the speed to scale challenge

In late August 2005, in the days before Hurricane Katrina made landfall on America's Gulf Coast, FEMA—its federal emergency management agency—had deployed an Emergency Response Team to the State of Louisiana’s Emergency Operations Center

But, when it arrived, the FEMA ERT was unable to combine forces with the emergency managers in Louisiana. In a similar way, the State of Louisiana emergency managers were unable to combine forces with those in the City of New Orleans

The result was that, in the crucial early hours after Katrina made landfall—when the government-led response needed to get big enough fast enough to manage the surge in human needs that the crisis brought—its various pieces were disconnected, working at cross-purposes, and losing time

We call this, the inability of different areas and levels of government to quickly come together into a unified response team, the "speed to scale" challenge. And it remains our single biggest obstacle to effective disaster response

But rather than being a uniquely American problem, "speed to scale" is pervasive; ubiquitous in every country, whether rich or poor. Among the rich countries of the world, it is especially pernicious in countries with federal systems, such as Australia, Canada, the USA...and New Zealand

the deadly disaster in Canterbury

Ten years ago today, on February 22nd 2011 at 12:51 pm local time, an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale struck the Canterbury Region in New Zealand's South Island centered 6 miles south-east of the center of Christchurch 

The earthquake caused widespread damage across Christchurch, killing 185 people  

Over half of the deaths occurred in the six-story Canterbury Television Building, which collapsed and caught fire in the earthquake

The government declared a state of national emergency

As the scope of the disaster became evident, emergency managers at the national level became alarmed and made the decision to initiate integration with the local emergency management team

The result proved to be the ‘disaster within the disaster’

The process of combining the two teams was not clear

It had never been practiced—especially who reported to who and who was in charge of what—and the local operations center descended into chaos

An after-action review concluded “that the duplication of control and EOCs between Christchurch city and the regional CDEM group was not only inefficient but put people and property at risk”

This unhappy condition is little changed today

For people like us in the disaster business, the "speed to scale" challenge means failure and humiliation

For the affected community—the seniors, individuals with disabilities, children, and families—it means needless suffering

Kelly McKinney is the AVP of Emergency Management + Enterprise Resilience for NYU Langone Health in New York City and the former Deputy Commissioner for Preparedness at the New York City Office of Emergency Management. He is the author of Moment of Truth: The Nature of Catastrophes and How to Prepare for Them published by Post Hill Press