BSCM 234:

DISASTER Disaster management

cycle

MANAGEMENT
LEARNING OUTCOME

By the end of the lesson the Learner will be

able to;
• understand Disaster management cycle
DISASTER

•An event that causes significant damage to

people, property and infrastructure.
THE DISASTER
MANAGEMENT CYCLE
•The disaster management cycle
illustrates the ongoing process by which
governments, businesses, and civil society
plan for and reduce the impact of
disasters, react during and immediately
following a disaster, and take steps to
recover after a disaster has occurred.
THE FUNDAMENTAL
ASPECTS OF DISASTER
MANAGEMENT CYCLE
• Disaster Prevention
• Disaster preparedness
• Disaster response
• Disaster mitigation
• Rehabilitation
• Reconstruction
PREVENTION

Prevention
Activities aimed at trying to prevent future
disasters occurring, such as building dykes
or a dam to control flooding.
DISASTER PREVENTION
PLAN
A disaster prevention plan is a written,
approved, implemented, and periodically
tested program specifically outlining all
actions to be taken to reduce the risk of
avoidable disaster and minimize the loss
should a disaster occur.
The plan is based on a critical and thorough
review of potential disasters to the facility, its
geographic location or industry.
DISASTER PREVENTION
PLAN
•The plan is a statement of appropriate
responses for quick and cost-effective
disaster recovery.
• It should identify which, where, and how
stored records are to be protected and
retrieved.
• Such reviews include the following
issues:
EXAMPLE
•Are microfilm, magnetic media and optical disks
stored in appropriate environments?
•Are smoking laws in full compliance in areas where
paper or chemicals are stored?
•Are boxes or other containers of records 12" to 14" off
the floors (perhaps on pallets) even during initial
processing activities?
•Are chemicals, including those used by custodian and
in office machines, stored in a manner to avoid or
minimize disaster?
EXAMPLE

•Are electrical appliances (i.e., coffee pots

and other high heat producing items)
turned off at the end of the day?
•Should such appliances even be in an area
used to house records?
•Are proper security measures taken for the
safety of the entire facility's contents?
MITIGATION

•Activities aimed at trying to mitigate the

impact of a disaster if prevention is not
possible, such as building schools to be
more earthquake resistant.
MITIGATION
•Mitigation: involves implementing
measures for preventing future threat of
disaster and/or minimizing their
damaging effects of unavoidable threat.
•It requires hazard risk analysis and the
application of strategies to reduce the
likelihood that hazards will become
disasters, such as flood-proofing homes or
having flood/fire insurance, following
safety standards of building materials and
appliances.
MITIGATION:

•This phase (and the whole cycle disaster

management cycle), includes the shaping
of public policies and plans that either
modify the causes of disasters or mitigate
their effects on people, property, and
infrastructure.
 DISASTER
PREPAREDNESS:
•Activities aimed at trying to prepare communities
for a disaster, such as emergency drills or pre-
stocking relief items in logistic hubs.
•The objectives of the disaster preparedness are to
ensure that appropriate systems, procedures and
resources are in place to provide prompt, effective
assistance to disaster victims, thus facilitating
relief measures and rehabilitation services.
•
 DISASTER
PREPAREDNESS:
•preparedness efforts include plans or preparations
made in advance of an emergency that help
individuals and communities get ready to either
respond or to recover.
•It aims to achieve a satisfactory level of readiness to
respond to any emergency situation through
programs that strengthen the technical and
managerial capacity of governments, organizations,
and communities.
DISASTER
PREPAREDNESS
•These measures can be described as
logistical readiness to deal with disasters
and can be enhanced by having response
mechanisms and procedures, rehearsals,
developing long-term and short-term
strategies, public education and building
early warning systems.
DISASTER
PREPAREDNESS
•The preparations may include the stocking
of reserve food and water, the gathering
and screening of willing community
volunteers, or citizens education &
evacuation plan, holding disaster drills,
and installing smoke detectors, mutual aid
agreements, development of hospital
disaster plans, emergency medical service
plans, et
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS IS AN
ONGOING, MULTI-SECTORAL;

•Activity to carry out the following

activities
•Evaluate the risk of the country or
particular region to disasters.
• Adopt standards and regulations
• Organize communication, information and
warning systems
• Ensure coordination and response
 MULTISECTORAL
ACTIVITIES
Adopt measures to ensure that financial and other
resources are available for increased readiness
and can be mobilized in disaster situations.
♦ Develop public education programs
♦ Coordinate information sessions with news
media
♦ Organize disaster simulation exercises that test
response mechanisms
FOR THE HEALTH SECTORS
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
PLAN
•For the Health Sectors Disaster
Preparedness plan to be successful,
• clear mechanisms for coordinating with
other sectors and internationally must be in
place
THE HEALTH DISASTER
COORDINATOR
•The Health Disaster Coordinator is in
charge of preparedness activities and
coordinating plans with
•Govt. Agencies • Foreign Relations- UN,
UNICEF. WHO & other international
agencies • NGO’s- Red Cross etc • Those
responsible for power, communication,
Housing, water services etc • Civil
Protection agencies-Police, armed forces
RESPONSE

•Activities aimed at understanding needs

and responding to them, including rapid
assessments, provision of food and non-
food items, provision of water, sanitation
and hygiene services, and health and
shelter interventions.
DISASTER RESPONSE:

•In the immediate hours and days after a

disaster, when search-and-rescue activities
are critical, it is most often local actors
who are first to respond.
•Information is often patchy and confused,
there can be significant damage to
infrastructure, and large movements of
people.
DISASTER RESPONSE

•Disaster response work includes any

actions taken in the midst of or
immediately following an emergency,
including efforts to save lives and to
prevent further property damage.
Ideally, disaster response involves putting
already established disaster preparedness
plans into motion.
 DISASTER RESPONSE
•It’s what the public typically thinks of when imagining
a disaster: Flashing lights, evacuation, search and
rescue, and sheltering victims.
•Healthcare and psychosocial intervention response
starts here.
•The focus in the response phase is on meeting the
basic needs of the victims until sustainable
community has been achieved.
•This phase may still continue even when recovery
phase can already be started.
 DISASTER RECOVERY:

•Activities aimed at trying to return

communities to normal life, such as
livelihoods development or formal education.
•Recovery activities can start when the disaster
has stabilised, and the affected population has
access to food and water and some form of
transitional shelter.
• This stage is sometimes divided into two:
early recovery and medium-term recovery.
RECOVERY INVOLVES

•Recovery involves restoring, rebuilding,

and reshaping the impacted area.
•It starts after damages have been assessed
and adequate response effort is achieved
and on-going.
•It involves actions to return the affected
community to its pre-disaster state or
better.
RECOVERY

•As the emergency is brought under

control, the affected population is capable
of undertaking a growing number of
activities aimed at restoring their lives and
the infrastructure that supports them.
•Recovery activities continue until all
systems return to normal or better.
RECOVERY

These measures, both short and long term,

aim to return vital life-support systems to
minimum operating standards; such as
temporary housing, public information,
health and safety education; continued
health monitor and care, reconstruction of
vital facilities; counseling programs;
grants, and it may include economic impact
studies.
DISASTER RECOVERY

•Disaster recovery has three distinct but

interrelated meanings.
•First, it is a goal that involves the
restoration of normal community activities
that were disrupted by disaster impacts – in
most people’s minds, exactly as they were
before the disaster struck.
DISASTER RECOVERY

Second, it is a phase in the emergency

management cycle that begins with
stabilization of the disaster conditions (the
end of the emergency response phase) and
ends when the community has returned to
its normal routines.
DISASTER RECOVERY

•Third, it is a process by which the

community achieves the goal of returning
to normal routines.
•The recovery process involves both
activities that were planned before disaster
impact and those that were improvised
after disaster impact.
DISASTER IMPACTS

•These are the physical and social

disturbances that a hazard agent inflicts
when it strikes a community.
•Physical impacts comprise casualties
(deaths, injuries, and illnesses) and damage
to agriculture, structures, infrastructure,...
RECONSTRUCTION

•Activities aimed at rebuilding

infrastructure and housing.
• This can often take years and many
activities may also blend back into
mitigation, such as retrofitting schools to
make them more earthquake resistant.
 GUIDING PRINCIPLES

•A good reconstruction policy helps reactivate

communities and empowers people to rebuild
their housing, their lives, and their livelihoods.
•Reconstruction begins the day of the disaster.
•Community members should be partners in
policy making and leaders of local
implementation
GUIDING PRINCIPLES

•Reconstruction policy and plans should be

financially realistic but ambitious with
respect to disaster risk reduction.
• Institutions matter and coordination
among them improves outcomes
GUIDING PRINCIPLES

•Reconstruction is an opportunity to plan

for the future and to conserve the past.
•Relocation disrupts lives and should be
kept to a minimum.
•Civil society and the private sector are
important parts of the solution
GUIDING PRINCIPLES

•Assessment and monitoring can improve

reconstruction outcomes.
•To contribute to long-term development,
reconstruction must be sustainable.
•The last word: Every reconstruction
project is unique
 NOTE
•In reality, there is no clear distinct point at which
these 4 phases change through out the cycle.
•There can be opportunities during the recovery
period to improve prevention and increase
preparedness, thus reducing vulnerability.
•Recovery can start when the response phase is still
on-going.
•A smooth transition from recovery to mitigation is
ideal
NB
•The disaster management cycle is just the typical
flow of events.
• When disaster strikes response is prioritized,
mitigation can’t start yet.
•When disaster hasn’t yet happened, mitigation -
preparedness start and there is nothing to respond yet.
• But the lines between each following cycles blur.
•To some degree, the cycle flows in such flexible
order.