Foreword: All Disasters are Local, Until They Are Not

An adage in the practice of emergency management is “all disasters are local.” The origins of that phrase remain unclear. However, emergency management thought leaders have used that phrase to explain the nature of emergency management practice (Pittman, 2011). A variation of that phrase has also surfaced, reflecting the complexity of contemporary emergency management practice. The phrase “all disasters are local, except when they’re not” has been seeing increased use in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic emergency (Sanchez, 2021).

In the context of a local emergency having global implications, using a phrase like “all disasters are local, until they are not” takes on a specific meaning suggesting that with most disasters it is only a matter of time until we determine how local emergencies have global effects. It does not take long in our increasingly interconnected globalized world for the consequences of a finite community-level emergency to spread well beyond the localized disaster area. Within hours of the occurrence of a localized emergency situation, global concerns become stacked upon the local concerns.

Local Emergencies with Global Impacts

By way of brief illustration, a case in point of “all disasters are local, until they are not” was illustrated by the Baltimore bridge collapse on March 26, 2024. In a complex human, environmental and economic emergency, a container ship accidentally hit a support pier of the Interstate-695 bridge in Dundalk, Maryland (Rozdilsky, 2024). The immediate result of the complex disaster was the death of six workers, the collapse of bridge spans supporting four northeast-southwest traffic lanes into the Patapsco River, and a damaged container ship along with tons of cement highway wreckage and metal bridge debris blocking a primary shipping channel. Locally, all hands were on deck during the search and rescue phase and emergency response activity was organized by local, state, and federal authorities. The disaster area was concentrated in a very localized 1.6-mile (2.57-kilometer) zone where the bridge fell into the river.

As the scope of the disaster became evident, it was soon realized that the situation would not be resolved quickly and the primary shipping lane to the Port of Baltimore would remain blocked for the foreseeable future. In addition to local disruptions in Baltimore’s transportation patterns and industrial economy, strains were put on distant activities far from Baltimore. Downtime at manufacturing facilities in Asia due to delays in cargo delivery schedules and spill over congestion impacts at cargo handling ports across the Americas occurred. The “all disasters are local, until they are not” scenario was in full effect. From an accident at just one bridge, global disruption to supply chains for the automobile, coal, and tofu industries created strain on societies worldwide (Lerman et al., 2024).

The Baltimore bridge collapse may be an extreme example of how a local disaster can have global impacts. However, it does prompt one to consider how any single localized disaster event can affect people, processes, economies, and even politics in distant lands. As any one of the chapters in this book addresses a local emergency management situation somewhere on the globe, the topics in this book also prompt us to think about how disasters are local, except until they are not.

The purpose of this forward is to provide food for thought when considering the topic of international emergency management along with a context for the reader to interpret this book.

The book is the culmination of a significant effort that has resulted in a deliverable reflecting what exists in terms of the state of the art in international emergency management. Authors and editors Dr. Phipps and Dr. McEntire have organized a cadre of researchers and practitioners who have contributed to the internationalization of emergency management. Chapters in this book provide a set of timely and informative vignettes that reflect contemporary examples of international research, practice, and policy across the emergency management domain.

To a certain extent, each chapter stands alone, providing a specific national and/or multinational setting for coping with an emergency management issue. However, readers are encouraged to digest this book as one whole body of work to gain an international perspective on emergency management issues.

Considering all the chapters together allows for readers to gain an understanding of how seemingly unconnected emergency management issues in different national contexts revolve around common themes. Such themes include, but are not limited to, taking a proactive approach to disaster management, addressing the needs of the vulnerable, and promoting professionalism in emergency management, etc.

This foreword first addresses the limitations of this book. The circumstances surrounding the origins of this book are based on the work of members of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Higher Education Program’s International Special Interest Group (International SIG). Disaster management challenges faced in the contemporary international setting are then briefly commented upon. The foreword closes with remarks asking the reader to consider the suggestion that “all disasters are local, until they are not.”

Limitations of Compiling an International Book

This book does have its limitations. Perhaps the word “international” should be placed between double quotation marks, denoting paradoxical meanings (Trask, 1997), depending on the locale in which one is sitting when they read this book.

For example, I am writing this foreword while sitting in a university office in metropolitan Toronto. So, from my own vantage point, something “international” occurs in faraway places like Texas, Tokyo, or Tel Aviv. To persons presently living and working in Texas, Tokyo, or Tel Aviv, local activities related to emergency management for me here in Canada are considered as “international” activities to them.

A natural limitation in the background for every book is that each book does have its own biases due to its authors. Those writing books or chapters have their own set of lived experiences that are in part informed by the local context in which they operate. That bias is not inherently good or bad, it is just how it is.

This foreword acknowledges that the background for the ideas in this book originated from the efforts of the International SIG, an effort based out of the United States. It is suggested that this background context should not be viewed only as a limitation that is a weakness, but also as a limitation that has its strengths.

As will be explained in the next section of this foreword, the International SIG has long encouraged emergency management higher education efforts within the United States to adopt a multi-national approach to teaching and learning. Regarding this book, the editors have taken care to gather a unique group of contributing authors, all of whom have their own version of “international” experiences worthy of consideration.

The International SIG

As previously mentioned, this book originated from ideas initially discussed and developed by members of the International SIG, a working group organized with support from an initiative of the FEMA Higher Education Program. The FEMA Higher Education Program’s SIGs (or Special Interest Groups) function to support the exchange of knowledge in specific areas and applications of emergency management higher education (FEMA, 2024). The Higher Education Program within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency has the following mission:

To engage academia, emergency management professional organizations, and practitioners to work together to foster a culture of continuous learning and innovation through education and research to meet the challenges that confront the nation (FEMA, 2023, Para. 1).

The study of international aspects of disaster-related natural and social sciences and emergency management is an interdisciplinary activity that has long taken place under multiple academic programs and practitioner settings. This area of research is not unique or exclusive to the work of the International SIG. However, with respect to the current International SIG, it serves as an important outlet providing for a constructive forum for such interest to coalesce. The group can trace its roots back to the first decade of the 2000s.

In the late-aughts, a group of scholars associated with the annual FEMA Higher Education Symposium compiled and shared information on their individual subject matter expertise in international comparative emergency management. That pioneering body of work spurred many discussions on the internationalization of emergency management. For most of the 2010s, it was made freely available through an informal textbook provided by the FEMA Higher Education program for use by college and university teachers. In the mid-to-late 2010s, as a part of FEMA’s Higher Education Program activities, SIGs formed to support the emergency management education community.  The International SIG’s focus included facilitating connections between participants at the annual symposium and others who have an interest in exploring research, practice, and teaching issues in an international context (FEMA, 2021).

In the mid-2020s, the International SIG is currently engaged in a variety of activities. This work has included providing networking opportunities for persons interested in international dimensions of emergency management, hosting in-person and virtual panels and lectures concerning international aspects of emergency management, and continuing the tradition of providing for hospitality with the international breakfast event for “international” (meaning non-United States based) participants at the annual FEMA Higher Education Symposium held at the National Emergency Training Center facility in Emmitsburg, Maryland. This book is a deliverable resulting from a combination of FEMA Higher Education Program support and encouragement along with leadership and intellectual contributions from individual members of the International SIG.

International Challenges Faced in 2024

As one looks at the evolution of the field from the era of civil defense to emergency management to homeland security and beyond, it is becoming difficult to draw clear delineations between local and global issues. As this book is being published in 2024, we find ourselves at a specific, albeit troubling, juncture in international affairs.

Numerous recent indicators from 2023 suggest that disaster risk continues to impact overall human well-being at an alarming pace. Reinsurance firm Munich RE has calculated that global losses from disasters during 2023 were estimated at US $250 billion with more than 74,000 fatalities (Munich RE, 2024). The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recorded that in 2023, the United States experienced 28 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters, more than any year on record (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2024). For 2023, NASA measured that the Earth’s average surface temperature was the warmest on record, confirming that billions of people around the world are facing a climate crisis (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2024). A U.S. Government based intelligence trend forecast indicated that shared global challenges characterized by climate change, disease, financial crises, and technology disruptions are likely to manifest more frequently and intensely in almost every region and country (National Intelligence Council, 2021).

As this book is being published, every country and region is going to face situations of society under strain. These pressures and problems originate from some combination of natural processes, technological failures, and human behaviors. This book helps the reader to understand how a variety of tools, techniques, and practices are being applied in various national settings to reduce strains on society.

To summarize, the lessons learned in one national context can be applied in different national contexts. Best practice-based emergency management decisions made at the local level in one corner of the globe not only better the local situation, but also act to reduce the connected problems that will surface in faraway lands. Therefore, this book is a call for emergency management scholars and practitioners to consider how best practices in the internationalization of emergency management can work toward bettering human well-being on both a local and global basis.

Jack L. Rozdilsky, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Disaster and Emergency Management
York University
Toronto, Ontario
Canada

References

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