Disaster Management Cycle.Mitigation

        
                We are now done with the introduction and will move on to learn the disaster management cycle. This cycle may have been used in the West Gate terror attack of which they are numerous lessons to be learned by disaster management professionals’ world wide and more so by the Kenyan government. Let’s look at the first thing the Kenyan government should have done.

                                                                       Mitigation

                       Disaster Management is to me the ultimate demonstration of leadership, efficiency and responsiveness. Disasters show the cracks in a system and filling them can mean an overhaul of the entire system. This is especially clear since collaboration is needed to manage disasters. The collaborations are both internal and external requiring a coordinated and organized effort to mitigate, prepare, respond and recover from situations of emergency and their implications in the shortest possible time. At the end of this blog we need to have defined the various phases of the disaster cycle, explain the importance of disaster mitigation and explain how planning and design of infrastructure should take into account the vulnerability of communities. Finally we should describe disaster management can be integrated in public policy. The finally and holding great importance to Kenya, let’s first establish that disaster management is a cyclical process with phases following each other or taking place concurrently. This means that decisions must be timely in each phase with the result of which being better preparedness, better warnings, reduced vulnerability and even prevention of future disasters. The cycle is present to reduce or prevent disasters.

                           Mitigation clearly starts with public policy that addresses the causes or mitigates the effects of disasters on people, infrastructure and property. The mitigation and preparedness phases as improvements are made in anticipation of events. This means a community’s development goes a long way in disaster mitigation and preparedness. After these phases comes into action the disaster managers who respond immediately and get involved in the long term recovery phase..The diagram below demonstrates the Disaster Management Cycle.

Benson Mutahi Githaiga
Disaster Management Enthusiast