Priority 4 of the Sendai Framework highlights the essential role disaster preparedness plays in an effective response (UNDRR, 2015). Preparedness falls under an overall, nationally led, disaster risk management (DRM) context. It includes all efforts aimed at building up capacities before a disaster situation occurs in order to reduce impacts. This often requires institutional capacity building and technical training, for example in the form of contingency planning, stockpiling, risk education and arrangements for coordination and evacuation. It is best to regularly run reviews, tests and simulation exercises, and to adapt preparedness measures to ensure they are appropriate, functioning and reliable in the event of a crisis (UNDRR, 2017).

Analyses of national and local capacities can be undertaken to detect strengths and gaps to be addressed. Such analysis would identify the level of human, physical and logistical resources needed to respond effectively, as well as capacity-building needs to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are adequately trained and equipped. Emergency capacity and monitoring systems should be on standby and ready to respond when needed (UNDRR, 2017). It could also be helpful to establish structures for coordinating multi-stakeholder interventions, such as through an emergency operations centre (more on Coordinating humanitarian response).

Community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) helps to promote locally appropriate strategies for disaster preparedness and risk reduction. Strategies that make use of traditional and local knowledge are more likely to be sustainable and to meet the needs of the community. This includes, for example, the establishment of community emergency response teams, community contingency planning and organizational level disaster preparedness.

 
Good Practice
Emergency Management Exercises for disaster preparedness

The Government of Canada runs Emergency Management Exercises to test emergency plans, equipment and staff functions. Government, first responders and military officials work together in exercises that simulate emergency scenarios such as disasters or health threats and terrorist attacks. The goal is to validate plans, training and the like, and to identify areas for improvement. Types of activities include full-scale simulations, drill exercises and tabletop exercises. These tabletop exercises do not activate external resources but rather bring responders together for guided discussions on a hypothetical scenario to highlight processes, gaps and potential solutions.

Source

Public Safety Canada, 2015.

Policy Approaches
Comprehensive disaster preparedness
  • Undertake analyses of national and local capacities to detect strengths and gaps to be addressed.
  • Ensure that disaster preparedness is context specific, using traditional and local knowledge.
  • Accommodate the needs of international migrants in preparedness:
    • Raise migrants’ awareness on local hazards;
    • improve the cultural competency of disaster management personnel;
    • Develop consular contingency plans;
    • Encourage migrants to register with the closest consulate, so that in the event of an emergency they can be more easily accounted for, reached and assisted.
Source

IOM, 2017.

To Go Further
  • Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), Common Framework for Preparedness (CFP), 2013.
    This framework was developed to improve planning and coordination between national, humanitarian and development actors at the country level. As well, it aims to help develop national and local preparedness capacity in a more coherent and efficient manner. It does so by introducing a systematic country-level approach that collectively assesses capacity and need. It then uses this assessment to jointly develop programmes and plans and to implement these programmes and plans to strengthen preparedness. Its human-rights-based approach promotes resilience and protection.
Contingency planning

When a specific threat or hazard has been identified or is likely to occur, States or other relevant institutions may develop a contingency plan to support preparedness arrangements. Plans can be developed at the national, regional or local level, depending on the type and reach of the threat. In the Philippines, for instance, the provincial government, through its Batangas Provincial Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC), developed a contingency plan in case of an eruption of the Taal Volcano (Tibay, 2018).

The Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s Emergency Response Preparedness (ERP) guidelines provide guidance for States on what to consider in contingency planning. It allows governments and partners to speed up the process of providing critical assistance immediately after the onset of an anticipated humanitarian emergency by making decisions in advance about resources (human and financial), coordination procedures and who will do what and when (IASC, 2015).

Policy Approaches
Developing effective contingency plans
  • Anticipate the potential impacts of disasters and various resulting scenarios, including population displacement.
  • Ensure collaborative planning, involving all stakeholders that would need to be active in an emergency response (government bodies at the national, regional and/or local level, civil society and humanitarian partners).
  • Account for all potentially affected segments of the population, including women and children, non-binary individuals, the elderly, people with disabilities and other migrants. Take account of their presence,  the patterns of their movement (including seasonal migration) and high-immigration areas.
  • Systematically review and update the contingency plan, both as part of a regular process as well as in any case of notable demographic changes.

While the impact of a hazard can never be certain, scenario building helps maximize the relevance and applicability of the planned response. Scenario building involves situational and risk analysis, including a disaster displacement risk assessment. For each different scenario, the response strategy would include information on:

  1. The availability of supplies/assistance locally and around the country (for example, medical supplies, shelter materials, food);
  2. The responsibilities in the provision of specific assistance (that is, which ministry and at what level – national, regional or municipal);
  3. The responsibilities regarding the coordination of the delivery of assistance (for instance, the Ministry of Health would be responsible for emergency primary health care, so any other stakeholders intending to provide emergency health care support must coordinate with the Ministry of Health at the regional level).
Good Practice
Preparing and preserving open spaces for response, Nepal, 2015–2018

Nepal is highly exposed to disasters such as earthquakes, floods and landslides. Disaster risk is compounded by rapid population growth and urbanization. To strengthen the resilience of local communities, the Government’s National Disaster Response Framework (NDRF) supported an initiative that designated open spaces for humanitarian purposes. These spaces were identified to meet communities’ projected needs, to be used to provide safety and assistance for people displaced by disasters. National disaster management actors have mobilized women’s groups, youth clubs, local authorities and businesses to maintain the spaces, for instance by regularly clearing the land when using it for sports and recreation. This also allows the population to gain a better sense of how these open spaces can be used in times of disaster. On 25 April 2015, a severe earthquake struck near the city of Kathmandu in central Nepal, killing 9,000 people and damaging or destroying more than 600,000 structures. The previously established spaces proved essential throughout the response and recovery.

Source

IOM, 2017.

Planning for humanitarian evacuations

The purpose of humanitarian evacuations is to save the lives of people exposed to an actual or imminent disaster. It provides them with timely and rapid movement to safer locations and places of shelter. There are different types of evacuations, such as land, sea and air evacuations, those within a country as well as evacuations across borders that involve two or more countries. Evacuations require the mobilization and coordination of capacity and resources, the provision of adequate shelters and assistance as well as the swift recovery of evacuees and other affected people from the event. Planning is necessary for these capacities to be mobilized and for these resources to be coordinated before evacuations take place. For international evacuations, it is necessary to have agreements with the host country in place beforehand.

Planning and implementing evacuations are the responsibility of the respective country’s disaster or emergency management agency, which is tasked with the overall emergency response and with protecting disaster-affected people. The international humanitarian community can provide assistance upon request, but efficient evacuations heavily depend on proper planning prior to emergencies, for instance as part of contingency planning, to ensure smooth and effective evacuations. Generally, evacuation plans need to be comprehensive and context specific, but experiences from different countries may provide some guidance to support evacuation planning (Global CCCM Cluster, 2014).

Table
Table 1. Consideration points to develop an effective evacuation plan
LEGAL BASIS An evacuation plan should consider existing domestic and international legislation relevant to evacuations, as well as the protection of and assistance to evacuees.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Evacuation is a complex process involving multiple organizations and actors. Hence, it is vital for all relevant parties to understand their roles and responsibilities within the broader response framework.
PROTECTION A key element in an effective evacuation plan is the protection of populations, particularly vulnerable groups, from potential sources of physical harm, such as floods and landslides, as well as from all forms of violation of rights, exploitation and abuse.
SYNERGY Evacuation plans at national, regional and local levels should fit into existing legal and operational frameworks at other levels to match existing resources and response capabilities.
PUBLIC INFORMATION Wherever it is possible and necessary, evacuations might be undertaken as a pre-emptive measure in response to early warning systems (EWS), before a situation of increasing risk becomes critical.
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION The success of an evacuation is significantly enhanced when local people and communities participate in evacuation planning.
TRAINING Various forms of trainings, including drills and simulations, serve to confirm (or challenge) the utility of emergency plans and ensure people can implement them.
CLIMATE CHANGE The effects of climate change should be considered as evacuation plans need to be adaptable to the scale and severity of future disasters.
RESOURCES In the case of gaps, the planning team should explore the infrastructure and other arrangements for gaining access to additional resources from outside the region.
EVACUATION ZONE Ensure that the evacuation zone is safe, appropriate and meets the needs of evacuees.
Source

Source: Global CCCM Cluster, 2014.

Affected populations should be included in the planning process to the extent possible and they should be regularly informed on evacuation procedures. The needs of evacuees will evolve over time, and therefore, upon evacuation, resources to manage the situation in the short to medium term need to be planned; for example, more permanent shelter or housing options will be required if evacuations last longer. Evacuations only end once people have safely and voluntarily returned home, are durably integrated in a local community or relocated to an alternative location. Depending on the context, evacuations may last for an extended period of time, until such solutions are achieved. In such cases, dedicated resources, including potentially through international support, need to be planned for and adjusted accordingly (Global CCCM Cluster, 2014).

Policy Approaches
Preparing an evacuation zone
  • Conduct a community analysis, including the identification and profiling of potential evacuees.
  • Implement risk assessments and mapping exercises detailing the specific risks and the potential level of severity for hazards in each area of concern.
  • Assess the size of the affected population and its capability to transport itself.
  • Find the right evacuation timing model.
  • Identify the role of community-based organizations, NGOs, private agencies and other actors within the given evacuation zone.
  • Make an inventory of personnel, equipment, hospitals and medical services for treatment of injured persons.
  • Identify safe transit points and refuge zones.
  • Identify security concerns or potential conflicts which may affect evacuation.
  • Establish critical infrastructure evacuation plans for hospitals, schools, prisons and so forth.
  • Consider the potential for populations to evacuate themselves across the border into a neighbouring country.
To Go Further
  • Global Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) Cluster, Comprehensive Guide for Planning Mass Evacuations in Natural Disasters (MEND Guide), 2014. T
    his guide serves as a reference providing key considerations, best practices and a template that can be tailored to the respective context to assist planning bodies at all levels – both urban and rural – in the development and/or refinement of evacuation plans in accordance with emergency management principles.
Early warning systems for disaster situations

An early warning system is an integrated system of hazard monitoring, forecasting and prediction, disaster risk assessment, communication and preparedness that enables relevant stakeholders to take timely action to reduce disaster risks in advance of hazardous events. As such, it is an important component of disaster risk management and is a key tool to address disaster-induced displacement (UNDRR, 2004). An effective early warning system should integrate displacement risk and have four strongly interlinked elements (ibid):

  1. Disaster risk knowledge based on the systematic collection of data and disaster risk assessments;

  2. Hazard monitoring and warning service, including the detection, analysis and forecasting of hazards and possible consequences;

  3. Communication, by an official source, of authoritative, timely, accurate and actionable warnings and associated information on likelihood and impact;

  4. Response capability, including preparedness at all levels to respond to the warnings received.

It is important to inform people who are at risk of displacement about the potential challenges they could face. This allows them to make informed decisions about how to reduce their exposure and vulnerability, including for example pre-emptively moving away from areas at risk, and/or practical considerations like the relevant legal documents they may need if they become displaced, especially if the displacement or planned move extends longer than anticipated. During slow-onset hazards such as drought, early warnings and risk information help people to make decisions that could mitigate potential economic losses from destroyed crops or depletion of livestock. Improving risk knowledge also contributes to ensuring compliance when evacuation warnings are issued.

Policy Approaches
Developing an effective early warning system
  • Tailor early warning systems to address the affected population’s information needs. This includes migrants’ specific needs such as limited language capabilities, distrust of authorities, differences in risk awareness and perceptions, and differences in access to media and communication channels.
  • Set up regular meetings with all major stakeholders, including the scientific community, to gain their input and to increase understanding of the early warning system, including what is needed/expected from them and when.
  • Create manuals and procedures to support this process.
  • Plan for capacity building and provide the necessary infrastructure to observe, analyse and forecast hazards.
  • Involve at-risk population in the development of early warning systems (UNDRR, 2009).
  • Conduct an analysis of risks and regularly review risks to ensure that the early warning system stays relevant.
  • The early warning system should be informed by lessons learned from past events and continuously improved as a result (UNDRR, 2004).
Good Practice
Efficient early warning in Bali, Indonesia

In 2017, the Government of Indonesia showed how an efficient early warning system can reduce people’s exposure to risks related to volcanic activity. Indonesia’s Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation monitors volcanic activity and issues alerts to the National Disaster Management Agency, the police and the military. In August 2017, the Centre noticed heightened seismic activity around Mount Agung on the eastern end of the island, which was followed by shallow volcanic earthquakes.

Due to the early warning, the authorities began evacuating potentially affected populations and extended the exclusion zone around the volcano. In order to prevent people from making daily trips to the hazard zone to take care of their livestock, the authorities also evacuated cattle. These measures saved lives and livelihoods as well as prevented mass displacement when a series of eruptions started in late November.

Source

IDMC, 2018.

Key messages
  • Preparedness includes all efforts aimed at building up capacities before a disaster situation occurs in order to reduce impacts.
  • An analysis of national and local capacities is an essential part of preparedness efforts in order to make sure that gaps are addressed before a disaster.
  • Setting up multi-stakeholder coordination structures (such as an emergency operations centre) is also an essential component of preparedness.
  • It is important to consider the needs of international migrants in all preparedness efforts.
  • A contingency plan captures preparedness arrangements and can be developed at national, regional or local level. If decisions are made in advance about resources, coordination and procedures then governments can begin providing critical assistance at the onset of disaster.
  • Contingency plans should consider evacuations. If international evacuations are necessary, governments need to consider establishing agreements with possible host countries beforehand.
  • Early warning systems allow governments to inform people who are at risk of displacement about the risks they face.
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