What would most likely occur during the preparedness stage of disaster management?

The four phases of Emergency Management make up a continuous cycle of planning and action undertaken by the Department of Emergency Management to ensure Upstate Medical University and Hospital maintain a comprehensive approach to Emergency Management, while maximizing the safety of staff, students, visitors and patients. The four phases are:

Mitigation

Mitigation is the most cost-efficient method for reducing the impact of hazards. A precursor activity to mitigation is the identification of risks. Physical risk assessment refers to the process of identifying and evaluating hazards. The higher the risk, the more urgent the need is to target hazard specific vulnerabilities through mitigation efforts. One example of mitigation at University Hospital is the 96 Hour Business Continuity Plan, which includes mitigation strategies and plans that have been developed to ensure continuity of operations in areas such as utilities, communications, food, water, medication, staffing, and medical supplies when the community is unable to support the hospital due to an external disaster scenario.

Preparedness

Preparedness is a continuous cycle of planning, organizing, training, equipping, exercising, evaluation, and improvement activities that allows Upstate Medical University and Hospital to ensure effective coordination and the enhancement of capabilities to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate against disaster events that have been identified within the Hazard Vulnerability Analysis (HVA).

In the preparedness phase, the Emergency Management Department develops plans of action to manage and counter risks and takes action to build the necessary capabilities needed to implement such plans.

Response

The Response phase includes the mobilization of the identified emergency staff, including first responders, to an internal or external event which could have an impact on patient care operations or the campus. Response procedures are pre-determined by the university and hospital, and are detailed in disaster plans during the Preparedness phase. Response to an internal or external incident on campus or in the hospital is directed through the Incident Command System (ICS). Response plans remain flexible in nature due to the varying members of staff available at any given time.

Response procedures and plans are constantly evaluated and changed based on improvements identified during After Action Reviews (AARs), which are held after training exercises and disaster responses. Response actions are also evaluated regularly by the campus and hospital through drills, exercises, tracers, and live events.

Recovery

The aim of the Recovery phase is to restore the affected area to its previous state. It differs from the Response phase in its focus: recovery efforts are concerned with issues and decisions that must be made after immediate needs are addressed. Recovery efforts are primarily concerned with actions that involve rebuilding destroyed property, re-employment, the repair of other essential infrastructure, as well as the re-opening of essential services in the hospital.

Recovery operations are an extremely important phase in the Emergency Management continuum and yet one that is often overlooked. The Incident Command System team is responsible for the implementation of the Recovery phase.

Hazard Vulnerability Analysis

The basis of the "All Hazards" approach starts with Upstate Medical University and Hospital's Hazard Vulnerability Analysis (HVA). The HVA identifies disasters and other events from a technological, natural, man-made and hazardous materials perspective which are most likely to impact the Upstate community. These events are ranked in order of severity and greatest impact to Upstate Medical University and Hospital. A risk factor is obtained for each identified hazard by ranking probability, human impact, property impact, business impact, and overall preparedness from both internal and external response entities.

The Hazard Vulnerability Analysis is reviewed annually, or as required by leadership and the Emergency Management Committee. The HVA, including the top five ranked disasters, is shared with community government and emergency response agencies including the Office of Emergency Management, Public Health, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Police, Fire, and the Medical Examiner's (ME) office.

What is it?

Disaster preparedness consists of a set of measures undertaken in advance by governments, organisations, communities, or individuals to better respond and cope with the immediate aftermath of a disaster, whether it be human-induced or caused by natural hazards. The objective is to reduce the loss of life and livelihoods.

Simple initiatives can go a long way, for instance in training for search and rescue, establishing early warning systems, developing contingency plans, or stockpiling equipment and supplies.

Disaster preparedness plays an important role in building the resilience of communities.

Why is this important?

With increasing population growth, rapid and unplanned urbanisation, climate change, environmental degradation and widespread poverty, a growing number of people and assets are exposed to disasters.

Moreover, many of these events occur in fragile and conflict-affected states, thus increasing the complexity of crises and overburdening countries experiencing violent conflict or fragile governance.

However, improved practice and response mechanisms save lives and strengthen the countries and communities’ ability to reduce the impact of disasters.

Understanding the occurrence and frequency of natural hazards, as well as the risks, vulnerabilities and potential impact on people and assets, helps to improve preparedness.

Instead of providing emergency response only, international efforts should help governments and communities invest in understanding risks and building preparedness capacities for pre-emptive and early action. Disaster preparedness is cost-effective and saves aid money.

These concepts are agreed upon and firmly embedded into international commitments, including the 2015 Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Paris Agreement (2015), the Agenda 2030, the New Urban Agenda, and the Grand Bargain commitments.

How are we helping?

The European Commission is at the forefront of promoting risk reduction and anticipatory actions. Signatory to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030), the European Commission supports adopting a risk-informed approach to all EU policies and programmes.

The European Commission contributes to Sendai Priority 4 by ensuring that disaster preparedness is systematically embedded into humanitarian aid programmes and projects across all sectors.

To support this work, in 2021, the EU’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations department published a new Disaster Preparedness Guidance Note in consultation with partners. The document explains its approach to disaster preparedness and risk-informed humanitarian response.

The approach promotes multi-hazard preparedness and anticipatory action as a means for a quicker and more effective response. It focuses not only on disasters related to natural hazards but also on human-induced threats like conflict and violence, epidemics, and biological hazards.

Under this approach, the EU aims to mainstream preparedness and risk reduction measures across all its humanitarian programming.

In addition, the EU allocates more than € 75 million of its annual humanitarian funding to targeted preparedness actions. This funding strengthens the ability of national and local preparedness systems to respond earlier and better.

The EU invests in early warning systems, monitoring and building national and local capacities for the response.

Some examples of disaster preparedness in EU-funded humanitarian aid interventions are:

• Support communities in Bangladesh to better forecast and act ahead of monsoon floods
• Advice local governments in the Philippines in scaling up inclusive cash assistance programmes that reach marginalised urban communities affected by disasters  
• Support national and local governments in Mozambique in using drone and satellite data for disaster preparedness and to assess the extent of people’s needs following a natural hazard
• Strengthening emergency preparedness and response in the Caribbean through better coordination of humanitarian logistics in the event of a natural hazard.  

More examples of the EU’s action in disaster preparedness are available in the Compendium of experiences published in 2020.

Each disaster preparedness strategy and funding allocation includes a defined exit strategy where local capacities are deemed adequate or where local governments or development partners can take over.

Additionally, the EU engages and supports local and national government structures in all countries worldwide through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, notably within the areas of prevention and preparedness.

Last updated: 22/07/2022
Picture: © European Union (photographer: Silvio Balladares)

Facts & figures

The EU is supporting early warning and monitoring systems, and funds projects to strengthen disaster response capacities at national and local levels

In 2021, the EU invested €76 million in 101 disaster preparedness actions in 30 countries.

Downloads

Resilience Marker: General Guidelines

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(281.24 KB - PDF)

Disaster Preparedness - A Compendium of Experiences

English

(10.13 MB - PDF)

Statement on behalf of the EU and its Member States for the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2022

English

(225.25 KB - PDF)

Print friendly pdf

Disaster preparedness

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(459.59 KB - PDF)

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