The Role of Crisis
The Role of Crisis-Responding Organizations
Understanding crisis response requires knowledge of the “working parts,” or organizations that respond to crises or disasters. Learning about international, national, and regional organizations in your area and the role each organization plays in disaster response is paramount to creating a crisis plan. A working knowledge of responding organizations is an essential element in leading other professionals and/or organizations in crisis response.
To prepare for this Discussion:
- Review the Course Introduction area in the navigation bar on the left. Keep this overview in mind as you work through each week of the course.
- Review Chapter 17 in your course text, Crisis Intervention Strategies, and focus on the different organizations and groups that respond to disasters and their roles in responding to them.
- Review the websites for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), American Red Cross, International Relief & Development, Salvation Army, and Mennonite Disaster Service to determine the role each organization plays in a crisis, the types of professionals that respond to crises, how responders are selected, and how each organization is funded for crisis response.
- Review the media in this week’s Learning Resources, paying close attention to types of crises and who responds to them.
- Explore organizations in your state or region that respond to disasters and examine their roles and the interactions of those roles with international and national organizations.
- Review additional websites to develop an understanding of the growing field of crisis response.
- Select three national and/or international organizations and think about the crisis-responding roles of each.
With these thoughts in mind:
Post by Day 4 a brief description of each of the national and/or international organizations you selected. Then analyze the crisis-responding roles of each of the organizations you selected. Be specific and provide examples.
Note: Put the names of the organizations you selected in the first line of your post. You will be asked to respond to a colleague who chose at least one different organization than you did.
Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.
