UNIT –II

DISASTER MANAGEMENT MECHANISM

Concepts of risk management and crisis managements

Crisis Management is the term that describes a process, or collection of processes that are put in

place to handle an unexpected event that threatens to harm an organisation, a business, an

operation or an individual / group of people. 

A crisis normally occurs without prior warning, and therefore it is paramount that plans are put

in place that can be executed swiftly to either a) put actions in place to remedy the situation or b)

decrease the impact of the crisis so that normality can be restored over a short period of time.

In contrast, risk management is an ongoing process in which potential threats are highlighted and

solutions are put in place to avoid these risks. 

Risk Management tends to be more proactive, where as Crisis Management is reactive.

Unfortunately, no matter how good your risk management procedures are, there is always a

requirement for any business, military group or organisation to have a crisis management plan

put in place.

What is Crisis ?

A sudden and unexpected event leading to major unrest amongst the individuals at the workplace

is called as organization crisis. In other words, crisis is defined as any emergency situation which

disturbs the employees as well as leads to instability in the organization. Crisis affects an

individual, group, organization or society on the whole.

Characteristics of Crisis

Crisis is a sequence of sudden disturbing events harming the organization.

Crisis generally arises on a short notice.

Crisis triggers a feeling of fear and threat amongst the individuals.

Why Crisis ?

Crisis can arise in an organization due to any of the following reasons:

Technological failure and Breakdown of machines lead to crisis. Problems in internet,

corruption in the software, errors in passwords all result in crisis.

Crisis arises when employees do not agree to each other and fight amongst themselves.

Crisis arises as a result of boycott, strikes for indefinite periods, disputes and so on.

Violence, thefts and terrorism at the workplace result in organization crisis.

Neglecting minor issues in the beginning can lead to major crisis and a situation of

uncertainty at the work place. The management must have complete control on its

employees and should not adopt a casual attitude at work.

Illegal behaviors such as accepting bribes, frauds, data or information tampering all lead

to organization crisis.

Crisis arises when organization fails to pay its creditors and declares itself a bankrupt

organization.

Crisis Management

The art of dealing with sudden and unexpected events which disturbs the employees,

organization as well as external clients refers to Crisis Management. The process of handling

unexpected and sudden changes in organization culture is called as crisis management.

Need for Crisis Management

Crisis Management prepares the individuals to face unexpected developments and

adverse conditions in the organization with courage and determination.

Employees adjust well to the sudden changes in the organization.

Employees can understand and analyze the causes of crisis and cope with it in the best

possible way.

Crisis Management helps the managers to devise strategies to come out of uncertain

conditions and also decide on the future course of action.

Crisis Management helps the managers to feel the early signs of crisis, warn the

employees against the aftermaths and take necessary precautions for the same.

Essential Features of Crisis Management

Crisis Management includes activities and processes which help the managers as well as

employees to analyze and understand events which might lead to crisis and uncertainty in

the organization.

Crisis Management enables the managers and employees to respond effectively to

changes in the organization culture.

It consists of effective coordination amongst the departments to overcome emergency

situations.

Employees at the time of crisis must communicate effectively with each other and try

their level best to overcome tough times. Points to keep in mind during crisis

Don’t panic or spread rumors around. Be patient.

At the time of crisis the management should be in regular touch with the employees,

external clients, stake holders as well as media.

Avoid being too rigid. One should adapt well to changes and new situations.

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Disaster Management Cycle

Disaster Risk Management includes sum total of all activities, programmes and measures which can be taken up before, during and after a disaster with the purpose to avoid a disaster, reduce its impact or recover from its losses. The three key stages of activities that are taken up within disaster risk management are as follows

1. Before a disaster (pre-disaster). Pre-disaster activities those which are taken to reduce human and property losses caused by a potential hazard. For example, carrying out awareness campaigns, strengthening the existing weak structures, preparation of the disaster management plans at household and community level, etc. Such risk reduction measures taken under this stage are termed as mitigation and preparedness activities.

2. During a disaster (disaster occurrence). These include initiatives taken to ensure that the needs and provisions of victims are met and suffering is minimized. Activities taken under this stage are called emergency response activities.

3. After a disaster (post-disaster). There are initiatives taken in response to a disaster with a purpose to achieve early recovery and rehabilitation of affected communities, immediately after a disaster strikes. These are called as response and recovery activities. The Disaster risk management cycle diagram (DRMC) highlights the range of initiatives which normally occur during both the Emergency response and Recovery stages of a disaster. Some of these cut across both stages (such things as coordination and the provision of ongoing assistance); whilst other activities are unique to each stage (e.g. Early Warning and Evacuation during Emergency Response; and Reconstruction and Economic and Social Recovery as part of Recovery). The DRMC also highlights the role of the media, where there is a strong relationship between this and funding opportunities. This diagram works best for relatively sudden-onset disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, bushfires, tsunamis, cyclones etc, but is less reflective of slow-onset disasters, such as drought, where there is no obviously recognizable single event which triggers the movement into the Emergency Response stage. According to Warfield (2008) disaster management aims to reduce, or avoid the potential losses from hazards, assure prompt and appropriate assistance to victims of disaster, and achieve rapid and effective recovery. The disaster management cycle illustrates the ongoing process by which governments, businesses, and civil society plan for and reduce the impact of disasters, react during and immediately following a disaster, and take steps to recover after a disaster has occurred. Appropriate actions at all points in the cycle lead to greater preparedness, better warnings, reduced vulnerability or the prevention of disasters during the next iteration of the cycle. The complete disaster management cycle includes the shaping of public policies and plans that either modify the causes of disasters or mitigate their effects on people, property, and infrastructure. The mitigation and preparedness phases occur as disaster management improvements are made in anticipation of a disaster event. Developmental considerations play a key role in contributing to the mitigation and preparation of a community to effectively confront a disaster. As a disaster occurs, disaster management actors, in particular humanitarian organizations become involved in the immediate response and long-term recovery phases. The four disaster management phases illustrated here do not always, or even generally, occur in isolation or in this precise order. Often phases of the cycle overlap and the length of each phase greatly depends on the severity of the disaster. • Mitigation - Minimizing the effects of disaster. Examples: building codes and zoning; vulnerability analyses; public education. • Preparedness - Planning how to respond. Examples: preparedness plans; emergency exercises/training; warning systems. • Response - Efforts to minimize the hazards created by a disaster. Examples: search and rescue; emergency relief. • Recovery - Returning the community to normal. Examples: temporary housing; grants; medical care.

To analyze the scope of disaster management in the revised context, it should be studied the cycle of the phenomenon (Figure 3).

Key Phases of Disaster Management :

Response and Recovery, Development, Prevention, Mitigation and Preparedness

As per Disaster Management Act, 2005, “disaster management” means a continuous and

integrated process of planning, organising, coordinating and implementing measures which are

necessary or expedient for:

(i) Prevention of danger or threat of any disaster;

(ii) Mitigation or reduction of risk of any disaster or its severity or consequences;

(iii) Capacity-building;

(iv) Preparedness to deal with any disaster;

(v) Prompt response to any threatening disaster situation or disaster;

(vi) Assessing the severity or magnitude of effects of any disaster; evacuation, rescue and relief;

(vii) Rehabilitation and reconstruction;

Disaster Management can be defined as the organization and management of resources and

responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of emergencies, in particular

preparedness,response and recovery in order to lessen the impact of disasters.

Disaster management includes administrative decisions and operational activities that involve

Prevention

Mitigation

Preparedness

Response

Recovery

Rehabilitation

Disaster management involves all levels of government. Nongovernmental and communitybased

organizations play a vital role in the process. Modern disaster management goes beyond post-

disaster assistance. It now includes pre-disaster planning and preparedness activities,

organizational planning, training, information management, public relations and many other

fields. Crisis management is important, but is only a part of the responsibility of a disaster

manager. The newer paradigm is the Total Risk Management (TRM) which takes a holistic

approach to risk reduction.

The traditional approach to disaster management has been to regard it as a number of phased

sequences of action or a continuum. These can be represented as a disaster management cycle.

The basic disaster management cycle consists of six main activities

There are three key phases of activity within disaster management:

1. Pre – Disaster: Before a disaster to reduce the potential for human, material or environmental

losses caused by hazards and to ensure that these losses are minimized when the disaster actually

strikes.

2. During Disaster: It is to ensure that the needs and provisions of victims are met to alleviate

and minimize suffering.

3. Post Disaster: After a disaster to achieve rapid and durable recovery which does not reproduce

the original vulnerable conditions

Traditionally people think of disaster management only in term of the emergency relief period

and post disaster rehabilitation. Instead of allocated funds before an event to ensure prevention

and preparedness. A successful disaster management planning must encompass the situation that

occurs before, during and after disasters.

Pre – Disaster Phase

1. Prevention and Mitigation

Reducing the risk of disasters involves activities, which either reduce or modify the scale and

intensity of the threat faced or by improving the conditions of elements at risk. Although the

term „prevention‟ is often used to embrace the wide diversity of measures to protect persons and

property its use is not recommended since it is misleading in its implicit suggestion that natural

disasters are preventable. The use of the term reduction to describe protective or preventive

actions that lessen the scale of impact is therefore preferred. Mitigation embraces all measures

taken to reduce both the effects of the hazard itself and the vulnerable conditions to it in order to

reduce the scale of a future disaster. In addition to these physical measures, mitigation should

also be aimed at reducing the physical, economic and social vulnerability to threats and the

underlying causes for this vulnerability. Therefore, mitigation may incorporate addressing issues

such as land ownership, tenancy rights, wealth distribution, implementation of earthquake

resistant building codes, etc.

2. Preparedness

This brings us to the all-important issue of disaster preparedness. The process embraces

measures that enables governments, communities and individuals to respond rapidly to disaster

situations to cope with them effectively. Preparedness includes for example, the formulation of

viable emergency plans, the development of warning systems, the maintenance of inventories,

public awareness and education and the training of personnel. It may also embrace search and

rescue measures as well as evacuation plans for areas that may be „at risk‟ from a recurring

disaster. All preparedness planning needs to be supported by appropriate rules and regulations

with clear allocation of responsibilities and budgetary provision.

3. Early Warning

This is the process of monitoring the situation in communities or areas known to be vulnerable to

slow onset hazards, and passing the knowledge of the pending hazard to people in harm‟s way.

To be effective, warnings must be related to mass education and training of the population who

know what actions they must take when warned.

4. The Disaster impact

This refers to the “real-time event of a hazard occurring and affecting elements at risk. The

duration of the event will depend on the type of threat; ground shaking may only occur in a

matter of seconds during an earthquake while flooding may take place over a longer sustained

period.

During disaster Phase

5. Response

This refers to the first stage response to any calamity, which include for examples such as setting

up control rooms, putting the contingency plan in action, issue warning, action for evacuation,

taking people to safer areas, rendering medical aid to the needy etc., simultaneously rendering

relief to the homeless, food, drinking water, clothing etc. to the needy, restoration of

communication, disbursement of assistance in cash or kind. The emergency relief activities

undertaken during and immediately following a disaster, which includes immediate relief,

rescue, and the damage needs assessment and debris clearance.

The Post- disaster Phase

6. Recovery:

Recovery is used to describe the activities that encompass the three overlapping phases of

emergency relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

7. Rehabilitation:

Rehabilitation includes the provision of temporary public utilities and housing as interim

measures to assist long-term recovery.

8. Reconstruction:

Reconstruction attempts to return communities to improved pre-disaster functioning. It includes

such as the replacement of buildings; infrastructure and lifeline facilities so that long-term

development prospects are enhanced rather than reproducing the same conditions, which made

an area or population vulnerable in the first place.

9. Development:

In an evolving economy, the development process is an ongoing activity. Longterm

prevention/disaster reduction measures for examples like construction of embankments against

flooding, irrigation facilities as drought proofing measures, increasing plant cover to reduce the

occurrences of landslides, land use planning, construction of houses capable of withstanding the

onslaught of heavy rain/wind speed and shocks of earthquakes are some of the activities that can

be taken up as part of the development plan.

Disaster Plan for Relief

This usually involves four phases :

1. Prevention 2. Preparedness 3. Response 4. Recovery

The following guide to producing a disaster plan outlines recommended action in all four phases,

but prevention is the best protection against disaster, natural or man-made.

Phase 1 : Prevention

Identify and minimize the risks posed by the building, its equipment and fittings, and the natural

hazards of the area.

• Carry out a building inspection and alter factors which constitute a potential hazard.

• Establish routine housekeeping and maintenance measures to withstand disaster in buildings

and surrounding areas.

• Install automatic fire detection and extinguishing systems, and water-sensing alarms.

• Take special precautions during unusual periods of increased risk, such as building renovation.

• Make special arrangements to ensure the safety of library or archival material when exhibited.

• Provide security copies of vital records such as collection inventories, and store these off-site.

• Protect computers and data through provision of uninterrupted power supply.

• Have comprehensive insurance for the library or archives, its contents, the cost of salvage

operations, and potential replacement, re-binding and restoration of damaged materials.

Phase 2 : Preparedness

Getting ready to cope.

• Develop a written preparedness, response and recovery plan.

• Keep the plan up-to-date, and test it.

• Keep together supplies and equipment required in a disaster and maintain them.

• Establish and train an in-house disaster response team. Training in :

− disaster response techniques,

− identification and marking on floor-plans and enclosures of irreplaceable and important

material for priority salvage.

• Prepare and keep an up-to-date set of documentation including :

− Building floor-plans, with locations of cut-off switches and valves.

− Inventory of holdings, with priorities for salvage marked on floor-plans.

− List of names, addresses, and home telephone numbers of personnel with emergency

responsibilities.

− List of names, addresses, and home telephone numbers of the in-house disaster response team.

− List of names, addresses and home telephone numbers of trained conservators with experience

in salvaging water-damaged materials, resource organisations, and other facilities able to offer

support in the event of a disaster.

− List of disaster control services, in-house supplies and equipment, and in any central store,

including locations and names of contacts with home telephone numbers.

− List of suppliers of services and sources of additional equipment and supplies, including

names of contacts and home telephone numbers.

− Arrangements made to access freezing facilities.

− Arrangements for funding emergency needs.

− Copies of insurance policies.

− Salvage procedures.

• Distribute the plan and documentation to appropriate locations on- and off-site.

• Institute procedures to notify appropriate people of the disaster and assemble them rapidly.

Phase 3 : Response

When disaster strikes.

• Follow established emergency procedures for raising the alarm, evacuating personnel and

making the disaster site safe

• Contact the leader of the disaster response team to direct and brief the trained salvage personnel

• When permission is given to re-enter the site, make a preliminary assessment of the extent of

the damage, and the equipment, supplies and services required.

• Stabilize the environment to prevent the growth of mould.

• Photograph damaged materials for insurance claim purposes.

• Set up an area for recording and packing material which requires freezing, and an area for

airdrying slightly wet material and other minor treatment.

• Transport water-damaged items to the nearest available freezing facility.

Phase 4 : Recovery

Getting back to normal.

• Establish a programme to restore both the disaster site and the damaged materials to a stable

and usable condition.

• Determine priorities for restoration work and seek the advice of a conservator as to the best

methods and options, and obtain cost estimates.

• Develop a phased conservation programme where large quantities of material are involved.

• Discard items not worth retaining, and replace or re-bind items not justifying special

conservation treatment.

• Contact insurers.

• Clean and rehabilitate the disaster site.

• Replace treated material in the refurbished site.

• Analyse the disaster and improve the plan in the light of experience.

– Be prepared for any type of disaster. Contact and consult other libraries or archives and library

or archives associations to share information and experience, and with a view to regional

cooperation.

– Take advantage of educational sessions, particularly disaster planning workshops and

preparedness exercises.

– Seek expert advice and help from the preservation offices of national and large research

libraries etc.

The Four Phases of Emergency ManagementMitigationPreventing future emergencies or minimizing their effects

Includes any activities that prevent an emergency, reduce the chance of an emergency happening, or reduce the damaging effects of unavoidable emergencies.

Buying flood and fire insurance for your home is a mitigation activity.

Mitigation activities take place before and after emergencies.

PreparednessPreparing to handle an emergency

Includes plans or preparations made to save lives and to help response and rescue operations.

Evacuation plans and stocking food and water are both examples of preparedness.

Preparedness activities take place before an emergency occurs.

ResponseResponding safely to an emergency

Includes actions taken to save lives and prevent further property damage in an 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.

RecoveryRecovering from an emergency

Includes actions taken to return to a normal or an even safer situation following an emergency.

Recovery includes getting financial assistance to help pay for the repairs.

Recovery activities take place after an emergency.