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Exploring the dynamics
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You just learn what people are capable of and what they
aren’t capable of. And you simply just play with their
strengths. When you know somebody could do
something well, you let them do it. But, there is
something they simply can’t do well or can’t do it at all,
you have to know what those things are and try your
very best to compensate. (ID4)
Generally speaking, Florida local governments engage in
EM-based horizontal-intersectoral collaboration for the
following reasons: 1) to seek resources; 2) to request intelligence,
and 3) to provide consulting services. To local governments,
cross-sector collaboration is an effective means of requesting
physical resources and manpower during a disaster (ID9). For
example, county EM agencies may decide to evacuate local
residents and establish emergency shelters when the county is
hit and damaged seriously by a storm or hurricane. County EM
agencies may request and receive food donations from local
restaurants or fast-food chain stores; water, blankets, and energy
cookies from grocery stores; flashlights, batteries, and
generators from hardware stores; and medicine from local
pharmacies. At the same time, numerous volunteers from non-
profit organizations and faith-based groups offer manpower to
help the county establish shelters, cook food, provide
emergency medical services and care for disaster- survivors. The
county government usually lacks money and manpower to buy
these substantive resources directly and provide the above
services, especially in a small county or municipality. The ability
to request goods and manpower becomes an incentive for
conducting horizontal-intersectoral collaboration. Local
governments have also faced layoffs, especially after a financial
crisis (ID13). It is hard for them to maintain the original EM
service level if they rely only on current public employees to
provide these EM services. Volunteers from non-governmental
organizations provide manpower to support local governments
as they attempt to respond instantly to emergencies.