n.ongoing activities to prevent, mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergenciesNEDCC 2017a, 1In the context of cultural institutions, emergency management encompasses all the activities undertaken by an institution to prevent, prepare for, and respond to an emergency involving its collections. Planning focuses on the collections themselves—both physical and digital—as well as for continuity of operations. Emergency planning also encourages interaction between cultural institutions and the larger emergency management community during the planning process to build better understanding and stronger relationships. ¶ There are four phases of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. These phases are ongoing, and their review is never finished.Harvey and Mahard 2020, 54The emergency management program consists of four distinct activities—mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery—that are constantly being performed in any order.Seetoo and Wiseman 2024, 4“All disasters are local” is a common phrase used in emergency management to emphasize the important role that local first responders have in helping a community recover. However, their success is dependent on the availability of regional, state, and national resources to tap when needed.Crockett and Leumas 2024, 4In archives, emergency management and disaster preparedness is the function which aims to anticipate, prevent or minimise, handle and recover from disastrous events which have a negative impact on the holdings and work of an archives institution. It involves risk management, identifying what resources and actions would be needed in the event of a range of disaster scenarios and developing contingency plans and detailed procedures to set up emergency operations for salvaging the archives holdings and reconstituting the institution’s storage repository and archives operations.
Notes
Emergency management generally involves partnering with local first responders before, during, and after an emergency.
