The Civil Protection manages a complex set of tools and resources to deal with large emergency situations. The organization's primary goal is risk reduction through an optimized analysis of the procedures. Planning is vital to ensure a timely response and adequate management of said tools and resources.
But how can you make the planning process effective?
Civil Protection Plan: the most strategic tool
For Civil Protection managers, planning is of the essence. Each intervention must be anticipated and considered within a larger project. In this context, thorough organization ensures adequate application of the overall strategy.
One of Civil Protection’s key tools is the Emergency Plan; a document detailing all procedures to manage and overcome a disaster. Its goal is to efficiently coordinate the resources needed to intervene to protect the population and assets in a risk area.
The Emergency Plan is the result of a series of activities:
- Planning
- prevention and mitigation
- event management and relief
Planning
In the planning phase, the Civil Protection is engaged in the study of calamitous phenomena to identify causes, risks and involved areas. We start with the territory's data analysis using such tools as satellite images, to predict the scenarios and risk evolutions. This reduces the damages' probability and severity.
Prevention and Mitigation
The information gathered in the analysis and forecast maps out the adequate prevention and mitigation activities. Here we identify which actions avoid or minimize disasters. Think of the knowledge and information sharing with the population, of exercises on the territory or of the constant legislation updates.
Event management and relief
When disaster strikes, the Civil Protection implements the planned interventions for relief and assistance to the affected communities. At this stage, simplified procedures need to be shared with the competent agencies to meet timeliness requirement of the emergency response. The Civil Protection activity ends with the resolution of the critical issues. Its task is to facilitate the return to normal living and working conditions of the affected communities affected. The goal is to restore essential services to the population, to quantify the damages and, to minimize the residual risk.
Emergency planning: 4 phases
Each event is associated with many risks. The Civil Protection is tasked to identify and study all scenarios and prepare the best tools to predict or deal with them.
There are four basic steps for an efficient planning:
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Knowledge of the area’s characteristics and structure
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Risk Identification and assessment
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Resource Analysis
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Definition of an action strategy
This planning process’s key feature is its interconnection: each phase communicates with the others in an integrated and coherent system.
Without an information gathering phase, you couldn’t define goals or the division of responsibilities among the different players. The emergency planning activity, therefore, is based on an intervention model that uses all available resources in a rational way, allowing a constant information exchange.
The objectives
Emergency Planning requires constant analysis and updates. Its content evolves to reflect changes occurring in the area and changes in expected risk scenarios.
The main objectives that characterize the Civil Protection Plan are:
- Identification of the available resources
- Planning management and relief activities
- Division of tasks and responsibilities
Having an Emergency Plan means taking the first steps towards a rational and simple system. The relationships that the Civil Protection entertain with individuals, organizations and competent authorities appear more fluid. This ensures greater operational flexibility.
Safety 1st: Beta 80 to support the Civil Protection
Safety 1st disaster management platform, developed by Beta 80 Group, is a valuable aid in emergency planning. Its modular structure supports Control Rooms and EOC in all phases of emergency response: from forecasting to overcoming large emergencies.