Basic Responses to Emergencies in the Year 2023 and in the Near Future

In 2019/2020 we experienced Corona virus outbreak worldwide. Countries experienced a very high percentage of deaths during this time. Countries like China had the highest death toll which was about 80% of its population. This happened because none of the country was well prepared for such kind of a disaster. An emergency response plan lays out the various steps an organization will take during a critical moment, such as a fire or terrorism threat, to ensure employees and the people around safety and minimize the impact on critical circumstances. Emergency disasters are recurring events with five phases: Prevention, Mitigation, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery.

1.Prevention

Prevention is an actions taken to avoid an incident from happening or occurring. For example on medical issues when we had the Coronavirus outbreak, how did the hospitals ensure there was no insufficient gas cylinders for the patients? They prevented this from happening by having extra gas cylinders in case they ran out of gas. Deterrence operations and surveillance is also a prevention measure. Hospitals may also have extra beds just in case there are more patients than expected. Such cases happens in case of accidents therefore the hospital can accommodate more patients.

2.Mitigation

Mitigation are measures that prevent an emergency. Let us take an example of earthquake. What do we do to do to prevent earthquakes from affecting us? We should have engineering bridges to withstand earthquakes and this way we are ready for any earthquake emergency. Installation of shutters during constructions is also a mitigation measure as allow you to lock the heat in during winter and prevent your home from getting too hot during the summer months, and adding to your home’s energy efficiency.

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3.Preparedness

Activities increase a community’s ability to respond when a disaster occurs. For example, if there is a terror attack we tend to ask how prepared are we as a country? How well are our officers ready to deal with terrorists? We should have more trained officers trained in case of anything. Preparedness plan also include level of understanding, training for both response individuals and concerned citizens.

4.Response

Response actions carried during, and immediately after a disaster impact. They focus on rescuing lives, reducing economic erosion, and minimize suffering. Response actions may include opening emergency operations center, evicting people and opening shelters for people. Response action may also include providing mass care, crisis rescue, medical assistance and fire-fighting.

5.Recovery

These are steps taken to return a society to their usual state. Restoration of primary services, repairing physical, social and commercial damages helps a country or a community in recovery. Recovery actions include assisting people and the regime affected financially, reconstruction of roads and bridges and other facilities. Taking care of surfaced human and animals is also a recovery process.

Finstock Evarsity College offers courses on Preparedness for Emergencies such as;