Disaster preparedness on local level in Macedonia in light of Denmark

Master of Disaster Management (MDMa) Master’s Thesis 2012

Student:Vlatko Jovanovski

“ Disaster Preparedness on Local Level in Macedonia in Light of Denmark”

Supervisor:

Kurt Petersen (Lund University)

i

Department of International Health, Immunology &Microbiology

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences University of Copenhagen

ii

In loving memory of mymother,

ElicaJovanova

Acknowledgments

First and foremost I would like to thank my supervisor Professor Kurt

Petersen for carrying me trough this academic work. Without his

guidance this thesis would have looked very different.

Thanks to Professor Ian Davis, Professor Mohamed Hamza, Professor

Astier Almendom and Professor Magnus Hagelsteen for their

constructive evaluation of my work and the feedback given during the

Thesis seminar.

Thanks to everyone in the Department of Global Health esspecialy

Professor Peter Jensen for making this masters program working and

being one of the best in the world.

A number of colleagues from the Danish Emergency Management Agency who

made this chapter of my life possible among them Ib Jensen, Sefik Muhic,

Mette Moller Pedersen, Steffen Schmidt, Martin Thomsen. Also

gratitudes to the collegues from the Protection and Rescue Directorate

of Macedonia especially to Shaban Saliu for believing in me.

I have had great privilege to study with extraordinary people for the

past year and in this regard i would like to thank all my friends in the

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MDMa class of 2012. I have learned so much from them and hope to see them

somewhere in the field.

Thanks to my father for being with me all the time and to my friends for

their support and understanding for my absence at all the important

moments of their lives in the past year. I will try to make it up.

Finally gratitude more than words can express to my fiancee Vesna for

her love and patience. I couldn’t have succeded without her.

This thesis is dedicated to the loving memory of my mother, who passed

away as I started the masters program.

Abstract

Macedonian legislative framework regarding emergency planning gives

substantial responsibilities to the municipalities. Today all

municipalities in Macedonia have obligation to develop emergency plans

based on previously formulated risk assessment. This thesis presents

research on how the municipalities in Macedonia are administrating the

process of emergency planning. For the purpose of analysis and formulating

possible recommendations for improvement Danish model for emergency

planning on local level has been used as benchmark. In this sense the research

objectives are:

1. To identify key policy documents and actors on local level

responsible for the process of disaster preparedness and

planning.

iv

2. To analyze the planning process, to compare it through

benchmarking and to give recommendations for the future

developments in Macedonia (Denmark).

The research process took place in Denmark and Macedonia. It all began with

analysis of the basic legal framework that determinates the process of

emergency planning. This process was followed by a field research where total

number of six municipalities was visited in both of the countries. These are

the findings:

- The actual design of the process of emergency planning is predefined

with history and continuation or discontinuation of traditions;

- The effectiveness of the process depends on knowledge, motivation

and inclusion of all the branches of the municipal administration;

- Appropriate leadership from national authorities is essential for

instigating an atmosphere of creativity on local level and

- Legal culture of the country as de/motivator for the processes of

emergency planning on local level.

At the end, the following recommendations are given for improvement of the

Macedonian system for local emergency planning: declassification of the

National Plan and abandoning the practice of secrecy in emergency planning;

shift towards appreciation of the process rather than the outcome of

emergency planning; creation of clear guidance on how the process of

emergency planning should look like; establishment of precise mechanism for

testing and evaluation of local plans; more direct engagement of

firefighters in the process of emergency planning

Key words: preparedness, emergency planning, process, municipality,

Denmark, Macedonia

Content

1. Introduction.................................................1

v

1.1 Denmark and Macedonia.......................................1

1.2 Preparedness...............................................3

1.2.1 Planning Function of Preparedness........................4

1.3 Importance of the Local Level................................7

2 . Objectives...................................................8

3. Methodology..................................................8

4. Findings....................................................13

4.1 Denmark...................................................13

4.1.1 Municipal emergency planning process....................15

4.2 Macedonia.................................................20

4.2.1 Law on rescue and protection.............................21

4.2.2 Municipal emergency planning process....................23

4.3 Summary...................................................26

5. Discussion..................................................27

6. Conclusions.................................................32

7. Reference list...............................................34

7.1 Internet Sources..........................................35

7.2 Legal Instruments.........................................36

8.1 Interview guide...........................................37

8.2 Data analysis.............................................39

8.2.1 Macedonia.............................................39

8.2.2 Denmark...............................................43

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Disaster preparedness on local level in Macedonia in light of Denmark

Vlatko Jovanovski

1. Introduction

Macedonia has a system of disaster management that combines the

tradition and values of the old civil defense developed in the former

communist regime with the new socio-economic circumstances created in

the process of democratization of the country. Although the influence

of the former system can still be felt, the process of transition with

regards to disaster management has created new moments and relations

that deserve attention. Today we have a situation where the local

municipality government has the primary responsibility in creating a

structure that will enable proper protection of the citizens against

natural and manmade disasters. In that direction having in mind that

this is still relatively new task for the local administration this

thesis is focused on the process of disaster preparedness in

Macedonia. Special attention is given to the manner of in which the

municipalities plan for possible disasters, how they share

information’s during that process and what type of coordination

structures are created to facilitate the process. Finally in order to

instigate a process of change and further development, the analysis

uses the Danish system for local preparedness as a benchmark.

1.1 Denmark and Macedonia

Denmark and Macedonia are very different countries in every

aspect. The location and geographical predispositions together with

specific socio-economic circumstances has determined different types

of risks and hazards that are threatening these countries. From one

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side we have Denmark located in the north of Europe, surrounded by the

North and the Baltic Sea. The terrain there is dominantly flat and the

climate is characterized by windy winters and cool summers, humidity

and overcast. There are around 6 million people living in Denmark with

half of them inhabiting the capital city Copenhagen. The political

system is in form of constitutional monarchy since 1849. Denmark is

highly developed welfare state with modern agriculture, industry and

maritime trading. Its GDP per-capita is around 40 thousand US dollars

which makes it the 23rd country in the world.(CIA Factbook, 2010).

According to the disaster database of the University Catholique de

Louvain from Belgium (EM-DAT Database), in the last 100 years,

regarding natural disasters, Denmark has seen mainly storms that ended

mainly with significant material damage. The number of casualties was

never larger than 9 people. Regarding technological disasters they

have experienced mainly industrial and traffic accidents with

significant numbers of affected people and casualties.

Macedonia, on the other hand, is located at center of the Balkan

Peninsula in Southeastern Europe. It is a landlocked country with

territory divided between big mountains in the west and valleys on the

east. The climate is continental with influence of the Mediterranean

Sea in the south of the country. It is a home of around 2 million people

with the quarter of them living in the capital city Skopje. The

political system is parliamentary democracy since its independence in

1991 and dissolution of communist Yugoslavia. Today Macedonia belongs

to the group of developed countries with GDP per capita around 10

thousand US Dollars (CIA Factbook, 2010). Regarding disaster history,

consulting the same source as in the previous case, Macedonia has wide

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range of natural hazards beginning with floods and forest fires,

droughts and extreme temperatures ending up with earthquakes and

landslides. In its modern history, the biggest event has happened in

summer of 1963 when a devastating earthquake with magnitude of 6,1

degrees hit the capital city causing 1033 casualties and significant

material damage. Speaking about technological disasters, the database

shows examples only in the area of transportation.

Despite these differences there are certain characteristics in

both countries that served the purpose of my research. Both countries

are part of a global complex system where old threats like the natural

and technological disasters are combined with the new ones seen

through terrorism and various forms of social instability. In this

sense, as a starting point of my research I have chosen flooding as

common hazard seen in both of the countries. Primary data collection

was gathered only in municipalities that have experience with this

risk. This fact has given me comparable premises for my research. I have

to stress here that although there might be certain differences in the

origin of the floods (rise of the sea level in Denmark for example), the

consequences are the same. Furthermore, as members of the Mechanism

for civil protection of the European Union both countries are working

together with the others in the process of strengthening national

capacities for risk reduction. I strongly believe that only by

learning from each other there will be progress in this field and this

is the main rationale behind this thesis.

1.2 Preparedness

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In 1979 the National Governor Association of the USA introduced

the comprehensive emergency management concept. Since then looking at

the field of disaster management through the causal relationships

between the phases of mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery

has become almost axiomatic. In that sense mitigation and preparedness

are phases happening before the event while response and recovery are

happening during and after the event. The model bellow shows that in

reality it is actually one continuous process (Green Paper on

Disaster Management Index, 1998). It is a clear representation

that disaster phases are not isolated from each other, quite

contrary they exist side by side extracting and contracting as

the time passes by. Furthermore, they are positioned in a causal

relationship, which means that what happens in the previous phase

affects the next one.

Picture 1. Extracting and expanding model

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There are many authors who have given their understanding of the

constituent parts of the preparedness function. Quarantelli (1994)

looks at preparedness as “steps and measures planned and undertaken

when the probability of a disaster in a particular locality is at hand,

e.g. such matters as warnings and evacuations”. For Perry and Lindell

(2003) preparedness is “readiness of a political jurisdiction to react

constructively to threats from the environment in a way that minimizes

the negative consequences of impact for the health and safety of

individuals and the integrity and functioning of physical structures

and systems”. McEntire and Myers (2004) see preparedness through its

anticipatory function taken in order to increase response and recovery

activities.

For the purpose of this thesis preparedness will be defined as :

“The knowledge and capacities developed by governments,

professional response and recovery organizations, communities and

individuals to effectively anticipate, respond to, and recover

from, the impacts of likely, imminent or current hazard events or

conditions” (UNISDR, 2009).

1.2.1 Planning function of preparedness

According to Tierney (1993) when speaking about

preparedness, together with response, she considers them as two

of the most elaborated areas in disaster management generally

speaking. In her work she speaks about different models for

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disaster preparedness and various factors that affect capacities

and willingness to prepare. In that sense there are two models

for disaster preparedness, one based on command and control and

the other one called “problem-solving” model. The command and

control model clearly shows the influence of the military

approach towards disaster management and is still the most

dominant form. The model prescribes creating centralized

structures for response, establishing precise chain of command

with single person in charge. This concept was criticized by

Dynes (1994) offering substitute in a model that will recognize the

behavior of social structures (individuals and organizations) in

emergencies. This is actually the second model that Tierney

identified called “problem-solving”. It is considered that this

model is more flexible and it is based on the real situation on

the ground creating preparedness around existing structures

(organizations) rather than replacing them with new ones. The

second thing that Tierney speaks about is various facts that

affect the process of preparedness. She sees them through the

form of hazard awareness and disaster experience, socio-

demographic characteristics of the population and the level of

education. At the end she stresses the role of the government as

critical for effective disaster preparedness. Although Kathleen

Tierney is not the only one that wrote about disaster

preparedness she touches upon two very important moments. Every

process of preparedness is formulated by a certain model

determined by the culture of the country. Therefore she implies

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the necessity of a structure for the process to be effective.

Discussing about facts that influence the process itself she

draws the attention to the role of knowledge in preparedness. In

that way she is giving us the foundation of preparedness process

– established structure and applied knowledge.

Other scholars are more specific than Tierney when speaking

about preparedness seen through the form of disaster planning.

Quarantelli (1987) gives us 10 guiding principles of good

disaster planning. Those principles are: understanding planning

as process that does not finishes with the plan; planning serves

the purpose of anticipation of future adverse events; planning

helps initiating proper actions; planning must be realistic;

planning must be based on knowledge; planning should focus on

general principles; planning has a educational purpose as well;

planning will always be contested activity; plans must be tested

and planning is different than management. Following his example,

Perry and Lindell (2003) in their analysis of the post 9/11 events in

USA and the changes that followed speak about ten guiding principles

for emergency planning. In this direction they have identified key

problems that are hampering contemporary planning process: 1). Focus

is given on the plan itself not on the process and 2). Knowledge and best

practices from disaster planning are not transferred to terrorist

attacks preparedness activity. They argue that the reason for this

situation is the organizational reforms due to the 9/11 events that

ended with creation of emergency management culture based dominantly

on law enforcement and intelligence agencies concepts. Therefore

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Perry and Lindell are opening up again the debate about principles and

guidelines for emergency planning based on the knowledge from the

management with natural and technological disasters, hopefully

transferable to the new circumstances of terrorist threats. Alexander

(2005) expands the number of guidelines to 18 of them that needs to be

followed in the planning process. He also argues for the benefit of

establishing common standard in emergency planning because “…it will

improve knowledge in general in the area of emergency management; it

will enhance efficiency of the response to emergencies; it will

guarantee the quality of emergency preparedness and will decrease

misperceptions about emergency planning seen only through the final

product and that is the plan”. McEntire and Myers (2004) suggest that

the planning should encompass : establishing emergency management

ordinances; assessing hazards, vulnerability and risks; creating an

emergency operations plan; developing a warning system; identifying

and acquiring resources and grants; instituting mutual aid

agreements; training; exercising and educating the public. Coppola

(2011), on the other hand, differentiates between individual

preparedness and governmental one. Speaking about governmental

preparedness he sees it through the form of planning, exercising,

establishing statutory authority, training and exercising.

There are also authors that are warning us about the side

effects of the planning process. In that direction Auf der Heide

(1989) introduces the term “paper plan syndrome” which ends with

creating illusion of preparedness. He reminds us all on General

Eisenhower and his famous sentence that plans are nothing but planning

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is everything therefore the focus should be given on the process rather

than the final outcome. McConnell and Drennan (2006) wearing their

cynical hat will ask if disaster preparedness is actually mission

impossible. Without diminishing the importance of the function of

preparedness in their work they have identified several element that

are hampering the process giving legitimacy to their question whether

or not we really work on preparedness. These elements are given low

priority by the governments and management structures in general,

institutional fragmentation instead of integration of efforts, and

false sense of security by only focusing on the written plan.

1.3 Importance of the local level

Exploring the history of disaster management in North America and

Australia, Pearce (2002) says that it is a concept based on the civil

defense with little engagement from the community. She says “It is a

process designed for the community not by the community” and that is why

probably many of the civil administrations on local level are

neglecting this area. Therefore, a shift from reactive towards

proactive disaster management is needed. For the shift to be completed

she recommends listening to the community; mobilization of all members

of a community creatively; coordination of efforts at a regional

level; raising public awareness of the importance of managing risk and

ensuring that powerful interest groups support the community efforts.

Alexander (2005) says that today it is axiomatic that governments

should manage emergencies at the local level and with that making the

local people both beneficiaries and stakeholders in the process.

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Eriksson (2008) understands the process of disaster preparedness as

opportunity for constant learning within the local administration. In

that direction during her survey of the Swedish public authorities on

local and regional level and how are they preparing for disasters she

identified several challenges: not enough familiarity with the plans

and the process among people who are out of it; low level of knowledge

transfer gained in the preparedness process; limitations in the

scenario planning and difficulties in engagement of all the others in

the organization towards issues of preparedness. Analyzing the

progress of community based disaster risk management (CBDRM) since its

introduction in 80’s, Maskrey (2011) says that the concept has given

results especially in the area of preparedness and response. He argues

that all disasters are ultimately shaped on local level and therefore

very connected to the capacities developed by the communities or the

municipality government. By giving the example of Hurricane Mitch in

1998 and the effects caused to Honduras, it was obvious that different

municipalities suffered differently to the same hazard. Therefore

effective risk management must be addressed on local level by creating

partnerships between the governmental and the civil sector. Caudle

(2011) connects the evolution of the concept of Homeland Security in

USA with the postulates of federalism, arguing about the importance of

decentralization of preparedness and response activities especially

after Hurricane Katrina and the British Petroleum incident in the Gulf

of Mexico.

2 . Objectives

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The main objective of this thesis is to analyze how the planning

function of preparedness is administrated on local level in

municipalities that have experience in flooding in Macedonia by using

Denmark as a benchmark. As explained before in the text the rationale

behind this thesis is to use the outcome of it in order to influence

further development of the Macedonian system for disaster management.

Therefore I am using Denmark as model or benchmark while keeping the

main focus on the processes in Macedonia.

My thesis has two specific objectives:

3. To identify key policy documents and actors on local level

responsible for the process of disaster preparedness and

planning.

4. To analyze the planning process, to compare it through

benchmarking and to give recommendations for the future

developments in Macedonia (Denmark).

3. Methodology

The method that was chosen for my thesis served the purpose of

achieving the objectives of the study. In that direction I used

combination of desk study, semi-structured interviews with key

informants and observations. The overall process of data collection

was divided in two countries, Denmark and Macedonia. The research

started with reviewing of the existing literature on the specific

topic regarding preparedness, emergency planning and community based

disaster risk management. For this reasons I have used mainly the on

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line library of the University of Copenhagen together with Google

scholar.

Specific activities regarding my survey in Denmark first of all

began with revision of the legislative in order to understand the

structure of the system of disaster management in general and in that

direction preparedness planning as well. The intention was to develop

some basic understanding of the processes before I go out and do my

interviews. In that direction three documents were consulted. The

first one was the Emergency Management Act where the foundation of the

national system for disaster management of Denmark is given. Due to the

fact that my interest is in the local level of disaster preparedness I

have also analyzed the Local Government Act in order to better

understand the responsibilities that municipalities are having in

general. The third document was quite specific for my area of interest.

It is titled Comprehensive Preparedness Planning Guidebook and it is

published by the Danish Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) to serve as

a voluntary tool to all the participants in the system regarding

preparedness planning. This guidebook actually presents further

elaboration of the Emergency Management Act and its part that is

concerned with emergency planning.

I have started my field study by visiting two separate

establishments of DEMA. First one was one of the five National Rescue

Centers located in Nestvald and the second one was the training college

in Tinglev. Generally speaking, both of the institutions are

indispensible for the process of preparedness in Denmark. They are the

places where knowledge and capacities is created in order to

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anticipate, cope and recover from adverse events. Furthermore they are

the link that unifies all the national efforts in disaster

preparedness in the same time making it easier for the governmental

structures to monitor and supervise the process in the country.

After finishing this field trip in December of 2011, I have

started planning for the visit of the municipalities. In that

direction I used purposive sampling to select municipalities and

participants. According to Brayman (2008), “The goal of the purposive

sampling is to sample cases/participants in a strategic way so that

those sampled are relevant to the research questions that are being

posed”. In that direction I’ve chosen to select municipalities in

Denmark that share common hazards as those in Macedonia. In

consultation with DEMA we agreed upon floods as common hazard for both

of the countries. Furthermore, having in mind that my interest is the

process of planning on local level I limited myself only on the fire and

rescue service more specifically on the chief of this establishment

and his thoughts about the topic. Led by the specifics of the Macedonian

system for disaster management on local level the counterpart of the

fire and rescue chief is a designated person by the local

administration. In this way I have put crucial limitations to my

research so necessary in order to finish the thesis on time.

In the meantime, in May 2012 together with Professor Hadji-Janev

from the Military Academy of Republic of Macedonia we worked on a paper

that was presented at the 5th International Conference “Crisis

Management Days” at the University of Nova Gorica in Croatia. It was my

first publication and the topic was related with my thesis: “Disaster

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risk management concept in Republic of Macedonia, challenges and

recommendation for the future”.

The actual process of interviewing key people in Denmark started

in May 2012. There were four people in total that I have spoken to, two

on national level and two on municipal level. The ones on the national

level were employees of DEMA with responsibilities in preparedness

planning. I was led by the idea that in order to understand the local

level of disaster preparedness I need to understand the national

level. Furthermore it is at the national level where generalizations

are made for all the different processes that are taking place inside

the country. The other two interviews were actually conducted with

local disaster planners – fire and rescue chiefs in two separate

municipalities, Guldborgsund and Greve. In preparation for the

interviews I have developed an interview guide that helped me to cover

all the necessary topics (Appendix A). During the interviews I’ve used

open ended questions tailoring subsequent ones based on the

information that I was receiving. All of the interviews were recorded

and after their transcription I have send them back to the interviewees

for their consent. Transcriptions and audio recording were used

afterwards for the process of data analysis.

Having in mind the above said, one crucial limitation is that my

research in Denmark is based only on the analysis of 3 documents

(Emergency Management Act, Local Government Act and the Comprehensive

Preparedness Planning Guidebook) and the opinions on the process given

mainly by people that have emergency planning as primary

responsibility. In that sense in order to fully grasp the meaning of the

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process of emergency planning other documents should be consulted and

definitely more people that are part of the process should be heard.

Similar process was conducted in Macedonia. I have started my

research there in mid-May 2012 and finished the first week of June.

During that time I have conducted two interviews and tree focus group

discussions. Being an employee at the national disaster management

agency in Macedonia allowed me to conduct the survey of the key

legislation quite fast. In that direction I have considered the Law on

Protection and Rescue, legislation that actually sets up the system

that deals with natural and manmade disasters. At the same time the law

creates all the necessary preconditions for preparedness activities

in general and accordingly on local level as well. Also, due to the

specifics of the national system, I have consulted the Law on Crisis

Management that sets up the system for dealing with crisis declared by

the national government. The Law on Local Self-Government gave me

insights of the general responsibilities of the municipalities in the

country. One specific piece of regulation that actually refers to the

area of interest is the Methodology on Risk Assessment and the content

of the Plan for Rescue and Protection. This Methodology is based on the

Law on Protection and Rescue and gives strict guidance to all

participants in the system of rescue and protection on how to conduct

risk assessments and accordingly develop plans for rescue and

protection.

Regarding the process of primary data collection in Macedonia I

used the National Risk Assessment for natural disasters and other

calamities from 2007 to select the municipalities that are in the flood

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prone areas or have experience with this type of risk. As I mention,

being an “insider”, the process of finding this areas and arranging

meetings in the municipalities was rather fast. Similar to the

previous case, I conducted my first interviews the person responsible

for the process of emergency planning on national level. His insights

gave me better perspectives on the current challenges and further

developments. In a week I managed to visit four municipalities and

speak with total number of 9 people. The people that I have spoken to

were employed by the municipality and are leading the process of

emergency planning in their area of jurisdiction. For that purpose I

have visited the following municipalities: Strumica, Probistip,

Makedonski Brod and Karposh. In Strumica, Probishtip and Makedonski

Brod, although not according to my plan, the interviews resulted in

focus group discussions. I consider this fact to be a limitation to the

process but at the same time it provided some additional quality to the

research. It is a limitation due to the fact that I was not prepared for

it and it caught me by surprise. However this moment gave me rather

comfortable position to influence on the dynamic of the conversation

and observe all those power relations among the participants that are

very specific for the national system of disaster management in

Macedonia. From this perspective I can say that this element had the

greatest contribution in finalizing my conclusions. Like in the

previous case, all the interviews and conversations from the focus

group discussion were taped, transcribed and translated into English.

One of the limitations experienced in this phase was my role as insider.

On one hand, as previously mentioned I have managed to organize all the

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meetings relatively quickly, on the other hand, when interviewing a

colleague, there is always the danger regarding objectivity. As

mentioned in the previous case, the research is limited only to the

perspectives on the process of the key people actually leading the

process and the primary legislation regulating the process.

For the process of data analysis of my interviews I have used

thematic analysis method (Bryman, 2008). While going through the

transcriptions of the interviews, two main themes arose: process and

challenges. These themes were recurring in all of the interviews

serving as a basis for further analysis. Within the general theme of

process several subthemes were developed: structure of the process and

the plan, knowledge regarding the process, principles shaping the

process, coordination mechanism established for the process and

definitions. The other theme of challenges was further supported with

the subthemes of: process awareness, financial implication of the

process, inclusion of others in the process, implementation of the

legal framework, knowledge regarding the process and power relations

shaping the process. When speaking about challenges, due to different

circumstances in Macedonia, the list was expanded with power relations

and implementation of the legal framework.

4. Findings

4.1 Denmark

The process of emergency planning in Denmark is set up by the Emergency

Management Act from 2004 and the Comprehensive Preparedness Planning

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Guidebook. With the Act the overall preparedness planning in the

country is based on tree principles:

1. Sector responsibility – department or the agency who has daily

responsibility for a given sector retains that responsibility

during emergencies;

2. Similarity – to keep the emergency management structure

similar to the one that operates in daily settings without

discretion powers given to anyone during the event;

3. Subsidiarity – all emergencies should be dealt with starting

from the lowest possible level.

In this direction the principle of sector responsibility is the

key one. Article 24 of the Emergency Management Act is very precise:

“ The individual ministers shall each within their areas plan the

maintenance and continuation of societal functions in the event of

accidents and catastrophes, including acts of war, and provide support

for the armed forces.”

All of this work on national level is coordinated by DEMA. Their

task is to coordinate the emergency planning process among the

ministries in the government by giving them guidance to assess and

constantly monitor national and cross-sector vulnerabilities, to plan

and conduct training and exercises and prepare the National Emergency

Plan. In 2009 DEMA published the Comprehensive Preparedness Planning

Guidebook to serve the purpose of harmonization of the national

efforts in emergency planning. It is voluntary tool to be used by every

ministry, municipality, private or public company in the process of

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emergency planning. It uses the adjective comprehensive in the title

due to its focus on the process of emergency planning and creating

capacities to prevent and cope with adverse events rather than

focusing only on the composition of the plan. Core activities

prescribed with this guidebook are represented in the model bellow.

Picture 2) Seven phases of Comprehensive Preparedness planning (Source DEMA,

2009)

In that direction the process starts with the program management

function. With this phase the management structure of an organization

sets up the needed structure for the process of emergency planning to

begin. This is done by creating two documents, preparedness policy and

preparedness program. Preparedness policy prescribes objectives,

legislation, identifies what needs to be protected as a function in the

organization, identifies the responsibility for these matters within

the organization etc. Based on this, policy preparedness program is

created in order to set up specific tasks for implementation of the

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policy in the following year or on longer terms. All of the preparedness

activities prescribed with the program have financial implication so

the document needs to be aware of that as well. At the end, in order to

create sustainability of the program, the document should consider a

follow up activities or evaluation mechanism.

Next is the planning assumptions phase. This is the phase where

actually the organization is doing risk and vulnerability assessment.

At the end of the phase the organization should have finished with

identification of all the risks. This identification serves the

purpose of risk and vulnerability analysis and in that order

formulating matrix of acceptable and unacceptable risks.

The next phase of prevention is causally connected with the

previous phase of planning assumptions. Based on the risk and

vulnerability analysis the organization should figure out what risks

to avoid completely, minimize the probability of occurrence or reduce

their consequences if they happen.

The next two phases of training and exercises prescribe set of

activities needed for the organization to maintain the needed level of

preparedness. Furthermore, these activities should identify the

strengths and the weaknesses of the established system and be a driver

of change.

Stressing the importance of evaluation, the Guidebook actually

emphasizes the need of constant learning within the organization

regarding emergency planning process. In that direction evaluation

can be and should be conducted in all the phases of the Comprehensive

Preparedness planning model.

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At the end the organization creates crisis management plan as a

tool that is used in cases of real emergencies. Again the Guidebook

offers suggestions of the composition of the plan stressing the

importance of the nature and the structure of the organization that is

actually beneficiary of the plan. In that direction the plan is

supposed to be: action oriented, comprehensible, up-to date,

accessible, realistic, read and understood, tested.

4.1.1 Municipal emergency planning process

The responsibility of establishing appropriate level of

preparedness for possible emergencies on local level lies entirely

with the municipal government. Accordingly, we have the municipal

council representing the political establishment of the municipality

and the fire and rescue service representing the administrative

structure of the municipal government. According to the Emergency

Management Act the municipal council is the body that approves the

total plan for emergencies, sets the agenda for drills and exercises

and supervises the level of preparedness in the municipality. However,

it’s up to the administrative structure of the municipality to

actually prepare the planning documents and to undertake additional

activities in order to achieve the necessary level of municipal

preparedness.

The manner of its actual implementation can be seen from the

interviews conducted in Guldborgsund and Greve municipalities. In

both of the municipalities the chief of the fire and rescue service is

the person in charge leading the process of emergency planning. First

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characteristic of the process described by both interviewees is the

respect of the above mentioned principles, set by the Emergency

Management Act and elaborated further with the Comprehensive

Preparedness Planning Guidebook. These principles are giving the

foundation for each branch of the municipal government to plan and

prepare its sector for possible emergencies. “ Those who are dealing

with pumping water in daily situation within the municipality they

have to plan for emergency situations as well when flooding is an

issue.” , was the comment in Greve municipality regarding the

principle of sector responsibility. Second characteristic is the

coordination mechanism established for the process to be more

effective. The method of working groups composed by “ambassadors” or

“preparedness people” from each branch of the municipal

administration is utilized. The rationale behind this method is two

folded: to include right people with right knowledge on proper

positions and spread the message of emergency planning across all

sectors of the municipal administration. “ In these days it is all about

who has the proper knowledge in dealing with certain tasks” was

mentioned in Guldborgsund and “…I am not expert in everything” was said

in Greve when the role of knowledge for these affairs had come up in the

conversation. However both interviewees, although recognizing the

benefit of spreading the message of emergency planning across the

branches of the municipal administration, were also aware of how

difficult that process actually is. “Preparedness is not sexy thing to

talk about, because preparedness planning is not a normal task, and

this is something additional for them” was one of the comments

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regarding the level of engagement of the municipal administration.

Also there was a tendency by some of the participants in the working

groups to postpone the tasks of planning because of “disasters, they

don’t happen every day” attitude. One of the reasons why this is

happening was seen in the new type of emergency planning that differs

from the previous civil defense planning. As already mentioned, in the

previous system the municipalities were preparing for possible war

situation and had limited responsibilities regarding the process. Now

those threats are over but the new ones are constantly raising and the

municipality owns the process of preparedness. Now the plan is from the

municipality for the municipality. This is rather new for the

administration and there is still space for improvement.

Despite these rare examples, as they have said, there are cases

where the individual participants in the working groups take the

initiative and spread the message in their branch. “We had a good

example in our municipality. The health sector representative managed

to take all the people in her sector, she put them in a room and invite us

to educate them for all day in preparedness and what we are doing

regarding planning. So she managed to do that. This is of course unique

thing and how much will the others follow the example we have to wait and

see. Bottom line, this is possible but it depends on the individual” was

mentioned in Gudlborgsund. In Greve, regarding this issue the chief of

the fire and rescue service is strictly holding to the sector

responsibility principle and the role of the “ambassador” in each

branch of the administration. The rationale behind it is that it is the

“ambassador’s” responsibility together with the branch chief to

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spread the message in the department. In this sense the role of the

chief of the fire and rescue service was mentioned as a crucial figure.

“In municipalities where we have strong fire and rescue service chiefs

or officials in the local administration the process is easier” was the

comment from the national authorities when analyzing this particular

challenge.

Regarding the process itself, in Greve municipality, for

example, it is based on previously conducted risk assessment. It was

quite interesting that they have used the risk assessment that the

National Agency for Nature has developed for the purposes of climate

change and extreme weather events. They have found this method useful

and continued to utilize it in the future. “Speaking about floods we

also have one person that is an expert on hydrology responsible for

modeling different scenarios in cases of flooding and calculations.”

was the comment when the process of emergency planning was explained in

Greve. In Guldborgsund municipality the answer to the question whether

they have a risk assessment that serves as a basic for the plan was

negative. However, later one the chief of the fire and rescue service

explained that in the process of creating the plan they are using

different types of scenarios in order to design their plan. When

generalizing the preconditions of the planning process, at the

national office of DEMA I was explained that “ it is not required by the

Emergency Management Act to base their emergency plan according to

previously developed risk and vulnerability assessment. However,

there may be such a requirement in sector legislation . Most of them are

doing the planning based on the guiding principles, previous

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experience and “hunch” about what might be the threats to the

community.”. This speaks about a rather flexible system for emergency

planning designed totally by the municipality.

At the end , when the plan is finished, the process of emergency

planning doesn’t stop there. The process of testing the plan and

evaluating its content is utilized both on national and local level.

Furthermore the plan is playing substantial role in the design of the

multilevel system of protection in Denmark. Regarding the purpose of

the plan, the national authorities stated that “with analyzing the

plans we can see what resources can be needed and we tend to develop

those ones allocating them on reasonable distance to provide effective

response as second or third level of protection” In that sense clear cut

responsibilities between the national, regional and municipal level

are created.

In order to harmonize this process, the emphasis is on training

and education of key personal of the emergency services. Key

establishments for this matter are the National Rescue Centers located

on five different positions in the country and the National Training

College of DEMA located in Tinglev close to the German border. The

National Rescue Centers are serving as a place where conscripts are

trained in basics of fire and rescue, first aid and dealing with

incidents containing hazardous materials. After finishing their

training they can utilize it in the private sector, as future

firefighters or maybe in the volunteer corps. The National Training

College in Tinglev offers various levels of education for the present

and future leading personal in the emergency services. What I was able

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to see during my visit there is the training of the Incident Command

System by joint simulation exercises held together by the Police, Fire

and Rescue Service and the Medical Service.

The only significant difference between the two municipalities

that I have observed was the model of inclusion of the public in the

process. On one hand, it was noticeable that the fire and rescue service

is regularly using the volunteers in response operations together with

the Home guard. Also, the opportunity to have prearrangements with

private companies for certain specific types of activities is utilized

quite often. But on the other hand, there was an irrational fear in one

of the municipalities that if the public is informed about the process

of emergency planning it might create panic within the population and

unwanted problems. So they decided to keep the process inside the

municipality services. In the other case, by using public meetings,

the emergency planners in the municipality were actively engaged in

the process of informing the public about what are the hot spots in the

municipality regarding floods, what are the responsibilities of the

citizens and what are the capabilities of the municipality to deal with

the situation. Which means that, in a way, the plan is presented to the

public. Also, this municipality was using the structure for

information sharing already established by the local football club to

spread the message of emergency planning.

What makes the process of emergency planning successful in

Denmark was something that I was interested from the beginning of my

research. I was not surprised at all to hear similar answers from all

the participants. In this sense, I believe that knowledgeable fire and

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rescue chiefs who lead the process are key for their success, as well as

the inclusion of professionals from each branch of the municipal

administration in the process of planning. Strong commitment to these

affairs from the political establishment of the municipality is also

beneficial. Sharing their personal beliefs for the purpose of

emergency planning it was obvious that there is a huge sense of respect

towards the process rather than the outcome. In that regards the best

definition that I have heard is always looking at preparedness as step

forward. We have to learn from the last emergency but never design our

preparedness based on that, we always need a step forward.

4.2 Macedonia

The process of emergency planning in Macedonia is characterized

by the dualism and the existence of two interconnected but still

separate systems: one for rescue and protection and the other for

crisis management. In 2004 the Law on Rescue and Protection was adopted

by the National Parliament. With this legal act, a system for

protection and rescue of people and material goods against natural and

technological disasters in peace time, state of emergency or during

war time was established. The law provides clear responsibilities on

national and local level as well as responsibilities of the private and

public enterprises, the NGO sector and the citizens regarding

prevention, mitigation and response in cases of disasters . In this

regard, this system is actually continuation of the old civil defense

from the communist era with some differences due to the new socio-

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Vlatko Jovanovski

economic environment. Additionally, new governmental agency has been

established in the form of Protection and Rescue Directorate with

responsibilities to establish and supervise the system for rescue and

protection.

The other system, the crisis management system, is designed by

the Law on Crisis Management adopted by the National Parliament in

2005. With this law, a new term or condition was introduced and that is

“crisis”. A crisis is defined as any event that represents a threat to

the basic values and interests of the state and when the constitutional

order and the security of the state are jeopardized. This can happen due

to various risks and threats identified by the law among which natural

and manmade disasters. Looking back on the various debates that were

initiated in the Parliament during the procedure for adopting this law

we can clearly see the intention for this legal solution. For this

purpose, main topic was to find mechanism for the army forces to be used

as support to the police during security threats. In those days the

memories of the conflict in 2001 were still fresh and the intention for

strong and coordinated state response to possible similar scenarios

was rational. Another institution is established by this law, i.e. the

Crisis Management Center with responsibilities to establish and

supervise the crisis management system of the state. A crisis in

Macedonia can be declared by the Government and it can last for maximum

30 days. If the circumstances are not changed, the Government asks for

approval from the Parliament for continuation of the crisis or

declaration of state of emergency or war. For this system to function,

preventive measures are prescribed for all participants in the system,

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which are similar to the ones in the system for rescue and protection

(ministries and other state institutions, public enterprises,

municipalities). All of them need to prepare for crisis situation and

they have to develop risk assessment according to a different

methodology. Although the intention is to encompass all the other

threats that the system for rescue and protection doesn’t consider as

such, the methodology how to do it is totally different from the

previous one.

4.2.1 Law on rescue and protection

The essence of the emergency planning process is designed by the

Law on Rescue and Protection. In this sense, Article 10 provides for the

responsibility of all the participants in the system (ministries,

municipalities, public and private enterprises) to prepare a plan for

protection and rescue against natural and other disasters. Therefore

the system is in very peculiar situation where, for example, small

bookshop with two employees and a company with 100 employees have the

same responsibilities. They both have to develop risk assessment, plan

for rescue and protection and create units for rescue and protection.

The manner of its construction is provided by the Methodology for

Risk Assessment and the content of the Plan for Rescue and Protection

adopted by the Government in 2006. Based on this Methodology the

National Risk Assessment against Natural and Other Disasters was

adopted in 2007 and the National Plan for rescue and protection was

adopted afterwards.

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According to the Methodology there are only 14 measures for

protection that serves as a basis for risk identification and

assessment. Those measures are: evacuation, sheltering of affected

population and material goods, maintenance of the air attack hideouts,

chemical-biological-radiological protection, decontamination,

debris protection, floods, fires, un-exploded ordinances, first aid,

protection of animals, protection of plants, environmental

protection, protection and rescue in mines. When assessing risks

connected with these measures for rescue and protection it is required

for the organization to determine the probability of happening and the

possible consequences. Furthermore, the Methodology requires

vulnerability and capacity assessment in order to have the overall

picture and the level of preparedness contained at the end of the

document. Having in mind that since 2006, when the Methodology was

adopted by the Government, there have been several changes in the Law on

Rescue and Protection, today we have differences in the text which

creates problems in the implementation. Instead of environmental

measure for rescue and protection and protection and rescue in mines

protection, today we have technical-technological disasters

protection and major traffic accidents protection. Regarding the plan

for rescue and protection, the Methodology is using the similar

principle. There is a plan for every measure for rescue and protection,

in this case maximum 14, supplemented with action cards, maps, schemes

and other documents needed for preventive reaction and if necessary,

quick response in a given situation. In this sense, the Methodology

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doesn’t provide for the steps that need to be followed for the plan to be

developed. Instead the focus is on the content of the final document

The actual process of developing the National Plan for rescue and

protection speaks a lot for the overall understanding of disaster

management on national level. According to Article 12 of the Law on

Rescue and Protection the plan contains preventive and operational

measures for rescue and protection. In this sense, having in mind the

responsibilities of the newly created Protection and Rescue

Directorate, in cases of the actual response to disasters huge powers

are concentrated in this organization. “It was unimaginable, and I

believe that it still is, for an institution as Protection and Rescue

Directorate, which in the hierarchy of national institutions is below

the ministries of the Government, to have this type of power and the

ability to give orders to others” (Interview A, Country B). This fact

caused the process of developing the National Plan to be followed with

obstructions resulting with highly unpopular solution and that is to

classify the document as restricted to the public. Making the National

Plan restricted reflected on the process of planning in general. This

situation makes the process of implementation complicated diminishing

any efforts for analysis of its content or evaluation. This level of

secrecy has its implication on the process of planning itself. Except

for the Methodology, which provides the content of the plan, there is no

other guidance in the formal bylaw act on how the process of planning

should look like.

Looking at the process of emergency planning from national

perspective, the main challenges identified by my informant can be

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placed in two groups: legislation and knowledge. Regarding

legislation, there is the ongoing issue of competing for jurisdictions

with the Crisis Management Center followed by the need for

harmonization of all the laws and bylaws that are regulating the sphere

of rescue and protection in general. There is also the problem of

implementation of the current normative solutions and the tolerance of

too many improvisations. The need for knowledge has been identified as

immense, both at the campus of the Protection and Rescue Directorate

and with all the participants in the process of emergency planning. In

this regard, there is lack of activities that will create snowball

effect coming from the national level and going to the grass root level

at the municipalities. (Interview A, Country B)

4.2.2 Municipal emergency planning process

In the system for rescue and protection preparedness for possible

emergencies is everyone’s responsibility. On municipal level we can

see shared responsibilities for preparedness between the mayor as

chief of the executive branch and the council as the main decision body.

According to Chapter IV, Responsibilities of the Municipalities, of

the Law on Rescue and Protection the council approves the municipal

plan, decides about the responsibilities of all the services in

possible emergencies and supervises the work of the mayor in this

field. The council also decides about the budget for rescue and

protection that is usually used for equipping and training of the units

for rescue and protection formed by the municipality.

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The mayor, on the other hand, has been identified by the

informants as the key for successful process of emergency planning. By

the Law he/she is responsible for preparation of the municipal plan for

rescue and protection. This is actually carried out by the municipal

administration that needs to include a special person authorized for

these affairs or department for rescue and protection. Regarding this

issue, the Law on Protection and Rescue is very flexible allowing the

mayor to decide which option is the most suitable. In practice,

implementation of this obligation is identified as one of the crucial

moment in the process of emergency planning. The claims of the

interviewees that state “My department is also responsible for

education, culture, sports, social and child protection, fire

protection and I cover them as well. So I am not responsible only for the

rescue and protection affairs.” (Interview C, Country B) or “Specially

designated person who will work on the affairs of rescue and protection

in our municipality is still not appointed. By request of the mayor I

and two of my colleagues have the task to prepare the municipal plan for

rescue and protection” (Interview D, Country B) are clear illustration

of the current situation in some of the municipalities in Macedonia.

Financially stronger municipalities have established specialized

departments in the administration with single responsibility

regarding rescue and protection. They can allow themselves to invest

in knowledge and to spread the message of preparedness across the

administration in creative ways. “We have submitted an application for

the UNISDR campaign ‘Make my City Resilient’ and we are waiting for

their answer. The joint project with UNDP for awareness rising in

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schools connected with fire hazards and earthquakes was also finished.

Due to the project, several exercises were conducted where school

children and school staff worked together with the local firefighters

and Red Cross society in evacuation and rescue techniques. This

campaign was a real success. .As a result of this project every school

now has plan for rescue and protection and evacuation routes”

(Interview B, Country B). This is just one example of the possible

outcome when skilful and knowledgeable people are allowed to do their

work in proper way. The other example shows creativity in spreading the

message of preparedness across the municipal administration. “… we

have decided to form our municipal unit for rescue and protection

consisting of the people employed in the municipal administration…

With this solution we have raised the awareness of the employees on

these matters so that now everyone knows what we are doing and in

addition we can easily engage them in given situation because they are

always here”.

However, there are is inconsistency in the use of proper

knowledge in the process of emergency planning no matter the financial

condition or the size of the municipality. That is seen through the role

of the fire service. Since 2007 and the reform of the fire service, all

of the firefighting units from the Ministry of Internal Affaires were

transferred under municipal jurisdiction. Today the municipality is

also responsible for the fire fighters and they are part of the

municipal administration. Speaking with my informants about the

inclusion of the fire chief in the process of planning, the general

impression is that this function is neglected. The fire chief in most of

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the cases is just provider of statistical data or charts regarding fire

hazards. Their knowledge regarding other hazards and generally

speaking in planning is barely utilized.

There is another very important element that plays substantial

role in the preparedness process on local level and that is the local

office of Protection and Rescue Directorate. At this moment, there are

35 offices on the territory of the Republic covering 84

municipalities. Their role in emergency preparedness of the

municipality can be seen in several areas: 1.In issuing formal

approvals of the municipal plan for spatial planning and urbanization

and with that implementation of the necessary measures for rescue and

protection, 2. In issuing formal approvals for building any type of

residential or commercial structures in the municipalities with

regards to implementation of the measures for rescue and protection,

3. In issuing formal approvals for use of the “building” after it is

finished, again if the measures for rescue and protection are

implemented and 4. With the inspectors for rescue and protection they

supervise the implementation of the Law for Rescue and Protection and

the work of the firefighters according to the Law for firefighting.

Having in mind the above said, this is the environment on the local

level in which the process of emergency planning is led in Macedonia. On

the question “how would you describe the process of emergency planning

in your municipality?”, most of the answers were going in direction of

how they have fulfilled the legal obligation for having a municipal

plan. This speaks about a system highly formalized where the focus is

still on the form rather than the process. Although there are creative

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solutions, like the examples that are mentioned before, this is not a

common practice. Emergency planning is still not considered as

genuinely municipal responsibility and this issue is still new to the

administration. One of the informants, although expert in her own

field of local economy development, expressed the need that the

Government should be more involved in the process of emergency

planning on local level through the local office of the Protection and

Rescue Directorate (Interview D, Country B). In more relaxed

atmosphere, when the question for what has been done for the flooding in

the municipality came up, it was obvious that she understood the

meaning of the risks, what are the hot spots in the area, what needs to

be done and what are the implications for the process of development in

the municipality. So the issue here is not whether or not there is

knowledge about risks and hazards within the municipal administration

but how to organize and canalize the existing knowledge for the

purposes of planning. However, the absence of guidance on the national

level regarding this exact issue is limiting the process strictly to

the preservation of certain form of the plan, insisting only on control

and supervision.

4.3 Summary

In both Denmark and Macedonia municipalities are recognized as

important link for the process of emergency planning. This is

confirmed by the basic legal documents and further developed by bylaws

or other type of formal guidance given by the national authorities. For

the process of emergency planning to start, develop and produce

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results , the legal documents impose responsibilities and structures

on local level. In Denmark the process on local level is led by the fire

and rescue service as part of the municipal administration. It is

actually carried out by creating working groups from different

branches of the municipal administration having the responsibility of

creating the plan. In this sense, the municipalities are quite

autonomous in choosing the method and the design of the final document.

However, they can’t choose not to have one. The national authorities

support this creativity within the municipality and at the same time

through unified education and training of the key planners they try to

canalize the process in certain direction.

In Macedonia the process of emergency planning on local level

reflects the ongoing process of decentralization of the

municipalities. In this sense, the entire field of emergency/disaster

management is still seen as something new and it is placed very low on

the list of priorities. In view of the process of emergency planning,

there are variations among the municipalities about how the process is

actually led and the outcomes of it. The method of establishing working

groups is barely used. The process of emergency planning is still seen

as single person responsibility while the others are just information

providers. There is also certain level of negligence towards the fire

departments which are also in the same position like the others,

information providers. In this sense, greater attention is given to

the outcome rather than the process. The intention is to satisfy the

form and the legal obligation. Emergency plans are rarely used in real

time situations, tested or evaluated. At the same time the need for

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supervision and engagement of the national authorities is still a

requirement.

5. Discussion

Any analysis of contemporary processes of disaster management in

Macedonia can’t be complete if historical developments of the system

are not taken into consideration. Today the system reconciles the old

communist traditions with the new comprehensive approach in disaster

management. Details of the origins of civil defense and civil

protection in Macedonia can be found in the work of Soluncevski (2005).

He identifies two main periods of development of civil protection in

Macedonia. The first period is the actual birth of civil protection in

Macedonia as part of the communist Yugoslavia. In those days civil

protection was understood as part of the broader meaning of civil

defense with tasks and responsibilities mainly connected with

preparation for foreign invasion and support to the military forces.

In this sense, the system was organized around several key elements:

self and collective protection, measures for rescue and protection,

units for civil protection and HQ’s for rescue and protection. Due to

the fact that this system was under heavy governmental control and

having in mind the power of propaganda in those days, the level of

awareness among the people and their participation in the preparation

activities were very high. Preparedness and awareness rising was

enforced in the corporate sector and the public sector through

organized process of state supervision and control. At the same time,

schools on all levels were also performing educational tasks regarding

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preparedness, teaching the young population in the basics of civil

protection.

The end of the Cold War and the process of dissolution of

Yugoslavia meant creation of democratic Macedonia as independent

state in 1991. In those days the concept of civil protection remained

the same as in the previous system although the environment and the

circumstances in the society were changing rapidly. Hadji-Janev and

Jovanovski (2012) argue that the process of transition towards

democracy seriously affected the entire security system creating

vacuum that will lead to loosing valuable traditions and habits in the

field of civil protection.

Until this particular point of modern history there were big

similarities between Macedonia and Denmark. Lauta’s (2011) analysis

of the legal framework for emergency management in Denmark shows that

the processes were almost identical until the end of the Cold War.

Denmark was also creating a centralized system designing preparedness

for possible foreign invasion from the east. This ended in 1992 when

structural reforms were conducted revising the overall emergency

management architecture. The crucial change was the focus towards

disasters. With the reforms and the structural changes even war was

seen as the biggest of all peacetime disasters. Lauta argues that the

emphasis on vulnerability analysis and coordination of all societal

resources served as key transformation points of the Danish emergency

management system in those days.

The reason why Macedonia didn’t make the similar move towards

this type of transformation I believe is the situation on the Balkans in

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the 90’s. With active civil wars close to the national borders, civil

protection system was not able to exclude armed violence and conflicts

as main risks and focus only on natural and technological disasters.

The internal conflict in 2001 was also additional challenge for the

transformation of the system leading to creation of the crisis

management system described in Chapter 4. However, today the situation

in Macedonia is quite different enabling us to analyze and criticize

existing solutions.

For this purpose, my primary recommendation is reduction of the

level of secrecy regarding the process of planning in Macedonia. One of

the key attributes of the plan should be its transparency in order to

test, evaluate and amend the content of the plan if necessary

(Quarantelli, 1982; Alexander, 2005; Coppola, 2011). In that sense,

this change needs to be inspired by the national emergency management

authorities. Denmark is good example on this topic using the

Comprehensive Preparedness Planning Guidebook as tool for

implementation. Classifying the National Plan as restricted document

sends a certain type of message to the emergency planners on local level

that planning for possible natural and technological disasters is

something way out of their capabilities. At the same time it doesn’t

appease all those different power relations between the national

authorities and the municipal administration. In times when

municipalities are becoming financially stronger and more responsible

in the sphere of disaster management, at the same time there is a

process of devolution of powers of the national authorities. Designing

the issue of emergency planning through the wail of secrecy gives the

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national counterparts probably some of the final arguments of their

existence on local level. In this regard, Pearce (2002) is in favor of

the community approach towards disaster management. He looks on

emergency planning as similar to the process of community planning

conducted by the municipalities. In that sense she argues that they are

both based around achieving same goals: ”to make the community as safe

and as secure as possible while maintaining its cultural heritage and

maximizing the quality of human life.” Hence there has to be a better

link established among these two functions of the municipal

administration.

This leads me to the second challenge which concerns spreading

the message of emergency planning across the branches of the municipal

administration. Nilsson and Eriksson (2008) identifies this issue to

be of great importance for the process of emergency planning on local

level while being the biggest challenge at the same time. Macedonian

experiences are confirming this finding as well. In this regard,

implementing the Danish model for creating working groups responsible

for emergency planning within the municipal administration doesn’t

necessarily mean that this problem will disappear. However, planning

through working groups gives added quality of the final product and

certainly influences on the awareness rising in the branches of the

municipality. Furthermore, utilizing the method of working in groups

means showing respect towards the knowledge and expertise of the one

next to you. This leads me to my next point concerning knowledge

management in regards of emergency planning.

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Agrawal (2009) argues that today knowledge management has been

embraced by the private sector as a tool that helps achieving

organizational objectives. By his standards, successful knowledge

management is only possible if it is structured as a system for

creation, maintenance, cultivation and sharing of knowledge and

organizational learning. However, he continues, knowledge management

in the public sector is still a new concept. Therefore he suggests three

key elements that need to be considered and these include people,

processes and technology. When a person having other responsibilities

in the municipal administration is given the responsibility for

emergency planning, in view of the Macedonian example, we can’t say

that knowledge management theories have been heard and understood.

Denmark has found solution in utilizing the fire and rescue service

commanders as the most appropriate persons to lead the process of

emergency planning on local level. By giving them proper training and

education, the national authorities are harmonizing the process at the

same time facilitating its control. Macedonia has a long tradition

when it comes to firefighting. The first firefighting unit for urban

settings was formed in the town of Bitola in 1836. Unfortunately, as

mentioned before, the process of transition and reforms of the

security sector in our recent history reflected on this area as well.

Serious injustice was commenced to this sector allowing Macedonia in

the 21st century to be without training academy or other institution

that will provide future educated firefighters. On the local level,

firefighters are barely included in the process of emergency planning

mainly as information providers.

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Vlatko Jovanovski

Speaking on the issue of knowledge management I will go back again

to the beginning of this chapter where I spoke about the historical

development of the system of civil protection in the country. There is

an impression that Macedonia is not using the knowledge accumulated in

that system in its full capacity and thus not allowing its

accommodation to the new socio-economic circumstances. We tend to look

on those days in rather cynical way stigmatizing entire era like if it

was without any values. In this sense, I believe that Denmark made the

crucial choice when decided to respect the continuity of processes and

in that way keeping the emergency culture in the society very alive.

Last but certainly not least, I will finish this chapter with my

arguments regarding culture and its influence on the process of

emergency planning on local level. In this regard, my considerations

are towards the influence of the legal culture on the process of

emergency planning on local level. The specifics of the legal system

speak of culture that instigates reaction to something if and only if

that is provided for by legal norm. In this regard, the process of

emergency planning is overwhelmed with legal norms creating culture of

pure formalism. This is the reason why it was so hard for my informants

in Macedonia to speak about the nature of the process for emergency

planning. They were skipping directly to the issue of the required form

by the law and whether or not they have accomplished that. In this

regard, there is very limited space for creativity to be developed

while suggestions for new solutions by the planners are barely heard.

Having in mind my university background in legal sciences this finding

was one of the most inspiring for me. I am finishing my research with

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Vlatko Jovanovski

open questions regarding the role of the legal culture on the process of

preparedness. Is legal positivism an obstacle of the process of

emergency planning and how much legislation is good enough for the

process of preparedness not to be suffocated are some of my dilemmas

that I would like to explore in my future scientific work.

Again, I see the opening up of the process to the wider public as a

possible way out of this situation for the Macedonian process of

emergency planning. Comparative analysis of systems and processes of

countries with similar background can be used as a tool for

improvement. The national authorities in Macedonia need to be

proactive and create this learning environment essential for progress

in the field. Investment in knowledge will instigate essential debate

in the Macedonian society about the way forward. This will mean

inclusion of the academia in building relations of partnership based

on joint interests.

6. Conclusions

Macedonia is relatively new democracy with respectable

traditions regarding civil defense and civil protection. The existing

system for rescue and protection is reconciling the old and the new. By

analyzing one element of the system and this is the process of emergency

planning on local level, the intention is to criticize the existing

solutions in Macedonia and to give recommendations for future

development. In order to substantiate my arguments I have chosen the

44


Vlatko Jovanovski

Danish model as benchmark in my analysis. Although different in many

aspects both of the countries are sharing similar aspirations for

progress in the field of disaster management, generally speaking. In

this process Denmark has reached respectable level of development and

is worth to use it as a mirror when analyzing any national system for

disaster management.

Using the flood hazard as common denominator for both Denmark and

Macedonia the intention of the research was to limit only to

municipalities that have experience in such hazard. This limitation

gave the research more comparable starting point. Second limitation of

my research was the selection of the research area and the

participants. For this purpose, I have restricted myself on the basic

legal documents in both Denmark and Macedonia. Regarding

participants, the intention was to analyze the process seen through

the eyes of the ones with primary responsibility for emergency

planning on local level. These limitations gave me the opportunity to

conduct scientific research in relatively short period of time in two

different countries. At the same time it made me aware that proper

analysis of the processes for emergency planning on local level need

more time, inclusion of wider aspects and different profiles of people

that are part of the process.

Knowing this I believe that I have succeeded to achieve the

objectives set up in Chapter 2. By using qualitative methods for data

collection, key policy documents and structures were identified

regarding the process of emergency planning on local level. This was

followed by conducting interviews and focus group discussion with

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Vlatko Jovanovski

national and local emergency planners. The analysis has shown the

differences in how the process is structured in Macedonia and Denmark

and challenges have been identified regarding that structure. Main

findings are:

- The actual design of the process of emergency planning is

predefined by history and continuation or discontinuation of

traditions;

- The effectiveness of the process depends on knowledge,

motivation and inclusion of all the branches of the municipal

administration;

- Appropriate leadership from the national authorities is

essential for instigating an atmosphere of creativity on local

level and

- Legal culture of the country as de/motivator for the processes

of emergency planning on local level.

Based on these findings and inspired by the Danish model and

experience these are the recommendations for improvements of the

Macedonian model for emergency planning on local level:

- Declassification of the National Plan and abandoning of the

practice of secrecy in emergency planning;

- Shift towards appreciation of the process rather than the

outcome of emergency planning;

- Create clear guidance on how the process of emergency planning

should look like;

- Establish precise mechanism for testing and evaluation of

local plans;

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Vlatko Jovanovski

- Engage firefighters more directly in the process of emergency

planning;

I end this thesis with probably one of the best description of the

meaning of preparedness that I have ever heard given to me by one of my

informants from DEMA: P reparedness is always a step forward. You think

that you have reached a certain level but you can always do more. That is

why we shouldn’t design our preparedness based on the last disaster. We

can learn from it but we should always think one step forward”

7. Reference list

Agrawal, R.C., 2009, Knowledge Management Tools and Techniques,

Global Media: Jaipur, Indonesia

Alexander,D., 2005, Towards the development of a standard in emergency

planning, Disaster Prevention and Management: An International

Journal, Vol.14., No.2, pp.158-175

Brayman, A., 2008, Social Research Methods – Third edition, Oxford

University Press Inc.: New York, USA

Caudle, S. L., 2011, Centralization and Decentralization of Policy:

The National Interest of Homeland Security , Journal of Homeland

Security and Emergency Management, Vol.8, Issue 1, Article 56

Coppola, D P., 2011, Introduction to International Disaster

Management, Elsevier Inc: Burlington, USA

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Vlatko Jovanovski

Dynes,R.R.,1994,Community emergency planning: False assumptions and

inappropriate analogies, International Journal of Mass Emergencies

and Disasters, Vol.12, No. 2, pp.141-158.

Eriksson, K., 2008, Designing Preparedness- Emergency Preparedness in

a Community Context, Department of Fire Safety Engineering and Systems

Safety, Lund University, Lund

Hadji-Janev, M. and Jovanovski, V., 2012, Disaster risk management

concept in Republic of Macedonia, challenges and recommendations for

the future, Book of papers, 5th International Conference: Crisis

Management Days, University of Nova Gorica, Croatia

Heide, A.D., 1989, Disaster Response: Principles and Preparation and

Coordination, CV Mosby: St.Louis,USA

Lauta, K.C., 2011, Doctorial dissertation: Exceptions and norms - The

law on natural disasters, University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Law

Maskrey, A., 2011, Revisiting community-based disaster risk

management, Environmental Hazards, Vol.10, No.1, pp.42-52

McConnel, A. and Drennan, L., 2006, Mission Impossible? Planning and

preparing for crisis, Journal of contingencies and crisis management,

Vol.14, No.6, pp.59-70

McEntire, D.A. and Myers, A., 2004, Preparing communities for

disasters: issues and processes for government readiness, Disaster

Prevention and Management, Vol.13, No.2

Nilsson, J. and Eriksson, K., 2008, The role of the individual – A key to

learning in preparedness organizations, Journal of contingencies and

crisis management, Vol.16, No.3, pp.135-142

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Vlatko Jovanovski

Pearce, L., 2003, Disaster Management and Community Planning, and

Public Participation: How to Achieve Sustainable Hazard Mitigation,

Natural Hazards, Vol.28, pp. 211-228

Perry, R.W. and Lindell, M.K., 2003, Preparedness for emergency

response: Guidelines for the emergency planning process, Disasters,

Vol.27, No. 4, pp. 336- 350

Quarantelli, E.L., 1994, Preparedness and disasters: A very complex

relationship, University of Delaware, Disaster Research Center,

preliminary paper #209

Quarantelli, E. L.,1987, Criteria which could be used in assessing

disaster preparedness planning and managing, University of Delaware,

Disaster Research Center, preliminary paper #122

Soluncevski, M, 2005, Civilna zastita, Yugoreklam-Skopje, Makedonija

Tierney, K. J., 1993, Disaster preparedness and Response: Research

findings and guidance from the social science literature, Disaster

Research Center and Department of Sociology, University of Delaware,

preliminary paper #193

UNISDR, 2009, UNISDR Terminology on disaster risk reduction, Geneva:

United Nation International Strategy for Disaster Reduction

7.1 Internet Sources

CIA Factbook - Denmark, 2010, available athttps://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/da.html

CIA Factbook - Macedonia, 2010, available at

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https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/da.html

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/da.html


Vlatko Jovanovski

Green Paper on Disaster Management Index 1998, available athttp://www.info.gov.za/view/DownloadFileAction?id=68922

Comprehensive Preparedness Planning, 2009, DEMA, available athttp://brs.dk/eng/Documents/Comprehensive_Preparedness_Planning.pdf

7.2 Legal Instruments

Law on Rescue and Protection, Official Gazette of the Republic of

Macedonia no.36/04,49/04,86/08,18/11

Law on Crisis Management, Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia no.29/05

Law on Local Self-Government, Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia no.05/02

Methodology on Risk Assessment and the content of the Plan for rescue

and protection, Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia no.76/06

Danish Emergency Management Act, Law no.1054 of 23 December 1992 cf.

Consolidated Act no. 137 of 1 March 2004, as amended by Section 1 of Act

no. 534 of 24 June 2005, Section 2 of Act no. 1060 of 9 November 2005,

Section 101 of Act no. 538 of 8 June 2006, Section 2 of Act no. 1600 of 20

December 2006, Section 1 of Act no. 508 of 6 June 2007, Act no. 1335 of 19

December 2008,and Act no.660 of 10 June 2009

Local Government Act cf. Consolidated Act No. 615 of July 18th 1995 with

amendments pursuant to section 11 in Act No. 1048 of December 11th 1996,

Act No. 231 of April 2nd 1997, Act No. 318 of May 14th 1997, section 12 in

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Vlatko Jovanovski

Act No. 980 of December 17th 1997 and section 1 in Act No. 1092 of

December 29th 1997.8. Annexes

8.1 Interview guide

Interviews that will be conducted will be in semi-structured

manner. That means that the approach will be less structured,

flexibility will be main characteristic and the focus will be given to

understand the opinion of the interviewees by aiming at rich and detail

answers. Having in mind the nature of the thesis in order to go to

municipal level disaster preparedness first I must understand the

national level. In that direction topic areas that will be covered on

national level are:

- Legal framework for disaster preparedness on national level

- Guiding principles for disaster preparedness

- Established mechanisms for facilitating the process

- Daily activities regarding national disaster preparednessprocess

- Challenges and future development

On municipal level the same topics will be modify as follows:

- History of disasters in the specific setting

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Vlatko Jovanovski

- Structure of the municipal preparedness process

- Key players in the process

- Relationship national government – municipality in disasterpreparedness

- Relationship municipality – people in disaster preparedness

- Discrepancy between how it is and how it should be

- Identified challenges

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Vlatko Jovanovski

8.2 Data analysis

8.2.1 Macedonia

Theme: Challenges of the process of emergency planning in Macedonia

Awareness Financial Inclusion Implementation

Knowledge Powerrelations

Interview A “Also there is a responsibility

of all the ministries of

the Government to prepare for

cases of disasters. Some

of them have already prepared

good documents and they

implement them like the

Ministry of Health, some of

them are in phase

”Our analysis shows that those

municipalities who are

financially stronger they

invest more in preparedness

and they are more successful than the others.

However there are also

oppositecases”(Q5)

“Even today the National plan for

rescue and protection is restricted

document for thepublic”(Q1)

“…I think that the firefighters

didn’t succeed to find their place

in the municipality

administration… So the chief is

”Due to this misfortune of

dual systems and interference in

our jurisdiction by the Crisis

Management Center most of the time

the Government decides to manage

with national emergencies by

creating ad hoc coordination

bodies within the

“The problem that we face in this phase is

the knowledge and the

expertise with in our

local offices to deal with

thesechallenges”(Q2)

“So in most of the cases in the

“It wasunimaginab

le and I believe

it’s still is

institutio n as

Protection and Rescue

Directorat e which in

the hierarchy

of nationalinstitutio

ns is below


Vlatko Jovanovski

of preparation but some are not

interested”(Q1)

“We need to create mechanism

or a forum where these problems

of harmonization of national

efforts or gaps in the

legislation will be discussed and

appropriate plan of action to

minimize the side effects to

be adopted”(Q1)

“Our future tasks should be

to decentralize additional

obligations to the

municipalities

marginalized and positioned very

low in the administration

hierarchy”(Q4)

Government”(Q1)

“Although the Law is valid since

2005 still we have problems in this

area. In most of the cases the

municipality administration

see disaster planning and

preparedness as something foreign

and something that represents

additional burden for them”(Q2)

”In this moment there are several

existing laws that stipulate

almost the same obligations for

the natural and legal persons

municipalitie s all of the

planning documents are developed

with the assistance of

our local offices. Even

in themunicipalitie

s that have already

prepared all of the

necessary documents

their content is vague,

quite theoretical

and they barely serve

theirpurpose”(Q2)

the ministries

of the Government

to have this type

of power and the

ability to give orders

toothers”(Q1)


Vlatko Jovanovski

and make them more aware about

theirresponsibilitie

s. We have done that once with

the transfer of the firefighters but more needs to

be done aswell.”(Q5)

“I think that we as people are

still far away from the moment when we will

start to look for accountability

in this area. It has to do with the culture of our people to

accept things as they are without

asking questions

creatingconfusion”(Q3)


Vlatko Jovanovski

and by that to change

something”(Q6)

Interview B “The problems are with the

irrigation network outside

the city jurisdiction.

Their maintenance is

responsibility of independent

public enterprise

which is momentarily in

bad financial condition and

they are not able to fulfill

their tasks to the

maximum”(Q1)

“There are cases when

the national

level decision

making is not

respecting local

capacities and

capabiliti es to deal

with the situation

independen tly. They tend to send

assistance although we

don’t need


Vlatko Jovanovski

it”(Q1)

Interview C “The leadership of the

municipality sees this area as

not interesting at all and we are

usually the last one to be

considered with the budget”(Q1)

“However, our financial condition is in

that shape that we are not able to buy them

equipment or to conduct

training for them. So we have

them only on paper in the

moment”(Q1)

“So far they are doing a great

job(firefighte rs) but we need

them to be able to do more. All of these aspects

require financial

assets from the municipality

but from the

“My department is also responsible

for education, culture, sports,

social and child protection, fire

protection and I cover them as well. So I am not

responsible only for the rescue and

protectionaffairs.”(Q1)

“Despite that one training

so far we haven’t conduct any

other type of training of

the HQ”(Q3)

“I believe that it could

be done to organize

small refresh training of

the HQ with some small

table top exercise but I

think that there is no

interest for that in the

municipality.


Vlatko Jovanovski

state aswell.”(Q1)

”(Q4)

Interview D “You have a point maybe we should

includethem(firefighte

rs) in the preparation of

the plan aswell”(Q3)

“Special designated person

who will work on the affairs of

rescue and protection in our

municipality is still not

appointed. By request of the

mayor I and two of my colleagues

have the task to prepare the

municipal plan for rescue and

protection”(Q1)

“This is very important in

what we are doing(the seminars)

because all of this is new to

us”(Q4)

“Because at the end of the day we are not

experts in this area and

we needguidance.”(Q4)

“The state needs to

invest in education of

“I also think that

the local office of

the Protection

and RescueDirectorat

e should be involved in

the process as well. We

have goodcooperatio

n with them so far and we hope

that it will

continue during this

process aswell”(Q3)


Vlatko Jovanovski

these people that work in

theadministratio

n, especially those with

responsibilit ies for

urbanization. They need to know about

risks and hazard and to

develop their way of

thinking towards

prevention”(Q8)

“ … situation

issignifican

tly improved

now with the

national project for

cleaning the river

beds and irrigation

channelnetwork”(Q8)

Interview E / // / / / /


Vlatko Jovanovski

Theme: Process of

emergencyplanning

inMacedonia

Structure Knowledge Principles Coordinationmechanisms

Definitions

InterviewA

“The Law for rescue and protection

defines all the areas of interest

that needs to be covered in order to

have effective system for rescue

and protection of the citizens and

material goods against natural and

other disasters.(Q1)

“The National Plan is actually

describing the tasks and

responsibilities of all the

ministries in cases of disaster”(Q1)

“Finally the plan was finished but we

choose wrong approach when we classify the document as top

secret. Even today the National plan for rescue and

protection is

“We need to create mechanism or a

forum where these problems of

harmonization of national efforts or

gaps in the legislation will be

discussed and appropriate plan of

action to minimize the side effects to

be adopted”(Q1)

”The problem that we face in this

phase is the knowledge and the expertise with in

our local offices to deal with these

challenges”(Q2)

“…I think that the firefighters

didn’t succeed to find their place in

the municipality administration…

the chief is marginalized and

positioned very low in the

administration

“…stipulating clear obligations

of others regarding implementation of

measures for rescue and protection and

creating and institution which

will supervise thatimplementation”(Q1)

”...I believe that there is no content

of the plan that should be closed

from the eye of thepublic”(Q1)

“Also there is a responsibility of

all the ministries of the Government to prepare for

cases of disasters. Some of them have

already prepared good documents and they implement them like the Ministry

of Health, some of them are in phase of

preparation but some are not

“When we started working on the

document a working group was

formed composed of all relevant

departments of the Government .

“(Q1)

“Due to this misfortune of

dual systems and interference in

our jurisdiction by the Crisis

Management Center most of

the time the Government

decides to manage with national

emergencies by creating ad hoc

coordination bodies within the

Government”(Q1)

“We think that in this

constellation the key for

success is financially

strongmunicipality-

motivated mayor-active

local office of the Protection and Rescue

Directorate”(Q5)

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Vlatko Jovanovski

8.2.2 Denmark Theme: Challenges of the process of emergency planning in Denmark

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Vlatko Jovanovski

Awareness Financial Inclusion Measuring

Interview A “Usually prep. is developed based on accidents that

already happened. Then everyone starts

thinking what should have we done in order

to prevent or cope with the event in more

efficient way…”(Q2)

“We are in a process to reform the system in order to achieve

the best results with limited resources

which might affect the level of

preparedness”(Q9)

“…difficulties in spreading the message

of the importance of preparedness

activities”(Q9)

“part of the problem is due to

the fact that you cannot measure

precisely the level of

preparedness because in reality there are

always some new moments that

surprises us and it is normal to ask

the question of the benefit of

planning” (Q9)

Interview B “… the plan is considered as

something that has to be done in order to

satisfy the form”(Q4)

Interview C “… some of them want to do it quick rather

than go through theprocess”(Q8)

“This type of preparedness that I

have described is rather new and we have

to get the rest of the municipalities to

“Preparedness is not sexy thing to talk

about, because preparedness

planning is not a normal task, and this

is something additional for

them”(Q8)

“Two main challenges:

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Vlatko Jovanovski

Theme: Process of

emergencyplanning

in Denmark

Structure Knowledge Principles Coordinationmechanisms

Definitions

InterviewA

“The comprehensive preparedness

guidelines is a free tool that is

offered to all ministries, public

and privatecompanies”(Q3)

“It is not required by the Emergency

Management Act to base their

emergency plan according to

previously developed risk and

vulnerabilityassessment, it may

be a demand in sector

legislation . Most of them are doing

the planning based on the guiding

principles, previous

experience and “hunch” about what

might be the threats to the

community”(Q8)

“… it is a process that develops

certain characteristics,

it makes you able to foresee events when

they start happening. It is

very useful for the response phase

because it gives you an ability to

improvise. Finally the process creates

personal relationships so

needed in the emergency

phase”(Q9)

“The system of crisis management builds up on the

regular tasks of organizations and

agencies responsible for

this type ofevents”(Q1)

“Also there is no body, central body

responsible for preparedness. This

is actually the principle of sector

responsibility”(Q1)

“DEMA has no authority to tell

all the different ministries how

should they doit”(Q2)

“On local level it is up to the

municipality how will they design

the preparednessprocess”(Q8)

“Planning doesn’t

necessarily mean having a plan as a paper

document”(Q2)

“… you must never prepare

for the last accident

because they will never

happen twice in the same way.

That is why preparedness

is always a step forward,

you think that you have

reached a certain level

but you can always do more

and also start thinking about

it is again step forward from the null

position”(Q2)

InterviewB

“… to detailed plan limits your

“… plans they are clear

“Due to the principle of sector

“It is always hard to build

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Disaster preparedness on local level in Macedonia in light of Denmark

Documents

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