Principles of Emergency Planning and Management (ePub)

As interest in planning for emergencies and disasters burgeons, Principles of emergency planning and man- agement is the first book to meet the need for a comprehensive primer on how to prepare for a dis- aster. It offers a unified starting point encompassing the scattered and parochial literature in this nascent field of academic enquiry and practical endeavour.

The book introduces the methods, procedures, protocols and strategies of emergency planning, emphasizing situations in industrialized countries and the local level of organization, although with ample reference to national and international levels. Principles of emergency planning and management is designed to be a reference source and manual from which emergency managers can extract ideas, sug- gestions and pro-forma methodologies to help them design and implement emergency plans. A compre- hensive all-hazards approach is adopted, with frequent reference to the most important individual hazards and the planning and management needs that they create. Twelve actual emergency planning and management problems are analyzed in detail.

The book takes the reader through the process of conceiving, writing, implementing, testing, revising and using a general emergency plan, beginning with a structure and rationale for emergency prepared- ness. It systematically reviews the tools and methods available to the planner and then describes the struc- ture and content of plans with special reference to the needs generated by each phase of the emergency. Particular attention is given to methods of planning for specific requirements, such as the protection of cultural heritage, the evacuation of schools, emer- gency veterinary work, and collaboration with representatives of the mass media. The last part of the book deals with planning and managing the post-disaster recovery and reconstruction phases, and with training emergency co-ordinators.

Principles of emergency planning and management is for the new generation of emergency planners and managers emerging as a result of intensified govern- mental interest in disaster preparedness. It will also be of value to students of disasters and hazards who have a practical interest in how disasters are planned for and managed, and to professional workers and trainees who will eventually have to participate in disaster plans. Principles of emergency planning and management is designed to be easily integrated with training courses in emergency preparedness.