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DURING THE EMERGENCY

During an emergency, it is imperative that the action plan is carried out to save lives, and reduce the suffocation and property loss. Immediate rapid response is carried out by the self- deployment of trained community teams. These teams will create a stable core for a community disaster committee, and provide pro-active ‘arms of help’ support to relief agencies and specialized institutions, who would normally execute these tasks. A prepared community will recover quicker than one that is not ready!

• Search and Rescue affected people;
• Ensure temporary shelter and food supply for affected people;
• Enable evacuation of affected people;
• Secure medical assistance for affected people;
• Implement security measures to protect the belongings of population and dissuade looting;
• Provide preliminary damage assessments;
• Carry out surveys of affected people to determine immediate problems and identify solutions;

AFTER THE EMERGENCY

Rehabilitation helps to establish community action teams that can assist in the basic rehabilitation tasks of Institutions.

Actions are carried out during this phase which are designed to re-establish and restore the basic community needs services:

* Health;
* Energy;
* Potable water;
* communication; and
* Transport.

Reconstruction is the process of restoring the structures affected by the impacting event such as:
• Housing;
• Sources of employment;
• Infrastructure;
• Services
This stage requires more economic resources but it is also very important, to involve the inputs of the community, so reconstruction will not return to its previous before- impact state, but improve in quality. Community action teams can assist through supporting but it is important to remember that communities must find their own solutions for their problems. Team, however, should:
• Support institutions in reconstruction of infrastructure and services including schools, hospitals and clinics, road, etc,;
• Assist affected neighbors in reconstruction and restoration of things that are important for their existence;

TEST AND EVALUATION

A Plan requires Information and action in order to make it effective. It is necessary then, to inform the community of its existence through meetings, training workshops, simulation exercises and other activities, so as to explain the nature of the plan, its functions, and individual responsibilities so that once an emergency occurs, the plan would be useful and panic would be minimized.

Simulation exercises simulate conditions that would occur in a real emergency, to prove the efficiency of the plan, verify if enough is known, and make the necessary changes required to improve the response capacity for emergencies of any nature.

PREVENTION AND PREPAREDNESS ARE THE BEST WAY TO FACE EMERGENCIES.

Source:

'Extracts from Community Emergency Plan' CDERA