Emergency Preparedness: Life, Limb, the Pursuit of Safety and Social Justice

Since 9-11, emergency preparedness has been the focus on federal, state, tribal, and local levels. Although current research describes emergency management response, many barriers may exist that effect response systems, including the role of first responders, social vulnerability, and the way technology interfaces with these variables. Several factors determine the success of emergency preparedness and its ultimate impact on the health and safety of the community, including social media response, Community Response Grid (CRG) and social networks for older adults, emergency Internet and Community Technology (ICT) training within tribal communities and graduate schools, and programs and innovative emergency management policies for ethnically and racially diverse populations. Negotiating these issues, the character and incidence of emergency technology benefits the adult experiencing an emergency by: a) obscuring the constructs of social and class hegemony; b) mitigating future emergency problems when new procedures and policies that depend on ICT are rendered; c) examining barriers that could hinder lifesaving emergency procedures; and d) creating a community identification and a community collaborative bond so disadvantaged communities are responded to in an expedient manner.