Emergency management is also known as disaster management, refers to whereby plans are created to minimize vulnerability to cope with disasters and hazards by communities (Wilkinson et al., 2010, p. 25). There are five phases involved in emergency management.
There is the preparedness phase. This is a continuous cycle of training, planning, evaluating, organizing, equipping, exercising an application of corrective action so as to ensure a coordination that is effective on incident response. It, therefore, increases community’s response incases an incident occurs.
There is the prevention phase. Prevention phase aims at preventing human hazards from natural disasters or attacks by terrorist. Through this, permanent protections are designed to protect from disasters. For instance, loss of life risk or injury can be prevented through evacuation plans, design standards and environmental planning (Cook, n.d, p. 102).
Another one is the response phase. This refers to the reaction towards the occurrence of a disaster that is catastrophic or emergency. A response after, before or during impact by hazard is aimed at minimizing economic losses, saving lives and provide relief from suffering. It includes mobilization of the relevant services and responders in areas of disaster.
The fourth phase is the recovery. Refers to activities carried out to restore critical functions f the community as well as managing stabilization efforts. After threat to life is subsided, recovery phase begins. Its primary concerns include actions for rebuilding and repair. Long-term recovery mostly lasts up to years.
The fifth is the mitigation phase which refers to actions applied to minimize chance of an emergency from occurring or minimize damaging effects of emergencies that are unavoidable. The measures applied here are both structural and non-structural. Structural measures change building
or environment characteristics such as control projects of flood, whereas non-structural measures are concerned with changing or adopting code of a building (Esnard & Sapat, 2014, p. 97).
Diagrammatic representation
Source: https://www.bexar.org/694/Five-Phases
References
Cook, T. A. (n.d.). Driving Risk and Spend Out of the Global Supply Chain. CRC Press.
Esnard, A.-M, & Sapat, A. (2014). Displaced by Disaster: Recovery and Resilience in a Globalizing World. New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis.
The Five Phases of Emergency Management | Bexar County, TX - Official Website. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bexar.org/694/Five-Phases
Wilkinson, F. C., Lewis, L. K., & Dennis, N. K. (2010). Comprehensive guide to emergency preparedness and disaster recovery. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries.
