Response and recovery are often matters of life and death. Preplanning is part of response and
recovery. Your boss loved the work you did in the Discussion Thread: Understanding Mitigation
and Preparedness. You have just been appointed the new emergency manager for your agency.
Before you, no one did anything in this area. Your boss calls you back in and wants to know
where to start and what to do regarding these functional areas. (He or she is concerned with the
agency itself, not so much the community or customers you serve at this point.)
Tell us what you would tell your boss and how you would go about this task. Be specific and
detailed.
Your boss is going to move forward based on what you tell him or her. This includes many
things, such as response, recovery, and all of their sub-components, such as but not limited to
redundancy, resiliency, continuity of operations planning, training, equipping, budgeting, etc.
You only get one chance to get it right with your boss to start all of this off correctly. Be detailed.
(For this post, you do not need to cover mitigation or preparedness functions again.)
As the emergency manager, this response and recovery plan will consist of three priorities: (1)
protect the lives of those who work and visit the organization; (2) protect and preserve the
organization's property and equipment; (3) restore operations, activities, and services of the
organization. Response refers to the actions to save lives, protect property and the environment,
stabilize the incident, and meet basic human needs following an incident (FEMA, 2019).
Recovery operations The recovery phase is the process of assisting impacted communities with
restoration and revitalization (Homeland Security, 2016). Response and recovery are just as
important as mitigation and preparedness. One can not function without the other.
Response
By preplanning my response, I would be able to get a full understanding of the emergency plan
and how it can be applied to dangerous situations. As mentioned in the mitigation phase,
everyone has to understand their roles and responsibilities during disasters. So, the stakeholders
would be included in the pre-planning of response and recovery so everyone can learn their role
and responsibilities. Nemeth (2017, p. 314) states that, “it is crucial that a chain of command and
leadership be part of any response and recovery program.” Also having stakeholders and
managers understand each other’s roles and responsibilities would be beneficial to the agency. A
redundancy plan would be implemented of trained personnel to replace key figures. Studies show
that the likelihood of confusion, conflicts, and delays were increased when personnel is
unfamiliar with the procedures of their organization (Nowell, Bodkin & Bayoumi, 2018). The
safety and health of employees would be the most important aspect of the response to address. I
would discuss procedures with various public emergency services such as the local police, fire
department, and emergency medical service (EMS). It would be important to determine the
response time to the agency, knowledge of the agency and its hazards, and their capabilities to
stabilize an emergency at the agency. This would have a positive impact on minimizing damage
and loss within the agency. According to Osofsky (2020), the more knowledge that is made
available and shared across groups and key stakeholders in communities, the better the
preparation, response, and recovery will be for that region. Next, would be to determine
protective actions for life safety such as evacuations, shelter-in-place, shelter, and lockdowns.
Having employees practice these drills repeatedly would have a positive impact on the response
operations and employees' wellbeing. The way we would warn building occupants of a disaster is
by using a color-coded system over a loudspeaker, email, and text messages. I would send out a
mass email of the color-coded disasters and give further training on what to do during each code.
Backup communication would be additionally added as well just in case if something happens to
the cell towers or electricity. Creating an emergency management social media page for the
organization could be effective as well. Also, we would have to add alternate plans for any
individuals with special needs. I would have everyone in each department be CPR certified as
well. The repetition of training and exercising will continually improve resiliency by eliminating
single points of failure in the organizations.
Recovery
Continuity of operations plays a huge role in the success of any organization. It is the blueprint
for organizations to perform essential operations during an emergency. Identifying the mission-
critical functions of the organization is the most important. By identifying these functions, it
makes it easier to see what is needed for operations to continue. Addressing things such as a
workspace or organizational loss is critical for success. If workspaces are lost in the organization
then we could integrate departments for as long as needed. If the whole organization was lost
then teleworking could be an option or using an alternate location for work. Everyone in the
department would have a laptop to take home and a shared drive to access so teleworking is a
possibility if the alternate location does not work out. Mental health services to support
employees after disasters are things that were learned throughout previous disasters. Having
mental health services on-site to provide greater accessibility and integration of care for
employees can strengthen the resiliency in organizations. The budget of this response and
recovery plan would consist of: CPR classes ($50 per department), laptops for every employee in
the organization ($400 per employee), insurance for high-risk threats and hazards ($500
annually), purchasing an alternate location that can be temporarily used ($15 per square ft).
What does the Bible say about response and recovery?
Isaiah 41:10 states, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will
strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” In times of
tragedy, it is crucial that we as believers stand strong and keep our faith in Christ. We must
remember that we are providing an example of the power of God to the nonbeliever. Any time
there is any type of tragedy, it needs to be looked at as an impending opportunity to share the
love of Christ with everyone involved. As Christians, how we respond and recover from
situations in life are crucial to our testimony. When disaster strikes, it is vital that we stand strong
in our faith and do not fear. God does not give us a spirit of fear; but of power, love, and a sound
mind. Our response and recovery is not just a reflection of ourself, it should be a reflection of
Christ.
References
FEMA, (2019, October 28). National Incident Management System (3rd ed.). Retrieved
November 26, 2021 from https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/fema_nims_doctrine-
2017.pdf
Homeland Security, (2016, June). National Disaster Recovery Framework (2nd ed.). Retrieved
November 26, 2021 from https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-
06/national_disaster_recovery_framework_2nd.pdf
Nemeth, C. P. (2017). Homeland security: An introduction to principles and practices (3rd ed.).
(CRC Press).
Nowell, B., Bodkin, C. P., & Bayoumi, D. (2017). Redundancy as a strategy in disaster response
systems: A pathway to resilience or a recipe for disaster? Journal of Contingencies and Crisis
Management, 25(3), 123-135.
Osofsky, J. D., & Osofsky, H. J. (2021). Hurricane katrina and the gulf oil spill: Lessons learned
about short‐term and long‐term effects. International Journal of Psychology, 56(1), 56-63.
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