Sustainability and the local emergency manager.

Area of Science:

• Disaster Management
• Environmental Science
• Public Administration

Background:

• Sustainability is a growing concern across all sectors.
• The role of emergency management in sustainability is not well-defined.
• Understanding how practitioners view and apply sustainability is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore local county emergency managers' conceptualizations of sustainability.
• To investigate how emergency managers apply sustainability principles in their professional roles.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study utilizing semistructured interviews.
• Data collected from a sample of local county emergency managers in Florida and North Dakota.
• Twenty-five emergency managers participated.

Main Results:

• A lack of definitional clarity regarding sustainability was observed among emergency managers.
• Despite definitional ambiguity, emergency managers actively apply sustainability concepts in their job functions.
• The practical application of sustainability is evident in emergency management operations.

Conclusions:

• Emergency management has a significant opportunity to formally integrate and define its relationship with sustainability.
• Clearer definitions and integration will impact community resilience, professional development, and educational curricula.
• This study highlights the need for enhanced understanding and formalization of sustainability within emergency management.