React to Impact: Response

In the emergency management cycle, the Response phase involves reacting to the occurrence of catastrophic disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and wildfires. It consists of actions which are aimed at saving lives, reducing economic losses and alleviating suffering. The response phase involves the coordination and management of resources utilizing the Incident Command System. Response actions may include activating the emergency operations center, evacuating threatened populations, opening shelters and providing mass care, emergency rescue and medical care, fire fighting, and urban search and rescue.

Here are some ways you can leverage D4H to support your Emergency Management Agency (EMA) in the Response stage of the emergency management lifecycle.

Incident Reporting

• Verify that the play initiated in Incident Management triggers an incident activity to verify seamless data migration.
• Create a task to review and approve incident activity data post-incident to ensure data accuracy, facilitating improved data evaluation and future planning.

Incident Management

• Initiate incidents via starting a channel and select the suitable play, ensuring rapid response even in unexpected situations.
• Invite responding personnel to the incident, facilitating quick mobilization of resources and personnel.
• Maximize communications by leveraging the logs feature, to enable precise targeting through tagging to modules such as roles or personnel.
• Post critical announcements from log to notify personnel of essential information, keeping everyone informed and prepared.
• Assign personnel to their appropriate roles, to facilitate efficient task distribution and resource utilization.
• Guide personnel to efficiently manage their tasks by filtering the task board by my items to display only those assigned to their Role, to promote organized and streamlined operations.
• Begin filling out the situation report promptly, to enable rapid oversight of incident details.
• Once the Situation location is determined, review weather forecasts to make informed decisions based on weather data.
• Send weather data updates to the log module to maintain centralized oversight and track critical information.
• Input data into status boards in real-time, to ensure visibility into aspects such as Damage Assessment, Flooded Areas or Shelter capacity tracking.
• Complete essential forms such as ICS forms to ensure thorough documentation and compliance with regulatory standards.
• Monitor the dashboard and map for updates, which provides visual insights into incident progression and geographical information.
• Capture shift changes within the adjustments roles and/or personnel module, to ensure continuity of operations.
• Capture snapshots of the situation report or relevant forms at the end of each operational period to facilitate detailed documentation records.
• Distribute incident data through a public link, PDF, or email to non-users needing oversight, ensuring accessibility and transparency.
• Continuously perform actions until the incident concludes, to ensure thorough management and resolution for an effective emergency response.
• Shutdown the incident channel promptly after conclusion to trigger resource reallocation, restore normal operations, and ensure timely transmission of final data to its associated Incident Activity for review.