Churches & Religious Organizations
Churches and other religious organizations have a long history of working together to respond to emergency needs. They have helped build, rebuild, and renew communities after disasters. A church is a business like any other providing services to its congregation and the surrounding community. When natural or manmade events occur, they can cause interruption in services, operations, and revenue streams. If the event happens while operational activities are taking place, emergency response procedures will be necessary to safely and effectively mitigate the negative impact to people and property. During an emergency, whether it is a natural or manmade disaster, the leadership must act quickly to ensure the safety of the congregation. Following a disaster, effective preparedness planning must account for the recovery of the organization, which includes provisions for mitigating the long-term effects of dislocation from a facility, lack of utilities, or gaps in redundancy of back up electronic files. Truly comprehensive emergency management incorporates:
- Shared responsibility among partners ranging from the individual and family to national government
- Mitigation (vulnerability or loss reduction) and preparedness as well as response (including rescue, relief, and recovery)
- All hazards – both natural and human-caused (including technological, terrorist, and public violence)
All Hazards: All Clear Emergency Management Group makes emergency preparedness a priority through an all-hazard planning approach. Every hazard within a jurisdiction must be considered as part of a thorough risk assessment and prioritized on the basis of impact and likelihood of occurrence. Treating all hazards the same in terms of planning resource allocation ultimately leads to failure. There are similarities in how one reacts to all disasters. These event-specific actions form the basis for most emergency plans. However, there are also distinct differences between disaster agents that must be addressed in agent or hazard-specific plans and these can only be identified through the risk assessment process. 1 All Clear Emergency Management Group prepares churches for all types of emergencies through the following services:
- Hazard Vulnerability Assessment: The Hazard Vulnerability Assessment (HVA) reviews historical data and local hazards in relation to the facility to determine the most probable threats and impacts to the facility and operations. The HVA for a church organization would also include potential threats due to certain programs or activities held by the organization.
- Continuity of Operations (COOP) and Business Continuity Planning (BCP): COOP and BCP are important in maintaining the daily functions and mission of the organization. These plans account for the vital functions of the organization and provide alternate facilities, necessary equipment, and personnel to achieve these functions.
- Emergency Operations Planning (EOP): EOPs not only include how to respond to an emergency, such as how to evacuate the building in case of fire, but also how to manage the emergency, coordinate organizational response actions, and engage with emergency responders to achieve the best possible outcome.
- Disaster Readiness Planning and Training: For churches whose members respond as relief and disaster response personnel, All Clear Emergency Management Group can train those volunteers. This service can also be applied to churches who act as shelters during local disasters.
- Incident Command System (ICS) / Leadership Training: First Responders across the country have implemented the ICS structure as a method to manage emergencies and account for costs and personnel. Establishing a method for knowing who is in charge and how the church personnel will organize their activities is a vital step in efficient and safe response. In addition to having a well organized internal response, churches that have personnel trained in ICS will better understand how to support the agencies responding to the aid of the church.
- Site Security Assessment
- Emergency Drills and Exercises: Having a plan is of little value if those responsible for carrying out the plan do not understand how the plan works. Training about a plan is valuable and necessary. Drills and exercises bring the entire process together by painting a mental image of what an emergency operation will look like and testing the theory of the plan in real time. Whether practicing through a low key tabletop exercise or through a high intensity full-scale exercise drills and exercises offer a unique learning environment. Churches have a unique opportunity to involve youth groups, senior groups, and other active participants to play various roles in an exercise to bring realism to the event.
1 From Chris Webb, Auckland University of Technology, Akoranga Campus, Auckland, New Zealand. Notes taken by Chris Webb during the University of Toronto’s Natural City Conference, June 2, 2006.
2 The photo on the header of the page is of St. Patrick’s in Iowa City, IA, following April 13, 2006 tornado. Attributed to Jay Honeck.