Four Phases of Emergency Management
Four Phases of Emergency Management
In this section, the four phases of emergency management will be defined: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.
Mitigation
Over the last decade the social and economic costs of disasters to the United States, and throughout the World have grown significantly. During the 1990’s, FEMA spent over $25.4 billion to provide disaster assistance in the United States. During that decade, the economic toll of natural disasters, world wide, topped $608 billion. This amounted to more than the previous four decades combined. The causes of this increase in disaster consequences are myriad. Climatalogical changes such as El Nino, global warming and sea level rise have all been identified as contributors. Add to this the many societal impacts such as increased development in and migration to identified risk zones, deforestation and clear cutting, and filling in of floodplains, among many other factors, and the picture becomes more clear.
The discipline of mitigation provides the means for reducing these impacts. Mitigation is defined as a sustained action to reduce or eliminate risk to people and property from hazards and their effects.
The function of mitigation differs from the other emergency management disciplines in that it looks at long-term solutions to reducing risk as opposed to merely accepting that they will happen and preparing for their consequences, responding to their consequences, or recovering from them. Mitigation is usually not considered part of the emergency phase of a disaster as in response, or as part of emergency planning as in preparedness, or following the disaster as with recovery. Mitigation can be performed during each or all of these phases.
Another significant difference sets mitigation apart from the other disciplines of emergency management. Implementing mitigation programs and activities requires the participation and support of a broad spectrum of players outside of the traditional
In this section, the four phases of emergency management will be defined: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.
Mitigation
Over the last decade the social and economic costs of disasters to the United States, and throughout the World have grown significantly. During the 1990’s, FEMA spent over $25.4 billion to provide disaster assistance in the United States. During that decade, the economic toll of natural disasters, world wide, topped $608 billion. This amounted to more than the previous four decades combined. The causes of this increase in disaster consequences are myriad. Climatalogical changes such as El Nino, global warming and sea level rise have all been identified as contributors. Add to this the many societal impacts such as increased development in and migration to identified risk zones, deforestation and clear cutting, and filling in of floodplains, among many other factors, and the picture becomes more clear.
The discipline of mitigation provides the means for reducing these impacts. Mitigation is defined as a sustained action to reduce or eliminate risk to people and property from hazards and their effects.
The function of mitigation differs from the other emergency management disciplines in that it looks at long-term solutions to reducing risk as opposed to merely accepting that they will happen and preparing for their consequences, responding to their consequences, or recovering from them. Mitigation is usually not considered part of the emergency phase of a disaster as in response, or as part of emergency planning as in preparedness, or following the disaster as with recovery. Mitigation can be performed during each or all of these phases.
Another significant difference sets mitigation apart from the other disciplines of emergency management. Implementing mitigation programs and activities requires the participation and support of a broad spectrum of players outside of the traditional