Using preparedness terminology

You have now seen examples of both good and bad emergency responses and investigated some of your own. By taking into account the key features of emergency preparedness, it is possible to create resilient plans that will stand up to unexpected events.

In the video Michael Gilbert reviews some key concepts and highlights the importance of emergency preparedness as a whole.

There are a number of elements to emergency preparedness.

• Defining the scope
• Obtaining buy-in
• Carrying out risk assessments
• Developing the emergency plan(s)
• Implementation
• Review

Emergency planning sits at the very core of emergency preparedness.

Later in the course, we will study the relationship between different types of emergencies and the appropriate responses, the emergency planning cycle and how to develop an emergency plan.

Your task

Why is it important to include all of the elements listed when developing emergency preparedness? Are they all equally important?

References

_{Coetzee, C. and Van Niekirk, D. (2012) ‘Tracking the Evolution of the Disaster Management Cycle: A general System Theory Approach’. Jamba: Journal of Risk Studies 4 (1), 208-216}