The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.
By Thomas E. Poulin
November 18, 2024
Public agencies are scrutinized by the community to assess their efficacy, efficiency, and responsiveness. This is their right, and most public administrators use this as a barometer of their service delivery. If they are perceived to be doing well, they continue their efforts. If not, they seek to remedy any shortcomings. This presupposes the feedback is accurate. But what if it is not? What if, as in the case of disaster response, the feedback is based on the misperceptions of the popular culture of disaster.
The Popular Culture of Disaster
Sociologists E.L. Quarantelli and Ian Davis began exploring the popular culture of disaster many years ago. Their work determined many in the public, including elected and appointed officials and the media, are misinformed about disaster response through a popular culture illustrated in popular film, television shows, and novels. These entertainment media were crafted to entertain an audience rather than to present an accurate vision of disaster response. This vision is often more powerful than any public agency educational outreach.
Disaster Myths
The popular culture includes countless allusions to disaster. The following are common tropes in the disaster genre:
Lack of Planning: In popular culture, no disaster has been predicted or planned for, with all responses being entirely reactive. This is far from the truth, with extensive planning and disaster exercises being the rule. It is true that the specific characteristics of any event might be envisioned only imperfectly, however functional planning for warnings, evacuations, communications, sheltering, and other activities might be applied in any disaster.
Immediate Response: In popular culture, the myth of immediate response is pervasive, as if all assistance, including highly specialized services, will be immediately available. This is the most understandable of themes, given the entire story arc must be condensed to fit available time. In reality, post-disaster, local first responders will also be victims, limiting their capacity. External assistance will take time to activate, equip, and respond, with greater times needed for larger events where assistance must come from further distances.
Active-duty Military Engagement: The active-duty military is frequently presented in popular culture as having an active role, often a leading role, in disasters. The reality is, by law, the active-duty military will have a limited role in support of the state and local response, except under unique circumstances of national significance. The National Guard in each state will be heavily engaged in the response to many disasters, but they tend to be in a supporting role, and no Guard unit has the same resources available as the activity-duty military.
Unlimited Funding: Disaster response and recovery are costly. In popular culture, there is a presumption that funding is unlimited, available with few constraints to all levels of government, businesses, non-profits, and individuals. The reality diverges from this dramatically, with available funding limited to existing budgets. The use of these funds are hemmed by policies to minimize waste and fraud. Additional funding must go through legislative processes that might be both time-consuming and contentious.
Unlimited Authority: A common trope in popular culture is that at some point there will be an individual who has unlimited authority over government at all levels, also holding the authority to direct the private and non-profit sectors. Of all the tropes, this is probably the most farcical as disaster policy in the United States fragments authorities between local, state, and federal agencies, between sectors, and in many instances between executive and legislative bodies. Typically, during differing disaster work cycles, there will be a small group with formal authority empowered to make decisions in a unified command, but only in a collaborative manner.
Ulterior Motives: Perhaps the most dangerous trope was reported during recent disasters. In popular culture, there are often actors who are acting for nefarious reasons, either to achieve personal profit or to avoid culpability for some past misdeed. This makes both the public and the media challenge disaster response and recovery efforts in an uninformed manner during the event, which only slows or stops disaster response and recovery, and which might endanger disaster response and recovery personnel.
The Consequences?
Why is all this of concern to public administrators? It might contribute to unnecessary pushback, if not backlash, to the agency. It can hinder response, demoralize employees and, worst of all, diminish needed service delivery efforts. Sadly, this is a conundrum; it cannot be eliminated. The creators of popular culture in the entertainment industries are working to entertain the public, not to educate them. To minimize these negative effects, public administrators must be actively transparent. They must more actively engage elected and appointed officials, the media and the community in disaster planning and exercises. They must seek to create agents of change outside of government to defend and support disaster recovery based on their appreciation of the challenges and an increased understanding of how disaster response and recovery work. The damage from any disaster can be catastrophic. This should not be exacerbated by misperceptions created by the popular culture of disaster in the communities they serve.
Author: Thomas E. Poulin, PhD, SHRM-CP, IPMA-CP, is a training and development consultant and part-time public administration faculty at Columbia Southern University. He served in local government and non-profits for more than 30 years and has taught public administration and related topics for nearly 20. He may be reached at [email protected].
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