Essay One: Write a clear and well thought out essay on the following
problem: “Your County Manager has just gone to a federally sponsored
program on getting volunteers to support the management and
administrative side of disaster and recovery portions of emergency
management. The Manager attended a seminar on a program called
‘Professional Volunteer Disaster Survey Team (PRO-V-DST)’ which had been
developed in Texas in the mid-1990’s. She was quite enthusiastic about
the program as it provides a network of professional building
inspectors, structural engineers, and architects who form damage survey
teams that could be used by State and local governments in need of help
surveying damage and evaluating structures following a disaster. In
assessing post disaster flood damage to structures in one county,
PRO-V-DST impressed the county engineer of that county engineer, who had
been overwhelmed by the number of structures requiring a determination
of substantial damage, by completing its evaluation in just 2 days. The
last tornado your county suffered took weeks to get the survey done and
then some of it had to be done over. The County Manager was sold on this
program because it would provide professional damage survey resources
at what appears to be no expenses as the teams provide volunteer labor,
and FEMA provides the funding for meals, lodging, and travel expenses.
What difficulties would you have to overcome in implementing a similar
program in your county? Would this program really be an asset? How would
you handle the County Manager?”