Disaster Preparation & Recovery

Preparing for disasters is a critical function because, without anticipating disasters and determining in advance how recovery can best occur, unnecessary costs will be incurred both from a financial and a human capital perspective. Disaster planning is so important that the U.S. government has a specific agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to deal with this. FEMA is charged with responsibilities for continually improving our responsiveness to disasters and effectively managing recovery from disasters.

Significance

• Effective disaster planning can reduce the time for recovering from a disaster and have a less detrimental economic impact on individuals and communities. Effectively recovering from disasters can reduce the psychological impact on people affected. Unfortunately, the mental health aspects of a disaster are often not considered.

Function

• According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, much of the responsibility for disaster management and recovery lies with local government because local government is closer to the location of the disaster and better knows the geographic areas where disasters occur.

  Disaster preparation involves identifying potential disasters which could occur, developing scenarios of the impact the disaster could have and preparing how each disaster can best be dealt with. In terms of preparing for a disaster, all of the local agencies and organizations who could help with a disaster should be identified with key contact information. Another important aspect of disaster preparation is determining how different organizations will interface with and communicate with each other.

Types

• According to the University of Pittsburgh, the most common types of disasters are floods, hurricanes,cyclones, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, avalanches, droughts/famine and blizzards. In a more comprehensive list of disasters, the Federal Emergency Management Agency additionally lists chemical, dam failure, fire or wildfire, hazardous material, heat, nuclear power plan emergencies, terrorism and thunderstorms.

Considerations

• One of the main considerations in preparing for a disaster and deciding what resources to allocate when a disaster occurs is the impact a disaster would have from a cost perspective. For example, what would be the lost income impact on the local economy?

Benefits

• One benefit of effective disaster prevention is avoidance of disaster costs so that the funds allocated to recover from a disaster can be allocated in other areas such as education. Another benefit is that prevention planning provides government with a sound basis for responding.