| 1. |
Disaster
management is the responsibility of all spheres of government.
|
| |
No single service
or department in itself has the capability to achieve comprehensive
disaster management. Each affected service or department must have
a disaster management plan which is coordinated through the Disaster
Management Advisory Forum. |
| 2. |
Disaster
management should use resources that exist for a day-to-day purpose.
|
| |
There are limited
resources available specifically for disasters, and it would be
neither cost effective nor practical to have large holdings of dedicated
disaster resources. However, municipalities must ensure that there
is a minimum budget allocation to enable appropriate response to
incidents as they arise, and to prepare for and reduce the risk
of disasters occurring. |
| 3. |
Organisations
should function as an extension of their core business. |
| |
Disaster management
is about the use of resources in the most effective manner. To achieve
this during disasters, organisations should be employed in a manner
that reflects their day-to-day role. But it should be done in a
coordinated manner across all relevant organisations, so that it
is multidisciplinary and multi-agency. |
| 4. |
Individuals
are responsible for their own safety. |
| |
Individuals
need to be aware of the hazards that could affect their community
and the counter measures, which include the Municipal Disaster Management
Plan, that are in place to deal with them. |
| 5. |
Disaster
management planning should focus on large-scale events. |
| |
It is easier
to scale down a response than it is to scale up if arrangements
have been based on incident scale events. If you are well prepared
for a major disaster you will be able to respond very well to smaller
incidents and emergencies, nevertheless, good multi agency responses
to incidents do help in the event of a major disaster. |
| 6. |
Disaster
management planning should recognise the difference between incidents
and disasters. |
| |
Incidents -
e.g. fires that occur in informal settlements, floods that occur
regularly, still require multi-agency and multi-jurisdictional coordination.
The scale of the disaster will indicate when it is beyond the capacity
of the municipality to respond, and when it needs the involvement
of other agencies. |
| 7. |
Disaster
management operational arrangements are additional to and do not
replace incident |
| |
management
operational arrangements |
| |
Single service
incident management operational arrangements will need to continue,
whenever practical, during disaster operations. |
| 8. |
Disaster
management planning must take account of the type of physical environment
and the |
| |
structure
of the population. |
| |
The physical
shape and size of the Municipality and the spread of population
must be considered when developing counter disaster plans to ensure
that appropriate prevention, preparation, response and recovery
mechanisms can be put in place in a timely manner. |
| 9. |
Disaster
management arrangements must recognise the involvement and potential
role of non- |
| |
government
agencies. |
| |
Significant
skills and resources needed during disaster operations are controlled
by non-government agencies. These agencies must be consulted and
included in the planning process. |
