EmergencyManagement

Emergency management is the organizational function that coordinates and integrates people, policies, and procedures to prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of hazards. It encompasses all activities to reduce risks to people, property, and infrastructure from natural, technological, and human-caused threats. The core objective is to increase community resilience through proactive planning, rapid response, and effective recovery.

The field typically operates through four or more interrelated phases: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Mitigation seeks to reduce hazard impact before an event occurs, such as land-use planning and building codes. Preparedness covers training, exercises, resource inventories, alerting systems, and incident management capabilities. Response involves immediate actions to protect life and property during an event, including emergency communications and field operations. Recovery focuses on restoring services, rebuilding infrastructure, and restoring livelihoods, potentially with improvements to resilience.

Governance and coordination are central, often using standardized incident management frameworks (such as incident command systems) to align federal, state or provincial, local authorities, and non-governmental partners. Key functions include risk assessment, planning, resource management, logistics, public information, and continuity of operations. The field relies on data, technology, and collaboration with diverse stakeholders, including healthcare, transportation, utilities, and the private sector. International guidelines exist to promote disaster risk reduction and capacity building.