Member of EMATT- Training Team by Julie Samaru MSc. EM
"The primary goal of the preparedness system is to strengthen and enhance the capacity of the community by focusing on “tactical planning, logistics management, and training:” (Canton, 2007, p. 184). An effective strategy will be to continuously educate and inform the community about disaster matters, equip them with the required skills and conduct exercises in their respective roles. Training helps the community become familiar with their responsibilities and acquires the skills necessary to perform assigned tasks. Drills and exercises provide a mean to validate plans, checklists, and response procedures and evaluate the competence of personnel. Establishing community emergency response teams (CERT), together with the community participation approach can be an efficient and useful strategy to integrate community involvement into all levels of the national disaster management and policy framework.
The objective of these strategiesis (1) to develop communities that are resilient and can fend for themselves until the arrival of first responding agencies and (2), to equip the communities with the skills that can be useful in assisting in the response and recovery effort while working alongside the emergency response agencies. Considering the population of some communities’ one challenge will be getting the involvement of all stakeholders, and the time it will take to develop plans and conduct training and exercises. Another challenge will be identifying what will the needs of each group within the community. These problems can be addressed by, dividing into smaller communities, in that way the establishment of CERT’s will be more manageable. It will also assist in the identification of the specific needs of each group which will enable the development plans targeted to the particular community.
References
Canton, L. G. (2007). Emergency Management: Concepts and strategies for effective programs. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012d). Preparedness: Developing strategies [Video]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
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