2. 2
Objectives
1. Provide an Overview of Disaster
Preparedness
2. Describe and Discuss the
Preparedness Actions of Government
3. Describe and Discuss the
Preparedness Actions of Individuals
3. 3
Disaster Preparedness
“Action taken in advance of a disaster to
ensure adequate response to its impacts,
and the relief and recovery from its
consequences.”
4. Session 18 4
Who Performs Preparedness Actions?
• Emergency response agencies
• Government officials
• Businesses
• Nongovernmental organizations
• Hospitals
• Individuals and families
5. 5
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
6. 6
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
7. 7
Two Preparedness ‘Groups’
• Government
– administration, emergency management,
public health, and other services agencies
• Public
– Individuals, nongovernmental organizations,
and businesses
8. 8
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.
10. 10
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?
11. 11
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
12. 12
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.
13. 13
Planning: EOP Components
• A hazards risk analysis
• The basic plan
• Emergency function (‘Functional’) annexes
• Hazard-specific annexes
14. 14
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
15. 15
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
16. 16
Planning: Functional Annexes
• 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
• Inclusion of military
resources
• Transportation
• Traffic control
• Relief
• Short- and long-term
recovery
• Financial management
• International coordination
• Volunteer management
• Donations management
• Vulnerable populations
17. 17
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 to happen.
• Special detection and warning systems,
evacuation routes, risk maps, preparedness and
response issues, and other topics may be
included
18. 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
20. 20
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
21. 21
Planning: Specialized Training Topics
• Evacuation
• Mass care
• Mass fatalities
management
• Debris management
• Flood-fighting
operations
• Warning
coordination
• Spontaneous
volunteer
management
• 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
22. 22
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
23. 23
Preparedness: Equipment
Types
• Fire Suppression
• Rescue
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
• Disaster Medical Care
• Public Warning and Alert Systems
• Communications
• Disaster Feeding
• Others…
24. 24
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.
25. 25
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
26. 26
Examples of Public Response Role
• Basic search and rescue
• Provision of first aid
• Fire suppression
• Flood fighting
• Traffic control
• Utility shut-off
