{"id":4566,"date":"2017-08-25T16:32:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-25T16:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/abetteremergency.com\/blog\/?p=4566"},"modified":"2017-08-25T16:32:00","modified_gmt":"2017-08-25T16:32:00","slug":"who-wins-the-recovery-race-after-hurricane-harvey-ants-or-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abetteremergency.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/who-wins-the-recovery-race-after-hurricane-harvey-ants-or-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Wins the Recovery Race after Hurricane Harvey – Ants or People?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I once thought that a disturbed ants nest was a great example of high entropy. It\u2019s not. \u00a0Don\u2019t believe me? Go kick a fire ant nest and stand there. \u00a0A wave of ants emerges to search and destroy the disruption; another gathers up young and critical supplies; some protect the hierarchy. Almost immediately, workers set to rebuild. Ants recover quickly from disaster \u2014 natural or man-made. If you don\u2019t know, entropy is a measure of the unavailability of a system\u2019s energy to do work. It\u2019s also a measure of disorder \u2014 the higher the entropy, the greater the disorder. \u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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In the world of humans, certain problems consistently come to the surface in after action reports: communications; command and control; resource management and coordination. All of these problems raise entropy in major events. In 2005, adoption of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) was mandated by Presidential directive as a solution for these reoccurring problems. \u00a0Yet, as 2005\u2019s Hurricane Katrina and 2012\u2019s Hurricane Sandy demonstrated, we still have the same issues and entropy remains high. Will Harvey in 2017 show improvement? We\u2019ve added complexity to how we address major events, and personnel continue to be vexed by how to best manage resources and reporting requirements. The NIMS approach raises entropy and takes the focus away from solving actual problems. I think it\u2019s time we admit these recurring problems will be present in events and concentrate pre-planning efforts on keeping entropy as low as possible. \u00a0How? We need to simplify planning factors and accept that we cannot address every contingency. Pre-plan, train, and drill at the community level to undertake these immediate efforts:<\/p>\n