Post-disaster Activities

A number of lessons for post-disaster activities have been learnt from experience. The response should include activities outlined inside the preparedness stage, but the initial emphasis during the post-disaster period should be on search and rescue of victims, procedure emergency medical assistance and relief to survivors. An exercise has to be commenced in parallel to conduct damage and required assessment and respond to the crisis.

The various activities in response to a disaster should involve:

• Evacuation of affected people from the area;
• Provision of temporary lodging in case staff is left in office;
• Provision of short-term basic life amenities like as food and water to the disaster-affected people and the stranded office staff;
• Exchange of information in terms of event description, its severity and action plan;
• Field/site surveys, damage assessment;
• Identification of resources required and their deployment viz., technical experts, human resources, equipment, spare parts and other materials;
• Early restoration of power supply;
• Re-establishing communications to fast get information to the public about what they should do and where they could go for services;
• Making contact along with remote areas;
• Providing construction related materials for reconstruction of damaged infrastructure;
• Repair and reconstruction of "lifelines" - electrical services;
• Technical, material, and financial assistance for the repair and reconstruction of offices and systems;
• Financial assistance to emergency operation teams to enable their participation in recovery efforts; and
• Post event investigation and analysis and strategy for the future.