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Preparedness includes the planning of efforts for potential disaster scenarios and training the stakeholders to respond to the disaster. Response is the coordination and execution of the response. Recovery is the efforts to bring the affected areas back to their normal state. Mitigation is the effort to reduce the impact of potential incidents. These activities can be carried out before and after the disaster.

Project managers are challenged to be prepared because disasters can occur with little or no notice. This notice can range from zero advance warning for earthquakes to several days for a hurricane or other natural disaster. There is usually no notice for man-made disasters. The response to these disasters requires the effort of various agencies who with the project manager (Jose, 2017)

The investigation of Moe and Pathranarakul (2006) found that Thailand was not prepared for a tsunami that hit them in 2004. The investigation also found that a disaster plan would have helped. The disaster plan should include predictions, warning, mitigation and preparedness, a clear line of authority, effective collaboration efforts, education of the stakeholders, and a base or command post to work for. In addition, studies from Athukoria and Resosdarmo (2005) found that the responders in that tsunami had more problems because the response systems were inadequate. An effective project manager would have made this situation more bearable because he or she would have developed a plan that would have been in place before the emergency that would have helped during and after the emergency (Baroudi, 2011)

After the September 11 terrorist attacks occurred in the United States (US), Perry suggested that there was a great deal of attention was paid to the area of Incident Management Systems (IMS) as a way to predict possible disasters. After the prediction, the project manager and other stakeholders are challenged to plan for the emergency and assemble required resources needed for the disaster. The project manager is also challenged with the distribution of items during the recovery or relief operations. In other words, the project manager is challenged to plan for emergency and lead the team to handle the recovery while supplying the resources needed.

According to Yi and Kumar (2007), there are two major aspects in a disaster response. The aspects include the evacuation of those affected in the disaster and the logistics support. The evacuations are the initial response to get people out of harm or danger. The logistics support includes everything that is required after the initial disaster to aid survivors that are still in the disaster zone. These logistics are usually humanitarian efforts in form of food, shelter, gift cards, medicine, and getting the wounded to the hospital.

Schneider (2005) observed that the U.S. government’s initial disaster response to Hurricane Katrina in 2004 was subject to a great deal of criticism. Schneider believed that this was due to the poor management of the bureaucratic government agencies such as FEMA and an emergency plan that was not ready to cope with the situation. The media showed many residents who were without necessities such as water, food, and shelter. Even days after the storm, many people were exhausted and resorted to violence. In addition, there was a delayed response to the flooding of New Orleans, Louisiana. An effective project manager would have been challenged to write an effective plan and would have provided the necessities to the people affected to avoid their ongoing discomfort.

In addition to FEMA, government agencies include the police department, fire department, hospitals, and military forces. Each of these organizations needs to be ready to react quickly to begin a recovery effort. This means that each organization should plan and train their staff in order to know what to do in the emergency. The training will include exercises or reenactments of a disaster. An effective project manager would be challenged to work with each agency.

The disaster plan would include a recovery effort that will be a combination of restoration and reconstruction. Restoration includes working to repair existing structures to the way they were before the disaster. Reconstruction means building new structures. The recovery effort involves combining those activities. Coles and Buckle (2004) suggested that proper recovery can only work if the entire community puts in an effort. This mean the whole community must be trained to do so. Furthermore, Coles and Buckle stated that disaster management goes further than managing the hazard but also involves managing the risks involved (Baroudi, 2011).

Project manager also are challenged because of leadership issues. It is often the project manager who must work with others to get them to work together. The project manager is further challenged to establish a team formation. Teamwork is essential in a recovery effort (Emelander, 2014)

The project manager is challenged to meet with the relevant stakeholders in order to begin the team building process. In addition, the project manager is further challenged to effectively manage the stakeholders in order to ensure a positive recovery effort. In other words, the project manager is challenged to be a leader, a mentor, and a laison to ensure the recovery is successful.

Research show that getting the right stakeholders involved in disaster recovery will produce positive recovery outcomes. Project managers are challenged to get the right people involved in the recovery effort. The various stakeholders in disaster recovery may include business organizations, local government, non-government organizations, (NGOs), volunteer groups, as well as people in the disaster stricken community.

Business organizations are one of the most important stakeholders in the recovery effort because the business needs the community up and going to keep the business intact. This means that business continuity and recovery efforts are comingled. Government and other agencies help in disaster recovery in terms of handling disaster relief, funding, rebuilding, and manpower. Many critics point out the inefficiency of government-led recovery because of the inability to understand the community needs. A project manager is challenged to help the various agencies or stakeholders to work together effectively (Lin, 2016).

There are five crisis management steps that project managers should consider when developing a disaster plan. The first two steps take place before the crisis. The next steps take place during the crisis.

The first step is crisis prevention. This means that the crisis should be managed before you need to manage it. The project manager and other stakeholders need to watch for early warning signs of a disaster. For example, those on Pacific coast have monitoring devices in place to detect Tsunami in order to be prepared before it happens. The project manager is challenged to apply this principle to the disaster plan. The project manager should expect the worst and hope for the best. The project manager needs to review with other project managers and stakeholders to see how other crises have been managed. In addition, the project manager needs to be aware of news alerts, social media trends, and rumors.

The next step is for the project manager is to develop a detailed contingency plan with the crisis management team. The crisis management team is a group of people or stakeholders who will assist in writing the disaster plan. In addition, an efficient project manager will assign someone else who take the lead in certain areas when the project manager is working in other areas.

The third step takes place during the crisis. This step reminds the project manager to remain calm and keep your head. In addition, it is important for the project manager to be optimistic. If the project manager is optimistic about working the crisis, the team will be motivated to resolve the crisis.

The fourth step is to contain the crisis. This means that the project manager is challenged to stop the crisis from spreading any further. To contain the crisis, the team should act quickly, gather data, and manage the communication channels.

The final step is to identify the cause. The project manager is challenged to find what caused the problem or disaster. In addition, the project manager is also challenged to keep a record of what worked and what did not help to recover (Aramyan, 2016).

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