At any given time, splashed across your TV or phone screen, may be a story about a natural disaster. A typhoon in Guam, an earthquake in California, a flood in Arkansas. Although natural disasters are not an uncommon occurrence, the frequency and intensity of events such as droughts and tropical storms are projected to increase. As a result, the need for emergency management professionals is on the rise.
Each year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deploys hundreds of team members and resources to assist with disaster response and recovery. In the past year, the Little Rock District has deployed the SWL Temporary Roofing team to Florida for Hurricane Ian and coordinated deployment of SWL personnel for support to Typhoon Mawar and the Hawaii Wildfires.
The Little Rock District has a team of emergency management professionals that oversee the district’s response efforts. Leading the team, is Chief of Emergency Management, Jim Marple.
Marple is no stranger to disasters. He has been in the emergency management field for more than a decade and during that time has deployed to assist with response efforts in other states and territories. He has led the district through some challenging events, such as the 2019 Arkansas River Flood, the COVID 19 pandemic response, and the 2023 severe tornado outbreak in central Arkansas.
As Chief, Marple's daily duties involve an extensive amount of budgeting, scheduling, and planning of emergency response procedures. When he's not doing all of that he can be found putting together preparedness and mitigation plans and coordinating emergency response procedures between USACE and other federal, state, and local partners.
During an active disaster, Marple’s role is to oversee response activities both during and after the event.
“Our overall goal in emergency management is to keep people safe and minimize the damage caused by emergencies,” said Marple. “This includes everything from preparing for emergency events to coordinating response and recovery efforts,” he continued.
Marple has been with USACE for 28 years but has only spent the latter half of his career in emergency management. He switched fields halfway through his career because he wanted to help people on a larger scale and enjoyed the fast-paced nature and variety emergency management offered.
“We are involved in exercises, trainings, deployments, and planning. This variety is what keeps emergency management from becoming mundane,” he said.
Leading a team is difficult on a normal day but even more so during a disaster. To be an effective emergency management chief it requires, “Lots of patience, a calm demeanor during an emergency response, effective communication skills and the ability to improvise and provide solutions,” said Marple.
With communities having to find new ways to adapt to disasters, the future of emergency management will have to find new ways to adapt as well.
“The field is changing,” said Marple. “Risk-based planning, social media use in disaster response, GIS, and public-private partnerships are trends changing the way we view EM,” he continued.
Even though the landscape of emergency management is continually changing, one thing remains the same, we all play a part in ensuring that we are prepared. Having leaders such as Marple at the forefront, leading the charge, go a long way in making sure that happens.
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