9. Preparedness and Recovery plan

According to IFCR disaster preparedness can be defined as “... measures taken to prepare for and reduce the effects of disasters. That is, to predict and - where possible - prevent disasters, mitigate their impact on vulnerable populations, and respond to and effectively cope with their consequences, at local, national and international levels” (IFCR, n.d.) .Disaster recovery is a preventive strategies for after disasters to return back to the normal situation as soon as possible. Disaster recovery plan collaborates with different organization and communities for the fast results.

Preparedness and recovery plans can take different forms but are usually focused on some main axes: early warning systems, workshops for citizens and staffs, business continuity plans and public-private partnerships.

Early warning system

It involves weather forecast and different communication media like television, radio and internet to provide time to prepare for the disaster. Based on the information of early warning system transportation, communication, supply companies, businesses and other will prepare plan to minimize the impact.

Workshop

Disaster management authority and private actors will provide workshops for staffs and the public. The workshop aims to provide knowledge on the emergency services, evacuations,policy and legal framework of the preparedness plan, disaster response, recovery phase, business continuity plan and so on.

Public-private partnerships

“Public-private partnerships (PPP) have become a popular way for governments to engage private actors in the delivery of government infrastructure and services to increase quality and providing better value for money” (Zairol A. Auzzira*, 2014).The main role of private sectors is to overcome any weakness on the government side (Nathan E. Busch, 2013).

In the scenario of limited funding, the municipality collaborates with the business will to share the financial burden of the disaster with risk financing tools such as insurance and CAT bonds.

Both businesses and government will share risk and profit. The private actors will get financial profits, and the public actors will get recognizablesocietal benefits (cited in Zairol A. Auzzira*, 2014). The collaboration will focus more on the drainage system. It will invest the repair and restoration of drainage before and after the disaster. PPP will not only address the insufficient funding but also address the shortcoming of the disaster management authority (Nathan E. Busch, 2013).

The partnership will also play an essential role in before, during and after the disaster to accelerate fast recovery of life and infrastructure. They will conduct necessary workshops to develop the emergency response and recovery plan to help businesses to operate after the disaster.

Business Continuity Plan

“A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is a plan describing the policy, systems, procedures, etc. by which enterprises can avoid suspension of their critical business or can recover the critical business quickly if it is interrupted.” (Cabinet Office, n.d). After the disaster, many companies struggle to operate immediately. In the great east Japan earthquake, few large companies restored their regular operation immediately after the disaster because of the BCP. On the other hand, many medium and small companies suffered a financial loss not having any BCP. Learning from this incident, the government of Japan approved the central government business continuity plan (Takahiro Ono, n.d).

There are few appropriate measures suggested after the Great East Japan Earthquake to the company for the business continuity that we can also recommend in our disaster scenario for operational continuity. ● The company should provide regular drill and training to staff. The drill should give to the specific department where they should train to work in emergencies and facilitate

recovery. ● The company should develop the consequence-based strategies that focus on the outcome. The company should identify the critical factor that affects the company and try to find a solution to shorten the disruption during a disaster. ● Focus more on supply chain disruption risk by knowing more about the situations of stakeholders. The company should develop strategies that will continue throughout the supply chain.