Guest Posting from an experienced EM practitioner, and former co-director of the EM Forum, Ms Avagene Moore. [This is a follow on to the posting done last week with title noted above.]

Einstein also said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This can be applied to all aspects of the disaster business as well as all institutions of society.

There are many well-seasoned and experienced disaster professionals in the field world-wide. Unfortunately, we lack a way of channeling, compiling and making the most of that expertise and real-world knowledge. We continue to talk about the gap between research and practitioners but make little if any headway in bringing them together to benefit the disaster business. We nibble around the edges of situations, skirt the issues and rarely get to the core of the problems. Personally, I have to believe there is a way and I know there is a pressing need to change the perspective and culture of this multi-billion dollar disaster industry.

After 40 years in the emergency management field, my questions are: 1) Are we as the disaster community, at all levels, honest enough – dare I say thick-skinned enough – to examine ourselves and see the good, bad and the ugly? Having done that — 2) How do we courageously speak as one collective knowledgeable voice that is loud enough to be heard and make a difference?