Editor’s Note: This Chapter is the continuation of an adaptation of a state plan for disaster preparation and response. In total, the original chapter comprises Chapters 1, 14, 16-18. Chapter Overview Many of you are reading this manual as part of your efforts to prepare as a spiritual care professional who will be ready to respond during times of disaster. Your main role will be to provide emotional and spiritual support to those affected by disaster, but it is also critical for you to understand the context in which you will be providing this support—the bigger picture, so to speak. Disaster relief operations are complex systems having more to them than just a response mechanism. They require a significant amount of pre-planning. …show more content…
Phases of Disaster 11 1 Disaster Response Planning & Preparedness: PHASES OF DISASTER BY JACK HERRMANN and Dentistry and Director of the Program in Disaster Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry and the UR Center for Disaster Medicine and Emergency Preparedness. For over a decade, he has responded to numerous national disasters as a volunteer with the American Red Cross. He has also developed comprehensive disaster mental health training programs for the New York State Office of Mental Health and the New York State Department of Health currently being disseminated throughout every county, state psychiatric center and acute healthcare facility throughout New York State. According to Jack Herrmann is Asst. Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester School of Medicine “Disaster management is the preparation for, response to, and recovery from disaster. While there are different understandings of Disaster Management, it is generally viewed as a cycle with the following five key phases: • Planning and Preparedness Phase • Mitigation Phase • Response Phase • Recovery Phase
Tragic events that cause damage to property and life may destroy the social, cultural and economic life of a community. Communities must be engaged in the various phases from prevention to recovery to build disaster resilient communities. In order to do this, there must be a disaster preparedness plan in place that involves multiple people in various roles.
Man-made and natural disasters are traumatic to both the client and to the counselor. Oftentimes, the counselor is also feeling the
Whenever a disaster strikes an unsuspecting community, from natural weather events like hurricanes and tornadoes to the manmade catastrophes caused by contamination, local community health nurses become a lifeline for stricken victims, providing medical care, basic sanitation, and nutritional sustenance. While treating the ailments of the sick and dressing the wounds of the injured are the chief priorities for any nursing professional, community health nurses typically administer care within a close-knit population group, and this familiarity often requires the offering of spiritual support as well. The immediate aftermath of any major disaster, whether natural or manmade, is a chaotic time when panic, fear, and uncertainty can easily run rampant, and community health nurses must prepare themselves to handle the nonmedical aspects of assisting patients through their recovery. Setting aside one's personal views on organized religion or faith, alleviating a patient's outward symptoms can only be effective to a certain point when they are grieving for the sudden loss of a loved one, or contemplating an uncertain future after their property and
Emergency management faces many challenges in today’s modern society. In the years prior to 9/11 emergency management was primarily focused on natural disasters. That has since changed; we now face a diverse variety of risks and hazards on a constant basis. As we continue to grow in population current and newer have compounded into more problems that emergency planner must face and find solutions for.
When developing a disaster response plan, many variables should be considered. While some recommend planning for different stages of the disaster, the most important aspect is initial preparation for a disaster (Counts, 2001). Different disaster scenarios are considered along with education, training, and drills that should take place (Counts, 2001). Other things to consider are supplies and equipment that may be needed (Counts, 2001). Since supplies go quickly during a disaster, there should be an emergency stockpile of items needed for
The amount of anxiety and stress increases dramatically on a community following a natural or man-made disaster. Although disasters aren’t directly responsible for violence both in the short and long-term after a disaster occurs, but they do contribute to the mental distress of those impacted by the disaster. This mental distress is a direct result of the challenges that exist for the affected population in meeting their daily essential needs. The lack of essential needs is compounded by the lack of available health care as well as emergency services, resulting in a breeding ground for potential violence. Planning for and taking new approaches towards mitigating violence after disasters should focus primarily on ensuring assistance to the affected community is available, while ensuring the fluidity of the responding agencies while managing their daily
Without planned and tested organizational and community control of emergency response mitigation, efforts can be like herding cats. Our collective community and organizational actions for response to both disasters and emergencies regardless of scope need effective and effective management. The execution of imagination using the worst imaginable scenario and walking through all of the points of failure will enable the team to plan and exercise actions for a wide variety of situations. In
1. Best disaster management models look at the specific attack and relate it to the past.
In the past, disaster management was an area of undeveloped process from a community level. In fact, disaster’s consequences go beyond losing lives and properties damages. Therefore, the article illustrated different models of managing disaster process of a community based level and provide some guidelines that would help to diverse the consequences on families and communities life, health and stress toward any emergency or risk. (Ireni, 2012).
Proper management of a disaster is essential to ensuring efficient disaster control as well as relief for all disaster victims. There is no image more telling than the thousands of victims in the New Orleans Flood that did not have fresh water or food for days due to improper preparation by local authorities. The three disasters being discussed in this module are brush fires, mudslides, and earthquakes in San Diego County. Proper preparation for these disasters in the county requires organizational flexibility and especially proper resource management.
We first distinguish three kinds of activities that influence the magnitude and incidence of a disaster, and then elaborate their interdependency with one another, and explain why relief made by government is of great significance.
A unique skill set is needed for individuals to assist in disaster management, as the technical, managerial and leadership skills are needed to improve public health systems. Disaster management organizations must be able to define existing and probable health problems. In order to perform this functions, individuals within the organization must know how to identify unmet needs and calculate the resources needed to meet them while establishing priorities and feasibility and determining administrative and fiscal actions (e.g., what are the funds and action plan to purify water in areas X, Y and Z). These actions must also be able to translate into policy for long term impacts.
All through the history, people have been endangered by unexpected events that caused destruction, various injuries and death. Preparation for the disasters and effective response actions when the disaster occurs can help minimize the long-term effects of the disaster. Today, disasters are of even greater concern than in the past. The frequency of disaster events has increased, due to, in part increasing technology. Human communities are also much more condensed, increasing the potential for exposure to disasters. Furthermore, due to increasing population size and new technologies, people are more likely to settle in areas of increase disaster potential. Moreover, the radical groups are more likely to use the massive disasters in a pursuit
Unfortunately, DRP for businesses still lacks a methodological direction [5]. For years, many organizations have ignored the significance of disaster management and continuity planning [55]. Based on reports,43 percent of Organizations influenced by severe disasters never reopened, and about 30 percent of them failed within 2 years [24]. Such statistics emphasize the need for proactive approach by organizations equipped with a decision support framework to effectively protect their processes against disruptions and reduce their negative impacts. According to the disaster management’s life-cycle, two main phases are commonly distinguished as pre-disaster phase and post-disaster phase [133]. In pre-disaster phase, emergency managers have moved their focus beyond the immediate response and short – term recovery and are now re-focusing their efforts more on the continuity of organizations. In this phase, professionals are placing greater emphasis on the resilience of organizations [73].
Almost all the nations of world have their own disaster management systems in place. The resources available and the scale of threat determine their degree of readiness.