Post-Event
After both exercises and disaster situations, regional and local agencies summarize lessons learned and develop after
action reports and improvement plans.
Usually, a public input period is established for feedback from businesses and
the community provided through local
forums and town meetings. Local emergency management wants to hear from
you. Become part of the process, and use
information from the resulting reports to
revise and enhance your organization’s
plans and documentation.
Regional Agency Example –
Commonwealth of Virginia
The Department of Homeland Security
established the National Infrastructure
Protection Plan (NIPP) in 2009 which
outlines a coordinated approach to critical infrastructure
protection. It also
maintains sector-specific plans at the
national level. The
NIPP instructs the
individual states and
regions to develop
their own customized
infrastructure protection plans that adhere
to the tenets of the
national plan and are
built to support state
and regional sector
partners.
The Commonwealth
of Virginia, for example, has developed and maintains the Virginia Critical
Infrastructure Protection and Resiliency
Strategic Plan. At the regional level,
the Hampton Roads Planning District
Commission (HRPDC), one of 21
Planning District Commissions in the
Commonwealth of Virginia, is a regional
organization which supports 16 local
city/county governments in southeastern
Virginia. The Hampton Roads region has
a population of about 1. 7 million people
and represents the 36th-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. The HRPDC, in
conjunction with the Governor’s Office of
Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security,
is currently developing and implementing
the Hampton Roads Critical Infrastructure
Protection Program with regional sector
The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC), one of 21 Planning District
Commissions in the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a regional organization which supports 16 local
city/county governments in southeastern Virginia.
On-Line Resources – Public Agency Emergency Management Information
• DRJ / ARMA / DRII / FS TC / NFPA 1600 Generally Accepted Practices (GAP).
http:// www.drj.com/resources/resources/generally-accepted-practices.html
• DRII Professional Practices. https://www.drii.org/professionalprac/index.php
• DRJ / DRII Glossary. http://www.drj.com/tools/tools/glossary-2.html.
• ANSI / NFPA 1600:2010 – Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and
Business Continuity Programs. National Fire Protection Association, 2010.
http://www.nfpa.org
• Community Emergency Response Teams (CER T), FEMA. www.citizencorps.gov/cert
• Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA)
Local Emergency Planning Committees Requirements, EPCRA Sections 301-303.
http://www.epa.gov/osweroe1/content/epcra/epcra_plan.htm
• Incident Command System Overview (ICS), FEMA.
http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/IncidentCommandSystem.shtm
• Ready Business. http://www.ready.gov/business/
• FEMA Independent Study Program. http://training.fema.gov/IS/
• National Incident Management System (NIMS), FEMA IS-700, Independent Study Program Course.
http://www.training.fema.gov/emi Web/IS/ is700.asp
• National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (National VOAD). www.nvoad.org
partners. The HRPDC is leveraging existing best practices of infrastructure security
around the nation and Virginia, through the
implementation of key objectives found
within both the National Infrastructure
Protection Plan and the Virginia Critical
Infrastructure Protection and Resiliency
Strategic Plan, to develop and implement
an effective regional plan. Participants in
that strategic planning process include
businesses/industries, infrastructure
owners and operators, governments, and
academic leaders in risk analysis and business security strategy development. The
goal is to enhance the capability of organizations to improve continuity of operations and community resilience and to
decrease the overall level of risk to critical
infrastructure owned and operated by the
public and private sectors.
The Bottom Line
Governments enlist private sector participation in emergency planning and
operations prior to and following major
crises and disasters to help coordinate
response efforts and hasten community
recovery. Coordination offers dual benefits. Business continuity professionals can
offer fundamental expertise needed for
planning, response, and recovery efforts
that government sometimes cannot provide. Participation by the private sector
in emergency planning and operations,
for example, through regional councils,
VOADs, CERT, and offices of emergency
management, provides private sector businesses and individuals with a sense of
community support and real-time access
to information that enhances their business continuity planning efforts to prepare
for disasters, and, at the time of disaster,
enables them to return as quickly as possible to full operating status.
v
Richard Flannery, MS, CFM (rflannery@
hrpdcva.gov) is the emergency management administrator with the Hampton
Roads Planning District Commission
and the president of the Hampton Roads
Association of Contingency Planners.
Theresa A. Kirchner, Ph.D., MBCP
( theresa.kirchner@hamptonu.edu) is an
assistant professor of management with
Hampton University. She is a Hampton
Roads Association of Contingency Planners
board member who has served as a DRII certification commissioner and DRJ Editorial Advisory Board member.
