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and from an institutional perspective, national standards and
mutual aid agreements can be viewed as two examples
facilitating collaboration (Sylves, 2008; Waugh, 2011). The
purpose of adopting a national standard for local governments
is to ensure that everyone is on the same page and using the same
language, which decreases response times and increases the
capacity to deal with disasters. Taking NIMS as an example, it is
a national standard developed by DHS after the 2001 terrorist
attacks that was operative at all levels of governments for
standardizing disasters. It requires that all levels of governments
adopt the Incident Comment System (ICS) for integrating the
activities of different governmental entities in order to
efficiently respond to each disaster. This national standard seeks
to improve post-disaster operations through pre-disaster
planning and capacity establishment. The procedure of NIMS
also emphasizes the improvement of interoperability among all
types of responders, including those in the private and nonprofit
sectors (McEntire & Dawson, 2007).
(E) Emergency Managers’ Capability and Leadership
Recently, more local governments have organized offices
and hired managers to direct EM-related initiatives. These local
emergency managers are usually expected to have professional
knowledge and a background in the field so that they will be
capable of implementing policies and guidelines formulated by
state and federal governments, and to reflect local preferences
and needs to state and federal governments (McGuire, 2009). In
addition, these emergency managers are responsible for
communicating and cooperating with other local governments,
private companies, and non-profit organizations to establish
complete plans and initiatives for dealing with emergencies.
These emergency managers are responsible for ensuring
that all resources are in place during all mitigation, preparedness,
response, and recovery stages, and for determining what level of