Disaster Preparedness and Response

Nobody needs to ask “Why have a Disaster Preparedness and/or Response Plan and Team in our park”? The answer is pretty obvious. The problem is getting park residents to be pro-active, and in finding volunteer leaders.

A Disaster team needs to educate – that is the main function. Providing residents with information and resources on how to prepare for various emergencies is the best way your team can help. Whether or not your team also deals with the Response part of it is a question that many DP teams have been asking themselves.

It is a fact that management in most parks will choose not to participate in any response to a disaster other than that which affects its own property, i.e. management doesn’t offer to help residents evacuate, deal with medical emergencies, etc. This is usually for liability reasons. For the same reasons, many DP teams also choose to limit their participation to educating residents on preparedness. Other teams send their leaders to CERT training and work out a plan for the CERT people to assist residents in need in the event of an emergency. Your team will need to decide what their policies will be.