Book Description

Disasters can cause major damage to life and property and public administrators have a responsibility to their community to prepare for such destruction. Previous disasters have increased awareness about the need for more emergency preparedness. The components of preparedness that will be discussed in this paper are: Trainings, exercises, emergency response plans and intergovernmental collaboration. Factors that prevent local government from planning for emergencies will also be discussed. Emergency managers play a key role in setting policy objectives and drawing together necessary community resources to implement them. The literature lacks information on the emergency preparedness efforts of Los Angeles. This study will focus on the 87 incorporated cities in Los Angeles that are not a part of the City of Los Angeles nor the County of Los Angeles. Surveys will be sent out to the cities to those who are responsible for the organizations emergency preparedness. Interviews will also be done with some of the cities to gain more detailed insight of their preparedness practices. The purpose of this research is to gain better understanding of emergency preparedness as it relates to public administrators who respond to disasters and to offer recommendations to support continuous improvement of disaster preparedness efforts in Los Angeles.