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Powerful Geography
Emergency Management Director

Emergency Management Director

Emergency Management Director

I. JOB SUMMARY

Main Topic: Environment and Society
Secondary Topic: Physical Geography, Human Geography, Places and Regions

Overview: Emergency management director develops the procedures for responding to natural disasters and other emergencies in order to minimize risk to people and property. The responsibilities include collaborating with public safety officials, elected officials, government agencies, nonprofit organizations and general public; assessing hazards; organizing emergency response training programs and exercises; applying for federal funding; damage assessments following disasters or emergencies. Emergency management director is also responsible for maintaining the facilities used during emergency operations and coordinating the resources distribution within the affected community. 

Human geography provides emergency management director with the knowledge of socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the neighborhoods to estimate social vulnerability to hazards and to facilitate all the stages of hazard management: prevention, protection, preparedness, emergency response, and recovery. The use of geographic technologies is needed to better evaluate the geographic area and prepare for both natural and manmade disasters. Other important geographical knowledge for this job includes zoning, for example flood zones assessment. 

Geographers at Work: Human and Physical Geographers, Environmental geographers, hazard geographers

Recommended College Courses: Physical Geography, Regional Geography, Quantitative and Qualitative Methods, Geographic Information Systems, Environmental Management, Hazards Management 

Skills: Hazards, weather and climate, landscape analysis, location analysis, working with census data, remote sensing, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and other online mapping applications such as Google Earth. 

Occupation Group: Management & Disaster Relief

Learn more about Emergency Management Directors from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Department of Labor: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/emergency-management-directors.htm

https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes119161.htm

https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2018/article/disaster-relief-careers.htm

Written by Daria Andrievskikh

II. POWERFUL GEOGRAPHIC KNOWLEDGE

Emergency management directors prepare plans and procedures for responding to natural disasters or other emergencies. They also help lead the response during and after emergencies.
Emergency management directors prepare plans and procedures for responding to natural disasters or other emergencies. They also help lead the response during and after emergencies.