Disaster Management Concept

Objectives
For students to describe:
the disaster management process
· the importance of HRV within that process

For students to identify:
· key concepts in sustainable mitigation
Background
Most disaster management, from an operational perspective, has focused on the development of an emergency plan (Quarantelli 1986; Faupel 1987); however, planning for disasters has not received a great deal of research attention in the social sciences.” There appears to be general agreement that the disaster management process is comprised of a series of activities that precede, carry on during, and follow a disaster.
Course Content
· Disaster management is a process. Drucker’s (1974, 17) defines management as: “[making] people capable of joint performance by giving them common goals, common values, the right structure, and the ongoing training and development they need in order to perform and to respond to change.”

· Drabek (1986) expands the concept of disaster management to conform to the nomenclature proposed in the 1979 National Governors’ Association report entitled Comprehensive Emergency Management: A Governor’s Guide.

Concept of Disaster Management:

1. Preparedness

· Planning
· Warning

2. Response

· Evacuation and Pre-Impact Mobilization
· Post-Emergency Actions

3. Recovery

· Restoration (6 mos. or less)
· Reconstruction (6 mos. or more)
4. Mitigation

· Hazard Perceptions
· Adjustments
This framework suggests a linear approach to disaster management, while others extol a circular (Quarantelli 1981). Drabek also omits reference to the development of, training for, and testing of the plan. Brewster (2004) states that four phases of comprehensive disaster management include: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery:

However, it implies that each activity does not overlap with any of the others and is distinct and separate. In keeping with Quarantelli, one approach to disaster management process is to include activities in six areas: (1) hazard, risk, and vulnerability (HRV) analysis; (2) mitigation; (3) response (including alert and warning, impact, immediate post-impact, and rescue); (4) recovery and reconstruction; (5) education and training; and (6) exercising or testing of emergency plans.

· HRV analysis is included as one step within a circular disaster management process wherein, although one activity clearly leads to the next, the activities in any given step affect those in all steps (see Figure 1). In other words, Figure 1 shows that (1) the disaster management process is circular rather than linear; (2) each step in this process is distinct; and (3) each step affects every other step.

· It is important to understand the role of HRV analysis in the development of mitigative strategies within the disaster management process. Fischhoff et al. (1978) state that, since hazards are divided into events and consequences, one has the following options: (1) prevent the event from occurring; (2) prevent the potential consequences of the event from occurring; or (3) lessen the harmful consequences of the event. To this could be added (4) develop strategies to share in risk reduction measures.