TO: ALL WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AMATEURS
ALL NON-WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AMATERUS
FROM: KEN HARRIS WA8LLM
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS INCORPORATED
WOOD COUNTY BULLETIN NR 12.03 DATE: January 15, 2012
SUBJECT: WHAT IS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT?
There are four phases of Emergency Management that all of our activities can be grouped into. The following is a short definition of each.
PREPAREDNESS:
Preparing to handle an emergency - This includes plans or preparations made to save lives and to help response and rescue operations. Evacuation plans and stocking food, water and other supplies are all examples of preparedness activities taken BEFORE an emergency occurs.
RESPONSE:
Responding SAFELY to an emergency - This includes actions taken to save lives and prevent further property damage in a disaster or emergency situation. Response is putting your preparedness plans into action. Seeking shelter from a tornado or turning off gas valves in an earthquake are both response activities. Response activities take place DURING an emergency.
RECOVERY:
Recovering from an emergency includes actions taken to return to a normal, or even a safer situation following an emergency. Recovery includes getting financial assistance to help pay for repairs. Recovery activities take place AFTER an emergency.
MITIGATION:
Preventing future emergencies or minimizing their effects. It includes any activities that might prevent an emergency from happening again, or reducing the amount or severity of damages of unavoidable emergencies. Buying flood insurance and fire insurance for your home and business are good examples of mitigation activities. Mitigation takes place both before and after an emergency takes place.
After examining the four phases of Emergency Management we can see that Emergency Management is a full circle of never ending activities. No matter where you live, or what emergencies have occurred in the past Emergency management is working to assure that when an emergency does happen a minimum of lives and property will be affected.
Ken Harris WA8LLM
WCEC
Wood County WV