Phases of Disaster

What is Disaster Response?

Response is the effort to provide lifesaving and life sustaining services in the face of immediate threats presented by a disaster. These actions usually include search and rescue, meeting humanitarian needs (food, shelter, clothing, public health and safety), debris removal, damage assessments, and immediate medical needs.

Timeline of Disaster Response

Triage efforts assess and deal with the most pressing emergency issues. This period typically feels somewhat chaotic and can last a month or more, depending on the nature of the disaster and the extent of damage. Federal resources for emergency response, such as action from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (in the case of a major disaster declaration) and nonprofit resources from agencies such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and United Way often are deployed immediately.

Business re-entry into the community begins during this phase. Businesses initially may face issues with access to their sites, preliminary damage assessment, and communications with staff, vendors, suppliers, and customers. Ongoing issues may include access to capital and workers, repair of damaged property or inventory, and a diminished customer base. It is often in what happens in this phase that determines whether the region’s business community will recover completely or find itself weakened in the long term. Depending on the size and scale of the disaster, local authorities may restrict business re-entry in varying ways that could prolong a disruption. It is critical that economic developers work with their local emergency management offices to understand these procedures and communicate them to the business community.

Mobile or fixed-location one-stop centers for business are quickly set up in the community to centralize small business resources, whether they are local, state or federal (e.g., those provided by SBA, SBDC, SCORE, etc.). They provide a location to connect businesses to local bankers, business counseling, and other assistance critical to maintaining business continuity, services that are sometimes referred to as Case Management services. Business assistance can also be provided in a mobile setting, where business owners and managers have resources brought to them. (See Chapter IV of ‘Leadership in Times of Crisis’ for case studies).

Additional federal and state resources will become available later in the response. These federal resources include programs from the Small Business Administration; the Economic Development Administration; the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, Treasury, Transportation and Interior; and the Army Corps of Engineers. Many of these resources have very specific criteria for eligibility and use. It is important to work with the local field office to learn how each agency’s programs may be applicable for each disaster.

As the response progresses, the focus usually shifts from dealing with immediate health and safety concerns to conducting repairs, restoring utilities, establishing operations for public services (including permitting), and finishing the cleanup process.

It is not uncommon for disasters to reveal a weakened economic development landscape, with significant gaps in regional cooperation and alignment, organizational capacity, staffing, technical knowledge and financial resources. Thus, economic development agencies and stakeholders also may need to rebuild and acquire additional staff, capacity-building assistance and training. These gaps can often be highlighted after an organization’s capacity is stressed by a disaster and it is under pressure to provide leadership and information.