Disaster Recovery Plan of the City of New Orleans Law Research Paper

DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
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Disaster Recovery Plan of the City of New Orleans
Every disaster is unique, and the plan cannot account for all the variables but it can help to ensure the critical services for ensuring the survival of the city remain, and the recovery process is fast-tracked. New Orleans is susceptible to hurricanes because of its proximity of the ocean and latitudinal reference which makes it warmer. This disaster is hence more hinged in preparing for hurricanes but can be modified for other disasters. The goal of this disaster recovery plan is to ensure that all necessary precautions related to natural disasters are taken, response to the disasters is prompt and restoration of the city’s systems is tackled in the shortest time possible.
The goals of this disaster recovery process
* To provide efficient coordination and policy guidance during the disaster recovery process
* To anticipate the impact of the disaster and put in place the things which are needed to ensure the city resumes full functioning capacity as soon as possible
* To outline the procedure to handle disaster to ensure that the response is coordinated and clear on its objectives
* To ensure all critical services to protect life are ready
* To provide for efficient mobilization, deployment and demobilization of recovery resources.
This disaster recovery plan is organized into three phases
Pre-disaster planning phase
This phase entails all reasonable efforts to prepare for disaster and recovery operations. The aim is to ensure it provides for resources and organizes clear objectives and plans to mitigate and minimize the effects of a disaster. During this phase, individuals responsible for various rescue and recovery operations are appointed and trained on their job description. The individuals are then put in charge of specific recovery activities and their responsibilities detailed out. The main reason for creating a clear structure before a disaster is to ensure all aspects and areas of the city have people assisting with rescuing lives and property and would coordinate and help the affected people to safety. It also ensures that no redundancy of roles while other areas are neglected. The restoration team also has a clear line of succession should one or more individuals be unreachable. It is important to determine who categorizes the disaster and dictates what response plan is necessary to be effected. For example, it is only the city mayor who may call for a state of emergency. Another individual will be responsible for determining which recovery plan will be activated since disasters have different degrees of harm they cause to the community and each one of them calls for different disaster plans. A category five hurricane disaster requires a different plan from a category three disaster as both would inflict varying degrees of damage to the community. During this phase, it is also important to build relationships with other organizations and involve them in planning for a disaster. The resumption of at least the critical services requires teamwork and hence coordination with government agencies, non-governmental organizations to unite in disaster preparedness. Duri...