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Preparedness includes planning and training both responders and the public in issues related to all types of natural and man-made disasters. Examples include the Monroe County Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP); a document that provides the framework for local officials to respond to any type of large scale emergency event. Rather than being "event-specific" such as a "hurricane plan", the CEMP is intentionally flexible to make it adaptable to any type of emergency. It details responsibilities of County Officials, as well as those of county, city, private and state agencies, and the roles that each are expected to
fulfill. The CEMP also includes annexes and standard operating procedures to guide responses to hurricanes, terrorist attacks, and radiological events.
Response activities include emergency first-response to everything from accidents or single-structure fires, to county-wide (or regional) response of dozens of agencies to a hurricane or other large scale event.
Recovery quite simply could be defined as "picking up the pieces" after a disaster. It can often be divided into short-term and long-term recovery. Activities in the recovery phase vary greatly depending on the size and type of a disaster, and include immediate care for displaced residents, such as feeding and sheltering persons whose homes may have been damaged or destroyed in a hurricane, facilitation and provision of financial assistance, and of course clean up and rebuilding. Recovery activities are also important in the private sector, as restoring business function is important for people to be able to return to work quickly to minimize the physical, emotional, and economic disruption to their lives.
Mitigation, both the last phase and first phase of the emergency management cycle, includes performing activities that will reduce or eliminate the threat to our safety and property posed by various disasters. Mitigation activities can be complex, such as elevating your home or business when rebuilding after a hurricane, or it can be as simple as acquiring shutters for you windows before a storm arrives to prevent wind damage to your home. Training and awareness can be considered both a mitigation and a preparedness activity, because the more information you have about a potential emergency, the more likely you are to be able to take steps to reduce the threat of that emergency to you, your family, and your home. The most basic mitigation activity a family can have is a simple plan; know where you will go, what
you will have to do, and how you will return home from any disaster such as a fire in your home, a hazardous material accident, or a hurricane.
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