Based on your readings thus far from the text and your own research explain the planning
process. Discuss the types of planning. What are best practices found in and for the planning
process.
The planning process is just as important as any process during a disaster type of event.
Having an exact plan is impossible to come up with because no one can know the exact dangers
until the disaster is in full bloom. Plans need to evolve and become fluid as far as them changing
and constantly getting edited throughout the entire disaster process. First responders need to be
able to change their plans based on moral obligations that often come up. They must always be
on the look for people who are in danger and need help before carrying out another action. There
are different types of planning that go into each disaster differently than the next.
Planning goes into the way first responders react. These efforts are known as Emergency
Operations Plans, which focus on the best ways to help, “coordinate activities from warning the
public through search and rescue and rapid restoration of services such as utilities” (Phillips,
2017). Emergency response is important to make sure that everything can recover and there is
not more damage to the community than there needs to be. To have plans for such events is
important to make sure there is an idea of how to help create a successful responses plan.
Recovery planning, which is the phase that comes after the response phase, is split into
two parts. There is, “Pre-event recovery planning rarely occurs but for those jurisdictions that do
so, such as Los Angeles, efforts to restore normalcy can be expedited. Post-event recovery
planning is more typical and unfortunately takes longer to conduct and implement” (Phillips,
2017). Planning for the recovery phase is a long process, which usually takes a lot of effort when
conducted correctly. Pre-event recovery planning is difficult to carry out because no one can
know for sure when the next disaster will occur, leaving the planning to be more generic than
specific. The post-event recovery planning takes a while because of money and resources needed
to do whatever it takes to get the community back to the way things were prior to the
catastrophe.
There is mitigation planning that goes into every emergency disaster. Emergency
management conducts, “mitigation planning based upon identifying local hazards, assessing the
probabilities of where and how hazards could harm people and places, and selecting feasible
ways to reduce their potential impact” (Phillips, 2017). There are plans in the mitigation phase
because of the different threats every town, city, and country face from natural disasters to
manmade disasters.
Planning mostly occurs during the mitigation and preparedness phases in order to have an
idea of what can be saved and what needs to be protected with greater resources. Planning takes
a lot of effort from, “Individuals in households can help communitywide preparedness by
engaging in their own planning efforts. Devising a plan, based upon local hazards,
communication capabilities, and those living in a household (e.g., special needs) can help save
lives” (Phillips, 2017). Everyone should have basic plans of action for the typical events that can
occur based upon where they live and different personal factors such as age and health
conditions. Business continuity planning is important for local businesses and
even large corporations. Businesses need to plan for any type of disaster in case business is not
able to go back up and running the same or for a while. Businesses are great at adapting with
technology and saving their data in cloud-based systems so they do not lose all of their
information in a hurricane that destroys a building with all of the computers and storage devices.
Businesses also help out with the communities. A lot of big businesses and even the small
businesses like to be part of the community in making sure that people have a plan in case of the
worst-case scenario. This ties into community-based planning for the ways in which
communities as a whole plan for disasters and have plans to seek shelter or whatever the proper
response for the specific disaster may be. There is a lot that goes into planning to protect one’s
family from dangers. The DHS has a section on their website to discuss the different ways to
plan ahead to make sure everyone can be prepared for a disaster and what proper steps there are
to take. The DHS states, “Because your family may not be together when a disaster strikes it is
important to create a plan in advance” (DHS, 2018). There are different kits and ideas to follow
that the DHS has for anyone with access to the internet. This is important to know for anyone
in danger zones for the upcoming hurricane seasons and for the summer with California and their
wildfire season.
The Bible discusses planning in that, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord
establishes his steps” (Proverbs, 16:9, ESV). Proper planning will help to give direction as to
what needs to be done. As long as people have a direction and follow their instincts, the rest
should hopefully work out for the best when all that is said and planned for is finally complete.
References:
DHS. (2018, September 07). Prepare My Family for a Disaster. Retrieved April 11, 2019, from
https://www.dhs.gov/how-do-i/prepare-my-family-disaster
Holy Bible, ESV
Phillips, B. Introduction to Emergency Management, Second Edition. [MBS Direct].
Retrieved from https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781315394688/
Replies:
Hello Ronald,
Great post about the types of planning that go into disaster management. I like how you
incorporate informal planning and just how important it is in the final plan of the process. There
cannot be a formal plan until after all the damage from the disaster is finished. Having a bunch of
informal plans that overlap one another is important because there needs to be an expectation for
as many outcomes as possible to think about. The planning process is essential to making sure
that the disaster at hand is taken care of as efficiently as possible. Terrorism is a difficult disaster
to plan for because there can be many different outcomes. Many people can get hurt or killed,
there could be hostages, and towns and cities could be heavily damaged. There are too many
different ways that the outcomes can turn out in such an event.
Hello Clayborne,
Great post about planning in disaster management. I agree that the planning process is
probably the most boring part of the disaster management cycle. Usually in almost any task, the
process that is the least exciting is also the most important of all the tasks. The plans need to be
understood by everyone to make sure that the plan or plans are completed as intended. From
reading another classmates post I would have to agree with him that informal planning is
important because it is difficult to have a well developed plan before a disaster. Each disaster is
different, which makes each plan necessary to be different than the next disaster.
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