David A. McEntire - Disaster Response and Recovery

Normalcy‐generated demands are the pressures to quickly get things back to pre‐disaster conditions. Returning people to their homes and restarting business activity are types of normalcy‐generated demands.

Mitigation‐generated demands are the desires to prevent a recurrence of the disaster. Creating more stringent building codes and relocating residences to less‐hazardous areas are examples of mitigation‐generated demands.

Preparedness‐generated demands are expectations that the mistakes made evident in response and recovery operations will not be repeated in the future. Improvements in planning, training, exercises, and the allocation of additional resources fall into this category.

All of these disaster‐related demands create priority problems for emergency managers. Normalcy‐generated demands sometimes run in opposition to the mitigation and preparedness‐generated demands. As an example, people wish to return to their homes even when it would be best to remove them permanently from the floodplain. Government officials may also desire to give attention to rebuilding schools rather than invest in emergency management personnel or planning activities. Too much attention on preparedness could limit necessary actions related to mitigation. In spite of these conflicts and challenges, you must take advantage of the increased public concern disasters provide to promote change during response and recovery. All of these immediate objectives and long‐term functional activities should be directed toward the goals of disaster resilience. Resiliencemay be described as the ability to react effectively and efficiently in time of disaster. It is the overarching goal of the remainder of this book.

Do hazards interact with each other?

What do we call hazards that occur in conjunction with other hazards?

How are disasters different from hazards?

What changes occur in society after a disaster?

Why are response and recovery operations needed?

What demands do emergency managers face after a disaster?

As an emergency manager, you should be aware of important concepts such as hazards, vulnerability, disasters, emergency management, response, recovery and resilience. You must understand what types of hazards may occur including their natural, technological, and civil/conflict variants. It is also imperative that you comprehend how hazards interact with each other and vulnerability as well as how a myriad of variables may determine the impact of disasters. Successful emergency managers should know what changes to expect when a disaster occurs. They must effectively meet the demands that confront them and deal with the aftermath of a disaster in a proactive but adaptable manner.