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Disaster : Quick Emergency plan and its Activation The actions taken in the initial minutes of an emergency are critical. A prompt warning to employees to evacuate, shelter or lockdown can save lives. A call for help to public emergency services that provides full and accurate information will help the dispatcher send the right responders and equipment. An employee trained to administer first aid or perform CPR can be lifesaving. Action by employees with knowledge of building and process systems can help control a leak and minimize damage to the facility and the environment. The first step when developing an emergency response plan is to conduct a risk assessment to identify potential emergency scenarios. Response priority should be followed when developing a emergency plan. Those are including below : • Protect and preserve human life and health • Provide for incident stabilization • Protect college property and structures • Facilitate continuity of academic and business operations . ***Objectives*** (a) To assess current programs to develop, implement and maintain a program to mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from disaster and emergency (b) A municipal emergency response plan specifies procedures for handling sudden unexpected situations. The objective is to reduce the possible impact of the emergency by: - Meeting legal and social responsibilities - Preventing fatalities and injuries - Reducing damage to buildings, stock, and equipment - Accelerating the resumption of normal operations **Process of Planning** Processing an emergency plan begins with an understanding of what can happen. Review the risk assessment. Consider the performance objectives that established for program and decide how much investment in planning beyond what is required by regulations. Assess what resources are available for incident stabilization. Consider internal resources and external resources including public emergency services and contractors. Public emergency services include fire departments that may also provide rescue, hazardous materials and emergency medical services. If not provided by local fire department, these services may be provided by another department, agency or even a private contractor. Reach out to local law enforcement to coordinate planning for security related threats. Document available resources. Determine whether external resources have the information they would need to handle an emergency. If not, determine what information is required and be sure to document that information in plan. https://youtu.be/FcT43UZDVL0 Hazards to Consider When Processing the Emergency Plan **Natural hazards** **Geological hazards** • Earthquake • Tsunami • Volcano • Landslide, mudslide, subsidence **Meteorological Hazards** • Flood, flash flood, tidal surge • Water control structure/dam/levee failure • Drought • Snow, ice, hail, sleet, arctic freeze • Windstorm, tropical cyclone, hurricane, tornado, dust storm • Extreme temperatures (heat, cold) • Lightning strikes (wildland fire following) **Biological hazards** • Foodborne illnesses • Pandemic/Infectious/communicable disease (Avian flu, H1N1, etc.) **Human-caused events** Accidental • Hazardous material spill or release • Nuclear power plant incident (if located in proximity to a nuclear power plant) • Explosion/Fire • Transportation accident • Building/structure collapse • Entrapment and or rescue (machinery, confined space, high angle, water) • Transportation Incidents (motor vehicle, railroad, watercraft, aircraft, pipeline) Intentional • Robbery • Lost person, child abduction, kidnap, extortion, hostage incident, workplace violence • Demonstrations, civil disturbance • Bomb threat, suspicious package • Terrorism **Technology caused events** • Utility interruption or failure (telecommunications, electrical power, water, gas, steam, HVAC, pollution control system, sewerage system, other critical infrastructure) • Cyber security (data corruption/theft, loss of electronic data interchange or ecommerce, loss of domain name server, spyware/malware, vulnerability exploitation/botnets/hacking, denial of service) **Disaster Planning Team** The planning team should include representatives from departments that will be most heavily involved in policy development and the planning process. These include representatives from: • Administration: Policies, procedures, resources • IT: Business continuity, connectivity, information security issues • Human Resources: Staff contacts, training, • Communication: Internal and external, immediate and over time response • Facilities: Anything to do with the building and services to it • Content Managers: Print and digital, depending on the organization's records/assets • Other: Any additional mission-critical units within organization **Disaster Response Team** The response team will conduct the initial evaluation of facilities and systems following a disaster. When a disaster is identified, an appropriate team will be formed to assess and respond to the situation. For any emergency situation, the response team should consist of representatives from: • Administration (or designated Disaster Assessment Team Leader): To make decisions involving required personnel and closure of facilities (once notification occurs) • Human Resources (and/or designated Crisis Communication Coordinator): To initiate call trees or other communication procedures to general staff and contact staff necessary to fully evaluate disaster, to frame necessary internal and external communications For emergency situations that affect the organization's technology and/or online presence: (e.g., work stations, servers, telecommunications, services provided over the Internet, digital content), the ICPSR Response Team might include staff from the following departments: • IT: If the servers or computer equipment are affected • Web support: If external Web content and services are affected • Content Managers: If the servers or offline media of the organization and storage partners are affected (e.g., curators, organizational records creators) ****Disseminating the Plan**** Disaster conditions occurring during scheduled class periods will require expeditious communication of information and instructions to employees and students. Uncertainty and confusion must be avoided, prevented or minimized and the protection of lives must be the primary concern. ****communications**** • Mobile Loudspeakers (Audio Hailers) • Electronic Communications • Radio • Building Fire Alarm Systems • Campus Telephone System or Word of Mouth • Emergency Announcements • Alert in online websites and offline **Information** Messages are statements that complement facts which are provide to audience. They don’t have to be complex, for disasters simple is better. After any tragedy it is crucial to keep the focus on the victims. Sincere condolences and assurances of assistance can create a powerful connection with audiences. **Disseminating Principles**: Trust is like the water in a damn. It is lost in rivers and renewed in raindrops. Never lie to the public or the media. It takes much longer to build or regain trust than it does to lose it. After a tragedy, people are looking for someone to blame. Lying to them makes it easy to identify us as the villain. Work early to build good rapport with the media. Give them access to stories and facilitate interviews with leadership before tragedies so they know us when we need them. ****Testing and Revising the Plan**** Completing a comprehensive plan for handling emergencies is a major step toward preventing disasters. However, it is difficult to predict all of the problems that may happen unless the plan is tested. Exercises and drills may be conducted to practice all or critical portions (such as evacuation) of the plan. A thorough and immediate review after each exercise, drill, or after an actual emergency will point out areas that require improvement. Knowledge of individual responsibilities can be evaluated through paper tests or interviews. The plan should be revised when shortcomings have become known, and should be reviewed at least annually. Changes in plant infrastructure, processes, materials used, and key personnel are occasions for updating the plan. It should be stressed that provision must be made for the training of both individuals and teams, if they are expected to perform adequately in an emergency. An annual full-scale exercise will help in maintaining a high level of proficiency. Integration of Plan in Theory and Practice An emergency plan specifies procedures for handling sudden or unexpected situations. The objective is to be prepared to: Prevent fatalities and injuries. Reduce damage to buildings, stock, and equipment. Emergency management is the study of how humans and their institutions interact and cope with hazards, vulnerabilities, and resulting events (i.e., emergencies, disasters, catastrophes, and complex humanitarian crises), particularly through activities related to preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. Training and practice is essential to ensure that everyone knows what to do when there is an emergency, or disruption of business operations. Everyone needs training to become familiar with protective actions for life safety (e.g., evacuation, shelter, shelter-in-place and lockdown). So they are familiar with detection, alarm, communications, warning and protection systems. Review plans with staff to ensure they are familiar with their role and can carry out assigned responsibilities. Conduct evacuation, sheltering, sheltering-in-place and lockdown drills so employees will recognize the sound used to warn them and they will know what to do. Facilitate exercises to practice the plan, familiarize personnel with the plan and identify any gaps or deficiencies in the plan. ****Who needs training? What training should be provided?**** All employees • Protective actions for life safety (evacuation, shelter, shelter-in-place, lockdown) • Safety, security, and loss prevention programs Emergency Response Team (evacuation, shelter, shelter-in-place) • Roles and responsibilities as defined in the plan • Training as required to comply with regulations or maintain certifications (if employees administer first aid, CPR or AED or use fire extinguishers or clean up spills of hazardous chemicals) • Additional training for leaders including incident management Business Continuity Team • Roles and responsibilities as defined in the plan • Additional training for leaders including incident management Crisis Communications Team • Roles and responsibilities as defined in the plan • Additional training for leaders including incident management If emergency response team members receive training to obtain emergency planning and its activation, then it is mandatory that there should be integration of plan in theory and practice. Skilled training should be helpful to take proper action in Disaster Response planning. ****Conclusion****: Response is the most visible disaster management function at the international level. Media images video footage depicting disaster victims being rescued by the international disaster response community are never in short supply. The response needs generated by disasters are complex and are heavily interconnected with the actions associated with preparedness, response, and recovery. However, for many countries, especially the poor nations of the world, the actions associated with disaster response may be the only actions that are taken to address the causative hazards. And it is the ability of the responding agencies to carry out this function that most often determines how severely the affected area is impacted, and how quickly it can move on to recovery. I Research on internet all of these. Love and best wishes from the bottom of my heart to all those who read the article with difficulty, wasting your precious time. Source : Internet.
