Special Topics

Evacuations

Evacuations are a complex part of any disaster. This is one of the largest and most stressful complications in any disaster situation. No matter how much you have prepared as a community, there are many things that can go wrong. Evacuations are also wrought with many cascading dominoes of activity (transportation, accountability, re-entry and many others). It is worth taking time to learn from other community lessons around the US and how you as a disaster leader can best help manage this crazy situation.

Sheltering

Sheltering is a necessary and important component to any disaster scenario. Whether your community is in charge of sheltering or utilizes the services of a Voluntary Agency Active in Disaster (VOAD), there are some lessons learned and best practices you should study up on before a disaster comes to your hometown.

Access & Functional Needs - Disability Integration

We talk about whole community in our profession, this starts and stops with everyone in our community. It is imperative that you plan with, not for those with Access and Functional Needs (AFN). This starts before and continues during/after the incident. Take time to embrace the AFN community and seek to understand the unique needs, resources and attributes of this group before crisis strikes.

COVID Mitigation

COVID was an obvious game changer for our world and certainly for disaster and incident response across the country. It has required us to think outside the box, get creative and still get across the finish line for those counting on us. It has had many lessons learned and many new ways to do business while exploiting technology. As we move forward, hopefully many of these best practices will carry forward as part of the new "how we do business."

COVID as a Disaster

Pets & Livestock


Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD)


Damage Assessment