Community expectations : matching government capabilities to the expectations of the public

Abstract

Major events potentially affect all types of essential services in both government and private sectors. These are services that residents expect to be delivered, required by other services to function and are critical to the life safety of residents. If those services collapse, there will be a threat to life and limb. Failure to properly ensure continuity of essential governmental and private services in the wake of a natural disaster or terrorist attack could result in societal chaos. A community expects the response and outcome of any event to be the same, failing to realize the interdependencies required for continuation of necessary services. Contributing factors to interdependency effects are stove-pipe planning and ineffective information sharing. A stove-pipe or vertical sector based system creates an environment of isolation within a community rather than a cohesive interacting system. As public and private expectations are identified, two relevant issues are required to address the capabilities required to enhance the essential services. They are horizontal planning and resilience. Governmental structures provide the platform for horizontal planning and cooperation which is essential to the civil protection. A community based system is the mechanism to improving coordination and communication into and out from the government.