Anatomy of Disaster Management

What is Disaster Resilience?

“Disaster resilience is the sustained ability of a community to withstand and recover from a disaster.”

(Chandra et al, RAND)

LAEPF supports this whole-of-community approach by helping to create linkages between sectors, organizations, and people who prepare for and respond to disasters and those who can help responders. This is often referred to as a public-private partnership, and these partnerships are important to a community’s ability to handle the adversity that is an eventuality in any community.

The Business Operations Center (BOC) is a prime example of inter-sector coordination in support of public-private partnerships. The BOC brings together organizations from 15 different business, nonprofit and government sectors to coordinate resources and capabilities.  The BOC has attracted important groups already focused on resilience, in sectors like banking and critical infrastructure.  For example SoCalfirst, a consortium of financial organizations, regularly meets to address disaster challenges from the banking and insurance perspective.  SoCalfirst is a founding member of the BOC.

The Community Resilience Innovation Challenge is another example of this kind of work; LAEPF worked with FEMA and the Rockefeller Foundation to award funding to thirty recipients building local community resilience.

LAEPF partners with government agencies, community organizations, and businesses to provide disaster preparedness, response and recovery education as well.  Events like the recent Education Day at the Los Angeles Risk and Insurance Management Society provide businesses with the information they need to create, evaluate, and implement risk management plans that protect their stakeholders in the event of a disaster.  The Security & Disaster Preparedness Symposium: Means and Methods for Creating Resilient Communities provided an opportunity for academic, scientific, government, and community stakeholders to learn more about community resilience, courtesy of the National Institute of Building Sciences.  LAEPF’s participation in events like FEMA’s Public/Private Leadership Conference connects the LA Operational Area to national efforts as well.