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The following article examines the cascading effects that took place from February 11–20, 2021, through the perspectives of emergency managers, FEMA employees, and others who responded to "The Texas Freeze." The research discusses the literature on cascading disasters as well as the methodology that was utilized to conduct this study. It then examines the unique challenges experienced before and after the storm. In particular, the article explores the loss of power that subsequently resulted in the lack of water, the freezing of pipes, and flooding. In addition, it mentions other problems such as transportation and the provision of fuel as well as numerous consequences that posed considerable challenges for hospitals, long-term care facilities, and emergency managers. The article concludes with recommendations to strengthen infrastructure, mitigate winter storms, and increase planning and preparedness for complex disasters. The main point to be made is that far more consideration needs to be given to proactively understand and anticipate cascading disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: David A. McEntire The problems currently evident in emergency management give ample reason to reflect upon the direction of this profession in the USA. This paper evaluates the founding principles upon which this profession was based in the 1980s. It then highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the sustainability school that appeared a decade later. After illustrating the need for and problems associated with homeland security, this paper puts forward the concept of vulnerability management. This policy guide is based on the notions of liability reduction and capacity building, and has close relation to increasingly popular terms such as risk, susceptibility, resistance and resilience. This paper concludes with recommendations on how to implement a policy of vulnerability management.

Byline: David A. McEntire The following paper examines the history of the sustainable development concept. It illustrates that the meaning of the concept has expanded dramatically since its initial focus on environmental protection and poverty reduction. The paper mentions several policies recommended by sustainable development and concludes with a brief discussion about the future of the concept. The overriding goal of the paper is to illustrate the complex nature of sustainable development and underscore the need for further research on the subject.

Byline: David A. McEntire The following article illustrates that whilst the disaster resistant community, disaster resilient community and sustainable development concepts provide many unique advantages for disaster scholarship and management, they fail to sufficiently address each of the hazards, phases, actors, variables and disciplines pertaining to calamitous events. In making this argument, the paper asserts that any future paradigm and policy guide must be built on - yet go further than - comprehensive emergency management. The article also notes the importance of vulnerability as it relates to disasters, and consequently suggests that 'invulnerable development' - a process of vulnerability management - is better suited to guide scholarly and practitioner efforts to understand and reduce disasters.

This paper addresses an important question: what can a highly complex public health situation such as the Dallas-Fort Worth Ebola outbreak tell us about the use of discretion by executive level public administrators? The public administration literature is rich with evidence of street-level bureaucratic discretion, but has not explored executive level discretion decision making. The authors argue that in highly complex situations of uncertainty, such as in the case of the Dallas-Fort Worth regional Ebola emergency response, the executive use of discretion translates to decisions under the conditions of uncertainty. This article theorizes a logic of uncertainty when two important assumptions exist; the situation is absent a plan to guide decision making, and the decision makers lack any previous precedent with the situation. Results indicate that when survey respondents departed from their emergency management plan, and planned as the event unfolded, they were more likely to use executive discretion decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]