General
Areas of Development, Training, and Needs:
Getting Started
Individual & Community - TOGETHER
Communications: Between community members, security, intelligence, and monitoring, etc.
Security: Defensive and assistance, Monitored entry/egress from area, backup, intelligence…
Emergency Medical Services and Aid: Members who can deliver emergency care, triage, etc.
Water supply and sanitation: Clean water sites, waste disposal issues
Food: Emergency food (3-4 days),
Food stores for prolonged periods (3 to 12 + months)
Shelter and site planning: Relocation, community, possible refugees (family, friends, others…)
Mobilization Requirements: Evacuation, Assembly areas, Escape routes, Transport, Re-supply routes…
Assessment and Logistics: Maps, Routes and modes of transport, heavy equipment (graders, backhoe, etc), additional equipment needs (fuel, heavy arms, manpower), etc.
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Understand How This Process Works, and What’s Required….Items to Consider:
In addition to providing the public with notification of the impending disaster, there must also be a system for initiating a disaster response in case of an emergency. Who and how is early warning being monitored and
communicated ?
What resources/manpower are required during an actual emergency ? In most cases, a comprehensive needs assessment should be conducted for planning, and also immediately after an emergency and updated thereafter. Normally people assessing emergency needs and damages should receive training and should agree on the standards being used for an assessment.
Who and when (e.g. immediately, after 3 days, 2 weeks, etc.) is responsible for the assessment. Normally, multi-functional and multi-sectional teams should conduct assessments… What information is required at each stage of the emergency ?
How and where community, leader, security teams will be formed and trained and assembled ?
Resource mobilization and allocation
Responding to an emergency and implementing the preparedness plan will require resources.
The preparedness plan, therefore, should consider:
1) Individual family emergency food and survival equipment…
2) What community resources are already available and in what quantities ? (ie: heavy equipment, needed for evacuation, food stores and other items, camping gear, communications needs, etc…)
3) What resources will be needed that we don't have?
4) Plans for procuring the resources that are not currently available.
Communication between/among community members (neighbors):
Sharing and exchanging information among representatives of various community groups and the general population is crucial during emergencies.
To ensure clear and effective communication in an emergency the plan should specify how communication will take place and via what mediums (e.g. email, radio, telephone, in person, etc.).
The base communications set-up will act as a type of command center for receiving and dispersing critical information with the various teams.
Each team, will have a comm. network, to relay this data to individual team or community members and our neighbors.
How will your community be in contact with other neighboring communities after a disaster ? What other means is available ? (ie: Messengers or runners, etc…)
If radio communication will be used, it is important to designate the radio frequency in the preparedness plan. This way, responding agencies will use the correct radio frequencies in the event of an emergency. The plan should also specify who will have (and maintain) the equipment and who will have access to a radio. Coded messages can be used, and should be included training for all communications members of the various teams, and their secondary backups.
What are the power needs on home-based systems ? What are the power needs of portable devices ? What fuel will be consumed ?
How will this be resupplied ?
Rescue and medical assistance for the affected
Major emergencies and disasters often result in deaths and catastrophic injuries.
The disaster preparedness plan should outline:
Who will be responsible for organizing search and rescue operations?
How will we dispose of dead bodies ?
Who will deliver emergency medical services to the injured ? Psychological aid and counseling ?
How can we set up a temporary medical staging center or field hospital (M.A.S.H. unit) ?
Who will be responsible for medical evacuations and (if available) transport to hospital ?
Logistical Issues
Road Cleaning/Debris Clearing – Mobilization, roads, transport, maps, reconnaissance info :
Who is responsible ? List those with heavy equipment or special skill sets…
What equipment is available and where is it ?
Transportation:
Who is responsible for arranging transport in an emergency ?
What vehicles are available and where are they ?
What arrangements can be made with the owners before a
disaster ?
Relief Supplies and Re-supply of food, and other items:
Who will identify the most needy and how will it be done ?
How can emergency supplies be obtained after a disaster (fuel, batteries, medicines, machine parts, etc. ? Who will be responsible for obtaining and distributing them ?
Water and sanitation
Since people can live without food longer than water, a supply of clean drinking water is a priority in an emergency. Sanitation includes provision of safe water; disposal of human excreta, wastewater and garbage; insect and rodent control; safe food handling; and site drainage. The plan should include provisions for water and sanitation during an emergency.
For water, specify:
The policy or individual family plans regarding use of water resources. What infrastructure and technical capacities exist? Who is responsible for the water system ? (ie: those with natural springs, water tanks, etc…) ?
Measures to take in winter, in summer drought or, in case of water source contamination, must be addressed and incorporated into planning.
Equipment required - such as portable water filters and purification items, [ MMS Miracle, iodine tablets, bleach, potable water containers, portable showers, water for clean-up, etc…]
Shelter
In some cases urgent shelter provision is needed for those whose houses have been destroyed or are unsafe. Urgent repair work; provision of tents and tarpaulins for temporary shelter; or sheltering homeless people in public buildings, like schools, may be required.
The following shelter issues should be considered in planning:
Who is responsible for management and needs assessment related to shelter for those who are displaced?
What will be our policy for sheltering an affected/displaced population or neighborhood ? Have sites been identified for possible large-scale emergency shelter needs and set-up ?
How will sites be identified? What difficulties are there related to land ownership ? What potential problems may occur with transients, refugees, additional family, friends, etc…?
What are the differences for sheltering in winter/summer time?
What types of assistance will those who are hosted by relatives or friends
need ? How will the terrain affect shelter requirements?
Are surplus construction materials and manpower available within the community network ?
How will supplies of tents, construction materials, plastic sheets be supplied or transported ?
Protection and security
Preparedness plans should identify who is responsible for community-wide protection and security, when large scale security is required or needed.
In addition, the plan or coordinator should identify the actions to take to ensure the protection of the affected community and their belongings, as well as the safety of assembly areas, and other items, like preparedness resources, food stores, and to prevent sabotage or theft.
Normally, this will be the responsibility of a local community militia or security team for each community section, and/or the community as a whole, with all teams having a central coordination with preparedness managers and leaders.
Additional Guidelines for a Community Disaster Preparedness Plan
1. Assessment of the Community
What are the weaknesses and strengths within the community ?
What are the community resources and vulnerabilities (prepare community maps)?
2. Relationship with Other Agencies or local Sheriff…
3. Warning Systems in place … Community Watch and Security Programs…
Who does what when warnings are received?
4. Evacuation Procedures
Assessment of situation reports that might indicate an evacuation and when ?
What routes are to be followed ? What type vehicles would be able to use these routes ?
Who will look after those people in the community who need special assistance
(those identified as "most vulnerable" e.g. disabled, sick, and Post Traumatic Stress, etc..)?
5. Emergency Shelters
Where will they be—what buildings have been chosen for this purpose (e.g. out buildings, barns, schools)? Who will manage the shelters and how ? Will these be near medical aid stations ?
6. Search and Rescue
Who is responsible ? Teams should be picked by experience and physical stamina…
What equipment is available for rescues and where is it located ?
7. Damage/Needs Assessment—Initial and On-going
Who is responsible (Special Assessment Teams for each part/section of the community ?
How will it be done? (Prepare a report format for both Natural and for Man-created situations)
8. Personal Support for those Affected by Disasters (fire, loss of power, accident, or war…)
Who has experience or training?
Who will coordinate this assistance?
Assembly areas, secret or hidden assembly areas, escape and evasion routes, etc…
9. Outside Assistance
What is available ?
How are requests made ?
Who is responsible for making requests, if needed ?
10. Risk Analysis and Reduction (Mitigation) Activities
How will these risks be identified?
Who will carry out these activities, and who will they be reported to?
Rehearsals, simulation training and plan review:
The only way to know if a plan can work is to implement it, evaluate it and revise it as
appropriate. This can be done in one of two ways: response rehearsals and review of plans
after an actual emergency.
Emergency response rehearsals and trainings test the plan's assumptions and procedures.
Rehearsals will expose both the strengths and weaknesses in a preparedness plan. Ideally, rehearsals should be system-wide, other groups and organizations that would be involved in a disaster response. Rehearsals are also the only way to keep plans fresh and should be followed with discussions on updating and modifying the plan to improve it.
Questions that should be asked during this review include:
What caused the most casualties and damages? What, if anything, can we do to mitigate or prevent this from happening in the future ?
What were the main difficulties in getting assistance to needy people?
How did the warning system work? What improvements are required?
What mistakes did we make? What changes must we make to avoid these changes in the future?
What did we do well? How can we guarantee that we will continue to do these things?
What supplies were available and which were lacking? How might we compensate for this in the future?
What was the level and quality of coordination with the Preparedness Coordinator with the various teams and community members, and with other external organizations?
What additional coordination is required ? How might we improve this coordination in the future?
What were the strengths and weaknesses of our preparedness plan ? How might we modify it or improve it?
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Suggest: FOUR-MAN COORDINATING TASK FORCE for Central Coordination:
One each for:
1) Communications 2) Security 3) Medical 4) Logistics
Community Team Leaders: Group Team Leaders and Coordinators responsible for their immediate local neighborhoods or sub-groups (per neighborhood or area).
Team Leaders coordinated for each Section Stated:
Communications, Medical, Security, Logistics,
and Special Operations:
****Assessment…Intelligence Gathering Teams – General Public, Covert Activities, et al.
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Compiled and written by: Arthur Evangelista, PhD