Emergency preparedness

Emergency operations or Emergency preparedness is a set of doctrines to prepare civil society to cope with natural or man-made disasters. Disaster relief is the subset of these doctrines that is concerned with recovery efforts. This is usually a government policy adapted from civil defense to prepare for nonmilitary civil emergencies before they happen.

Related Topics:
Society - Disasters - Government policy - Civil defense

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the U.S., most cities maintain at least a cabinet in a basement conference room with several telephone lines. In an emergency, special stationary and other supplies come out of the cabinet, and the conference room becomes the "emergency operations center." The EOC then coordinates the city's emergency effort. Even this tiny amount of preparation, with periodic drills, and coordination with civic organizations, is amazingly better than nothing.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This article covers both civil and personal preparedness, because they work together. However, civil preparedness is far less expensive per-capita, and far more valuable, even though it can be harder to arrange.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Coping with disaster has four activities: mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~