water, emergency shelter equipment, and monetary remuneration.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) role in an emergency crisis is to upgrade the well-being and prosperity of all citizens, by accommodating successful well-being and human administrations and by encouraging sound, supporting advances in science's fundamental medication, general well-being, and social administrations. The HHC in Hurricane Harvey sent in more than a “1,110 workforce with medicinal gear and supplies. The workforce gave medical consideration to 5,359 patients and conducted 60 shelter assessments evaluations.” The department established a medical shelter and helped move Port Arthur residents who had been living in flood-water-polluted houses and apartments to temporary housing at the Bob Bowers Civic Center (Hines). The HHS also gave a helping hand even after the water level had decreased to make sure all the citizens impacted had good well-being.
It very well may be noticed that more than 300 volunteer associations supported crisis tasks. These non-administrative associations contributed a huge bit of the assets, both labor and things, in the outcome of Hurricane Harvey. Not just their assets added to the crisis reaction; their local presence, commonality with the area, and access likewise guaranteed a progressively viable activity for the administration-commanded associations. The coordination jointly effectively delivers aid and emergency response key factors in guaranteeing these associations mutually adequately convey help. The non-governmental organizations helped a lot in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, due to the high amount of damage.
Joined together, various factors made Hurricane Harvey a huge tempest. In the first place, the storm framed rapidly and heightened to a Category 4 in every brief time frame, giving individuals deficient time to get ready for it by emptying. Second, since Harvey was moderately moving, the flooding and tornadoes proceeded for quite a long time after Harvey made landfall. At last, Harvey's area added to its demolition; it affected the fourth most-populated metropolitan region in the nation. Without the physical and financial help of the non-governmental organization, Hurricane Harvey would’ve taken longer to recover.