Phases of Disaster

What is Disaster Preparedness?

Preparedness aims to reduce the impacts of disaster on individuals and businesses through effective community responses that are coordinated and planned ahead of time.

Disaster Preparedness for Economic Developers

Chapter 3 of ‘Leadership in Times of Crisis’ advises EDOs on the best practices for preparing to ensure continuity of their own organization, engaging the business community to build a community disaster response team and training businesses to make continuity plans in case of disaster.

EDOs, as fiduciaries of their communities, need to have a solid continuity plan in place to lead the response and recovery efforts of their communities after disaster strikes. EDOs need to identify critical business functions that are key to business survival and resumption of operations, and subsequently have a plan for how to use the potentially diminished resources they will have to carry out these functions. EDOs should also secure the necessary materials to operate post-disaster ahead of time. These include supplies for first aid and ensuring the health and safety of employees when help has not yet arrived. EDOs should identify backup office locations and backup their data systems in case either are damaged beyond functionality by a disaster.

It is important that EDOs engage the business community on disaster response and recovery before disaster strikes, even if businesses are hesitant to involve themselves in these efforts. An EDO can create a disaster recovery team, involving a variety of community stakeholders from the public and private sectors. This team can convene to draft a comprehensive emergency management plan, discuss the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders post-disaster and discuss strategies for economic recovery.

Basic Disaster Preparedness

FEMA’s ready.gov website offers helpful advice for communities looking to improve their disaster preparedness. FEMA also offers a litany of free materials, including information sheets detailing preparedness steps for a variety of different disasters. FEMA’s free ‘Are you ready?’ guide gives a basic guide for preparedness against all disasters. The steps given include:

• Assessing the situation and protecting oneself: Before an unexpected event might happen, individuals should be cognizant of the hazards that may pose risks to them. They should know how to recognize different types of potential events after they have happened and identify a couple of most effective next steps to take in the seconds after an event has happened.
• Get involved with training and volunteer programs: There are numerous volunteer programs that offer training and volunteer opportunities for disaster recovery. These programs exist on both the local and national levels. Involving oneself in these programs is an opportunity to gain skills in disaster preparedness and response, use those skills in practice to help out communities, and teach others about best practices in disaster preparedness.
• Put together an emergency fund: Families and communities should have funds set aside for them to be in the best financial position to respond to disaster. This should be able to cover basic expenses for individuals, families, businesses, and community institutions to get back on their feet as quickly as possible in the wake of an unexpected natural disaster.
• Prepare a family disaster plan and practice the plan: It is prudent for households to have a concrete plan of action to address disaster. It is important to consider everyone in a household’s physical abilities, plans regarding access to transportation, and what to do with pets and service animals in the case of natural disaster.