Too often, governments are stuck in a reactive mindset, which can be devastating for those in emergency and disaster management. Instead, according to an article in Harvard Business Review, efforts should be made to look toward the business world, where a more integrated approach is taken that considers not just response, but also preparedness, mitigation and recovery.
The article breaks down the three concepts as follows:
- Preparedness includes assessment of threats, planning, testing and training, and developing relationships and partnerships with relevant stakeholders.
- Mitigation involves performing regular assessments to evaluate readiness and identify new risks, identifying improved methods for rebuilding, and developing legislation to improve robustness.
- Recovery emphasizes the reestablishment of critical systems and utilities, the provision of basic needs to those displaced, and preliminary cleanup and reconstruction.
While the importance of response should not be underplayed, as it plays a critical role in saving lives and reducing damage, the article argues that government-funded emergency and disaster response can certainly see improvements in their effectiveness by adopting this full-cycle view.
Source:
https://hbr.org/2021/07/what-emergency-responders-can-learn-from-the-business-world
