¶ … Disaster Planning
A Review of Crisis and Disaster Prevention Literature
Disasters strike weekly, sometimes daily, all around the world. Crises happen, simply because humans create and perpetuate them. This is why nations and the leaders within them, just as companies and their leaders, ought to be ready for any eventuality. Crisis and disaster prevention thus becomes, not a need, but a vital fact of reality, and those who want to survive implement comprehensive disaster planning early on, for longevity's sake. This literature review will discuss the importance of such planning, as well as detail different types of crisis and disaster prevention and recovery strategies.
The FEMA Outlook
Before beginning any crisis prevention plan, an enterprise must understand that there are clear emergency management techniques that must be put in place at the very outset of any endeavor. There has been a great literature written on emergency management, for it is undertaken not just by businesses around the world, but also by countries, including the United States. According to FEMA, which is the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. follows eight principles:
1. Emergency management is comprehensive, i.e. takes into account all hazards, phases and stakeholders that could be affected by a disaster.
2. Emergency management is progressive, i.e. takes preventive measures to build disaster resistant policies.
3. Emergency management must also be risk driven and utilize risk management principles (i.e. hazard identification, risk analysis, impact analysis) to assign priorities and resources to be utilized in the eventuality of a disaster.
4. Emergency management is integrated and ensures unity.
5. Emergency management is collaborative, which means that managers "create and sustain broad and sincere relationships among individuals and organizations to encourage trust, advocate a team atmosphere, build consensus, and facilitate communication."
6. Emergency management is also coordinate, meaning that activities are organized and synchronized in such as ways as to achieve a common purpose with all stakeholders.
7. Emergency management must also be flexible, and utilize creative and innovative approaches to solve the challenges that crises often pose.
8. Emergency management must, lastly, be professional.[footnoteRef:1] [1: All notes and quotations from: No Author. 2007. Principles of Emergency Management. FEMA.gov. Retrieved January 23, from .]
The principles outlined by FEMA are important because they present a clear structure for all crisis management plans, and also give hint as to how these must be undertaken long before a crisis strikes.
Technology Basics
In order to further explore literature on this topic the next part of the paper will address components that must be set in place in order to help organizations in the eventuality of a crisis. Such a component, to be discussed in this section, is technology. Today's world could simply not function without technology, especially in the Western hemisphere where it has come to dominate both personal and professional lives. Technology is omnipresent, whether we like it or not. Yet when a crisis happens, technology becomes ever more vital. With the 9/11 Attacks, for instance, it was of the utmost importance to have clear communications channels, especially with regards to the FDNY, since many firefighters were in the two buildings, trying to rescue people and needed to be able to communicate with those who could offer support. Disaster and crisis prevention and recovery planning should, thus, place technology as an important facet in the larger picture.
Though technology, in the case mentioned above, has proved to have saved many lives, it is important to mention also for the simple fact that, victim or not, many companies had an interest to continue doing business without interruption. Though this is a stark and soulless reality, many companies who had contingency plans were able to continue their day uninterrupted. Such a plan, in this case, could have involved a secondary facility. In this way, a company affected by the 9/11 Attacks could move its primary location to its secondary location and continue business with "minimum downtime and minimum loss of data, [as] the alternate facilities provided by the vendors were not overcrowded even in this largest of disasters."[footnoteRef:2] [2: Noakes-Fry, K. 2001. Business Recovery and Disaster Recovery Planning and Management: Perspective. Gartner, Inc. Retrieved January 23, from . ]
Though the case mentioned above seems unique, it may not be, given the threats faced by many businesses in today's ever-changing society. The contingency plans mentioned above are thus only some ways in which businesses can cope with such realities. Customers expect supplies and services to continue -- or resume rapidly -- in all situations. The fact is that although certain events truly change the course of humanity...
Soft and hard targets and defined and discussed as well as the need for population defense and the idea that with a coordinated, comprehensive response plan and team implementation, the disaster related damage can be minimized. This chapter is devoted to covering the terrorism aspect of disaster, and helps to tie together the previous two chapters. Chapter 12 deals with mass casualties and evacuation. This chapter also ties in closely
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Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates that nation’s largest health care network, including 170 major medical centers that provide health care services of some type to more than nine million veteran patients each year (VA fast facts, 2019). Given that Iran recently classified all U.S. military personnel as terrorists and the high-profile nature of the VA in many major American cities, disaster preparedness has assumed new importance
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