Comprehensive Preparedness Guide 201: Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA)Guide

Comprehensive Preparedness Guide 201: Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) Guide It is a mouthful to say and not a small task for the fifty states that will have staff working on the development of a THIRA that is due before 2012 is put in the record books.

 

Here's a few thoughts on the document and the process:

 

• The question about the need for locals to do a THIRA has not been answered.  What is the relationship between a city or county THIRA and the State's?  I figure some states will say that a local THIRA is not needed.
• When you are talking risk, there may be a very significant threat in a local jurisdiction, say a volcano or maybe a Dam that when you look at these from the perspective of the state these risks don't carry the same amount of weight that they do for the single jurisdiction that is threatened.  How are resources allocated based on the THIRA when the two don't match-up?
• Besides being a hazard and risk assessment there now is incorporated into the THIRA process an assessment of Core Capabilities which have replaced Target Capabilities.  Things got a little bit more complicated!!
• I did see "whole community" mentioned at least once, but the level of readiness of the general public is not emphasized at all.  My premise is that if you don't have a prepared public you are not very ready for disasters since government will never be able to respond to all the needs of an unprepared community.

FEMA has some training prepared for states to receive on how to do the THIRA.  With any new process one can expect a bunch of questions and a variety of answers.  It will be interesting to see how different states compare to one another.  One challenge is that every FEMA Region is roll-up the THIRAs for states in their region and prepare a regional THIRA.  The formats better match-up pretty well for this to happen smoothly.