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What is emergency management?
Disaster and Emergency Management, as a newer field of study and professional practice, distinguishes between the functions of prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery (Public Safety Canada, 2012). While these different functions can overlap in timing, they each have distinct outcomes.
Phases of emergency management (Mayer, 2019, UNR, 2024)
Prevention: Actions to prevent hazards from occurring.
Mitigation: Actions taken to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk to human life and property from hazards.
Preparedness: Activities and measures are taken in advance to ensure effective response and recovery during an emergency.
Response: The phase of emergency management focused on immediate actions to save lives, protect property, and meet basic human needs.
Recovery: The phase of emergency management focused on restoring affected areas to a state of normalcy or improved resilience.
Terminology
HAZARD
“source of potential harm to a community” (Coppola, 2015, p. 32) and a disaster, is an event involving a hazard that “has consequences in terms of damage, livelihoods/economic disruption and/or casualties that are too great for the affected area and people to deal with properly on their own” (Wisner, Gaillard & Kelman, 2011, p. 30).
EMERGENCY
“an unexpected event which places life and/or property in danger and requires an immediate response through the use of routine community resources and procedures.” (FEMA, training.fema.gov/emiweb/downloads/sdd/handout%202-1.pdf)
DISASTER
An event involving a hazard that has “Consequence in terms of damage, livelihoods/economic disruption and/or casualties that are too great for the affected area” (Wisner, Gaillard & Kelman, 2011, p. 30).
WHOLE COMMUNITY APPROACH
“Whole Community is a means by which residents, emergency management practitioners, organizational and community leaders, and government officials can collectively understand and assess the needs of their respective communities and determine the best ways to organize and strengthen their assets, capacities, and interests. By doing so, a more effective path to societal security and resilience is built.” (FEMA, 2020, https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/whole_community_dec2011__2.pdf)
ADAPTIVE CAPACITY
Process of adaptations in response to reinforce existing organizational or system stability and those that modify institutions to add resilience through flexibility (Norris et al, 2008; Pelling & High, 2005).
RESILIENCE
The positive trajectory of functioning and adaptation or Capacity to return to a state of balance after an emergency or disaster (Mayer, 2019; Norris et al., 2007).
SOCIAL CAPITAL
SC typically refers to the norms and networks that facilitate collective action and include structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions (Windasari, Lin & Chen, 2017).
BUSINESS CONTINUITY
The ability of an organization to maintain essential functions and operations during and after a disaster or emergency.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN (ERP)
A documented plan outlining the procedures and actions to be taken in response to various types of emergencies.
RISK ASSESSMENT
The process of evaluating potential hazards, vulnerabilities, and impacts to determine the level of risk in a given area.
COMMUNITY EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM (CERT)
Trained community volunteers who assist first responders in emergencies and immediately support victims.
ALL-HAZARDS APPROACH
Recognizing and integrating common emergency management elements across all hazard types, and then supplementing these common elements with hazard-specific sub-components to fill gaps only as required. All hazards to consider at events: evacuation, shelter in place, cancellation, medical response, search and rescue, other https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/2017-mrgnc-mngmnt-frmwrk/index-en.aspx
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