Comparative Emergency Management Session 18 Slide Deck Session 18
Session Objectives • Provide an Overview of Disaster Preparedness • Describe and Discuss the Preparedness Actions of Government • Describe and Discuss the Preparedness Actions of Individuals Session 18
Disaster Preparedness “Action taken in advance of a disaster to ensure adequate response to its impacts, and the relief and recovery from its consequences.” Session 18
Who Performs Preparedness Actions? • Emergency response agencies • Government officials • Businesses • Nongovernmental organizations • Hospitals • Individuals and families Session 18
Preparedness Goals • Knowing what to do in the lead up to or in the aftermath of a disaster • Knowing how to do what needs to be done • Being equipped with the right tools to effectively do what needs to be done Session 18
Preparedness Establishes: • What hazards are likely to occur • What the consequences of those hazards will be • What the response requirements will be • What direct responsibilities the individual has to address those requirements • What skills, competencies, and resources are required to fulfill those responsibilities • What are the response triggers • How prepared the stakeholder actually is to perform the required actions Session 18
Two Preparedness ‘Groups’ • Government • administration, emergency management, public health, and other services agencies • Public • Individuals, nongovernmental organizations, and businesses Session 18
Mitigation vs. Preparedness • Mitigation: reduces hazard risk likelihood or consequences before a disaster occurs • Preparedness: Allows for enhanced response actions • Many actions and activities will fit neatly into both categories. Session 18
Government Preparedness Actions • Planning • Exercise • Training • Equipment • Statutory authority Session 18
Planning • Determines: • Is the event a disaster? • Who is in control of the overall response? • Where will damage and needs information come from? • What specific actions need to be performed? • What is the logical flow of these actions? • Who is responsible for performing each action? • Where will resources come from? • What laws give authority to the actions and actors? • What outside resources can be called upon? • What procedures must be followed to request and accept these resources? Session 18
Planning: The EOP • Centerpiece of government preparedness • A playbook of response actions • Built upon predictions of hazard risk • Must be flexible to allow for a range of hazards and severity (scaled up or down) • Address complex/diverse needs Session 18
Planning: EOP Function • The people and agencies who will be involved in the response to hazard events (including disasters) • The responsibilities and actions of these individuals and agencies • When and where those responsibilities and actions will be called upon • How citizens and structures will be protected in the event of a disaster. • The equipment, facilities, and resources available within and outside the jurisdiction. Session 18
Planning: EOP Components • A hazards risk analysis • The basic plan • Emergency function (‘Functional’) annexes • Hazard-specific annexes Session 18
Planning: The Basic Plan • The Introductory Material • The Purpose • The Situation and Assumptions • The Concept of Operations • Organization and Assignment of Responsibilities • Administration and Logistics • Plan Development and Logistics • Authorities and References Session 18
Planning: Functional Annexes • Provide much more highly detailed information about operational needs • Go into much greater detail about who does what • May cover any specific task or function conducted in the lead up to, response, or aftermath of a disaster Session 18
Planning: Functional Annexes • Inclusion of military resources • Transportation • Traffic control • Relief • Short- and long-term recovery • Financial management • International coordination • Volunteer management • Donations management • Vulnerable populations • Direction and control • Notification and warning • Evacuation • Communications • Public works • Public information • Fire suppression • Search and rescue • Emergency medical services and mass care • Mortuary services • Security and perimeter control Session 18
Planning: Hazard Annexes • Contain operational information not covered in the base plan • May stipulate risk for individual hazards, including the geographic range, the population likely to be affected, and the season or time the disaster is most likely • Special detection and warning systems, evacuation routes, risk maps, preparedness and response issues, and other topics may be included Session 18
Planning: Exercise • Allows those involved in emergency and disaster response, as defined in the EOP, to practice their roles and responsibilities before an actual event occurs • Prepares individuals to carry out their duties • Helps find problems in the plan in non-emergency situations • Introduces individuals and agencies involved in response Session 18
Planning: Exercise Types • Drill • Tabletop Exercise • Functional Exercise • Full-Scale Exercise Session 18
Planning: Training • Disaster response officials are more effective if they are trained to do their jobs • Response officials may place their lives in unnecessary and grave danger if they are not adequately trained in the particulars of specialized response • Untrained or insufficiently trained responders add to the possibility of a secondary emergency or disaster Session 18
Planning: Specialized Training Topics • Hazardous materials • Weapons of mass destruction • Cyclonic storm response • Urban and wilderness search and rescue • Radiological response • Crowd control • Response to terrorist attacks • Wildfire and wildland fire response • Evacuation • Mass care • Mass fatalities management • Debris management • Flood-fighting operations • Warning coordination • Spontaneous volunteer management Session 18
Preparedness: Equipment • Helps response agencies reduce the number of injuries and deaths and the amount of property damaged or destroyed as result of disaster events • increases the effectiveness of response agencies by protecting the life of the responders themselves • Access to equipment depends on available resources Session 18
Preparedness: Equipment Types • Fire Suppression • Rescue • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) • Disaster Medical Care • Public Warning and Alert Systems • Communications • Disaster Feeding • Others… Session 18
Statutory Authority • Disaster characterized by: • Expenditures of funds • Suspension of normal government and private activities • Other deviations from ‘normal’ • Statutory authorities help to ensure that all individuals and agencies involved in the emergency management system are able to carry out their duties • Ensure that EM agencies and functions are established, staffed, and funded. Session 18
Public Preparedness • In disasters, response resources are stretched to the limits of their capacity • Vast response requirements can delay the delivery of these services to many people • Individual and family preparedness are vital to increasing overall community resilience, especially in light of the limitations typically experienced by the emergency services in the outset of large-scale events Session 18
Examples of Public Response Role • Basic search and rescue • Provision of first aid • Fire suppression • Flood fighting • Traffic control • Utility shut-off Session 18
