Disaster Management: Preparedness and Mitigation

• Disaster management involves various stages, each with specific goals and actions

Disaster Continuum

• It includes pre-disaster, response, and post-disaster phases to mitigate risks and aid recovery

Preparedness

• Proactive planning designed to structure disaster response before it occurs is essential for preparedness
• Preparedness is a process to reduce loss and damage to human lives and property
• It relies on knowledge and capacities developed by governments, communities, and individuals
• The goal is to effectively anticipate, respond to, and recover from hazard events

Disaster Planning

• Agent Specific Approach focuses preparedness on the most likely threats based on geography
• All Hazard Approach incorporates disaster management components consistent across all disaster types to maximize resources

Mitigation

• Mitigation involves measures to reduce the harmful effects of a disaster
• Reducing a disasters impact on human health, community function, and economic infrastructure is key
• It requires forethought, planning, and implementation before an incident occurs
• Minimizing the effects of disasters is the primary goal

Prevention

• Prevention encompasses activities to attempts to prevent a disaster from occurring
• It also includes actions to prevent further disease, disability, or loss of life
• Examples include implementing building codes, hazard mapping, vulnerability analysis, and public education

Response

• Response involves the actual implementation of the disaster plan and the organization of activities to address the event (disaster relief)
• The primary focus is on emergency relief including saving lives, triage, and reducing health impacts
• Restoration of damaged systems like communications and transportation is required
• Providing care and basic life requirements to victims in the form of food, water, and shelter is imperative
• Notification and coordination amongst the different teams
• Search and Rescue must be deployed
• Emergency medical services must be ready to attend to victims
• Extrication of victims to safe zones
• Transportation and evacuation of victims
• Preliminary needs assessment must be undertaken
• Debriefing and Record keeping are also important

Recovery

• Focus on stabilizing and returning the community to normalcy
• Includes a coordinated process of supporting disaster-affected communities in rebuilding physical infrastructure
• Encompasses activities focused on restoring emotional, social, economic, and physical well-being
• Includes providing financial assistance for repairs, disaster surveillance, and public health interventions

Rehabilitation and Reconstruction

• Rehabilitation and reconstruction includes actions that restore affected areas to their normal functioning level
• Reconstruction efforts rebuild livelihood and damaged infrastructure
• This stage increases the communities' organizational capacity, it counters the disasters’ long-term effects
• It improves a community rather than simply reconstructing a preexisting system

Evaluation

• Evaluation is a detailed review of a disaster relief program to determine if objectives were met
• Assesses a program's impact on the community and generates lessons for future projects
• Includes analysis of physical, social, economic, and attitudinal factors
• Disaster planning needs to be based on empirical evidence from previous disasters

Typical Phases of Disaster

• Pre-disaster Phase: Warning and Threat are present
• Heroic Phase: Community is in cohesion
• Disillusionment
• Reconstruction: A new beginning