Reference no: EM133650884
Assignment: Disaster Response
A dangerous Category 5 hurricane has made landfall in your quaint coastal town. The mayor ordered the mandatory evacuation of all persons living within 10 miles of the coast. Residents and tourists with no other place to go have been moved into designated shelters.
You manage one of these shelters. You have a capable and experienced staff with expertise in public safety, dormitory management, medical care, and psychological counseling. The demographics of your shelter represent a diverse community, but primarily make up two groups. The first demographic consists of locals who were unable to leave. These people are primarily white and Christian. They have lived in the rural community all their lives. The second demographic consists of Muslim visitors who were in the region for a conference. Most of the occupants are strangers and have had little interactions prior to arriving at the shelter during the storm. Your shelter is at capacity.
We are a day into the hurricane, and you are unable to get extra staff or resources at your facility for another 24 hours.
It is your job to keep your shelter occupants safe, while making sure you respond in ways that respect the cultural values and beliefs of everyone in the shelter. To do so, you will rely on what you learned about cultural competence. Thus, before you complete the assignment, make sure you read the assigned article on cultural competence.
Please answer the following questions. Make sure your responses to each are well thought out, thoroughly elaborated upon, and clearly explained. Please answer using paragraph format and complete sentences. Grammar and spelling will factor into your grades, so please proofread your answers carefully before submitting. You answers should be typed up in a Word document (DOC or DOCX formats) and submitted. This is an independent assignment and is to be completed alone and not with other students in class.
How would you accommodate the religious values and needs of your occupants, including (a) provision and preparation of food, (b) provision of healthcare services, and (c) facilitating religious practices like prayer. If you are unaware of religious practices engaged in by Muslims, you will need to research these on your own to understand how to accommodate them. For each one (a, b, and c), a paragraph explaining what requirement is needed for your Muslim occupants, and how you would accommodate it.
When serving a diverse group, there is risk of conflict. When people are afraid for their safety, and highly stressed they can become less logical. You notice that both demographic groups seem suspicious of each other. You overheard some of the white, Christian occupants express fear over the praying some of the Muslims are doing - they see them kneeling, praying aloud, and saying "Allahu Akbar", and all they know about Muslims is what they see on TV (where they are often depicting as terrorists) and this makes them afraid. You even overhear one woman state that the Muslim occupants should be searched for weapons. What would you do in this situation?
Remember that you are a day into the hurricane, the shelter is at capacity, and you are unable to get new supplies or staff until tomorrow. Working within these restrictions, how do you prioritize the actions you would need to take that you described above? Which accommodations would you prioritize? How could you compromise on some of the accommodations to ensure that you still address the needs of your occupants within the constraints of the situation?