What is the scope of a disaster?

(introduction...)

SUMMARY OF SECTION 2

This section identifies which elements of disaster management appear to be distinguishing features from the normal management of development programmes. Suggestions are included for ways to express this focus in the development of an effective training programme.

Management has been defined as the efficient use of resources to achieve a clearly defined set of objectives. Therefore management training has to be structured in such a manner to develop attitudes, skills and knowledge to secure improved performance in the control of relevant resources for any specific task.

Obviously, training programmes all vary in their content according to the process being managed, but there are close similarities in the realm of teaching and learning approaches. Since management training, operating at all organisational levels, is widespread, a vast body of literature has been produced on the ‘whys and wherefores’ of the teaching process. So it follows that in the initiation of the major Disaster Management Training Programme (DMTP) it is vital to avoid a redundant exercise that risks ‘re-inventing many a wheel.’

The need is to explore this body of normal management training experience, which is well embodied in the literature to determine which elements can be readily incorporated into teaching/learning materials. However, on reflection it appears to be more sensible to reverse the question by identifying what is distinctive about disaster management training from routine management training in order to decide, in terms of both content and communication, what needs adding or subtracting.

The particular elements of disaster management training courses that make them distinctive from normal management courses, in, for example. Development Project Administration, can be classified under the following five topics:

2.1. International Scope2.2 Disasters Intermittent, Uncertain and Unexpected2.3. Disasters Scale and Scope2.4. Crisis Management

2.5. The Life Preserving Function of Disaster Management

It is apparent that the aspects of disaster planning that are distinctive ‘special features’ of resource management are all related to emergency planning or preparedness.

Other aspects of disaster planning such as mitigation and reconstruction planning need to be ‘normalised’. Mitigation planning and implementation is the natural bedfellow of development planning, and ideally needs to be fully integrated into this sector. Thus, any normal housing programme in a seismic area should incorporate aseismic design principles.

Similarly, reconstruction, which can take ten years to accomplish after a major disaster, has to be seen in terms of normal urban or rural development.

Therefore, each of the above topics relates to emergency planning and preparedness. The issues will be considered in the following text, noting certain important implications for training.

2.1. International Scope

Disaster Management Training courses are often international in their focus of interest as well as in the selection of participants and resource persons. There are various reasons for this situation, which include the reality that hazards are rarely confined to tidy national boundaries, well established patterns of international funding of assistance and patterns of international and regional cooperation.

Implications for training programmes

2.1.1 Consider Cross-Cultural Issues

...ideas, attitudes, approach and philosophy are often very different (between diverse cultures)...the way an object or event is understood and defined is often quite different ...situations are culturally defined and modified by our own cultural backgrounds. For we don’t just perceive, we learn to perceive. Thus we are, in fact, culturally programmed, much like our computers.

Martin Green

Attention must be paid to cross-cultural factors which can inhibit or enhance the effectiveness of a training programme. Barriers can relate to unfamiliar styles and modes of teaching as well as to hostile or unsympathetic attitudes between participants from countries, or cultures where there are residual patterns of rivalry and mutual suspicion.

However, with all these problems there is potentially a rich reward to be gained from the mixture of cultures participating together in a learning experience.

2.1.2 Be Aware of Language Implications

There may be language barriers to accommodate. This may require that participants be tested for linguistic proficiency as part of the selection process. The language ability of participants will also need to be considered in the selection of course reading materials and in the use of resource persons. Normally, within a workshop focused on a relatively small group there is a need to avoid the cost in time and money of providing two-way translation of presentations.

Where there are language barriers, workshop leaders also need to be aware of the danger in using unexplained acronyms as well as the jargon of the subject. Examples could include ‘quick and dirty approach,’ ‘the project impacted in negative terms on the target group’ and ‘NGO groups, some being expat PVOs, were in the EOC when the chairman of the NDCC arrived from the centre to assume control.’ It is obviously better to confine terminology to simple expressions wherever possible using examples to make a point clearly.

The language issue has implications in any discussion about definitions. It is important to discuss concepts. For example, it is preferable to talk about the need for realistic, affordable safety standards, rather than using restricting terminology or definitions, such as the term ‘mitigation.’ Precise terms such as this may not readily translate into a single word, and a person without English as a first language can rightly be very sensitive to any ethnocentric assumption made in an international training course that a word in one language should be the chosen term when they have no equivalent term in their own language.

2.1.3 Recognise the Assets of an International Focus

International dimensions are not to be regarded as potential liabilities. Rather, they should be seen in a highly positive light as a major contribution to successful training. This is the value of enabling participants from one culture or nation to be exposed to differing perceptions of their situation by outsiders.

Through this process they may be able to see their situation with some objectivity for the first time. The ‘view from another country’ can also provide comparative analysis and this detachment can be a vital ingredient in a training course that is expansive in nature rather than being a narrow insular experience.

2.1.4 Consider International Dependency and Cooperation

Many national training programmes begin their life with international support in the form of funds and imported resource persons. Whilst these visiting persons can fulfill the ‘external window role,’ they may have a negative impact by deflecting the need to develop and use national resource persons. It is possible for a form of dependency to develop with the local organisers depending on such visitors, and as a complementary process for the visiting resource persons depending on the courses for their own experience and reputations.

Perhaps as national training programmes develop, local organisers will be wise to retain the international focus, but place more reliance on the use of resource persons from within their own region, with countries that may share common languages and cultures and most important -the same types of hazard.

2.2. Disasters Intermittent, Uncertain and Unexpected

The vast proportion of disasters are marked by uncertainty, contradictory information and ambiguity. That is to say, no matter how large the event itself, no matter how grim the media’s reporting of it, critical unknowns -affected populations, damage assessment, needs - are prone to serious distortions and contradictory evidence.

Randolph C. Kent

Training courses for disaster management may be unique in comparison with other types of management training in their focus on preparing for an event which may have never previously occurred in the experience of the trainee, and which may even never take place in their future work. There are obvious exceptions: with frequent return hazards which may be seasonal in nature, with flooding or cyclones occurring in an annual cycle. However, there are other situations where the return period of an earthquake or volcanic eruption may be 40-70 years, or longer. In addition to being intermittent occurrences, hazards can be unexpected in their timing, so ‘planning for surprise’ has to become a key element in effective hazard management.

Implications for training programmes

2.2.1 Include Authentic Descriptions of Disaster Events

The organisers of a training course need to make strenuous efforts to convey, in as vivid a manner as possible, what actually occurs in a disaster. This may be achieved by drawing in resource persons with direct personal exposure to be able to first-hand descriptions of the types of hazard being considered in the training course. Further measures to convey reality may include the use of films, slides and videos.

2.2.2 Build In the Surprise Element

A training course may also benefit from the inclusion of some ‘shock tactics’ that may to some degree replicate the surprise and disturbance of a sudden disaster occurring. The announced programme may unexpectedly change and an unplanned event may take place which leaves participants in an uncertain frame of mind with a problem to cope with.

2.2.3 Incorporate Routine Hazards in the Content of the Workshop

Although certain disasters will be rare events, it is likely that some of the hazards that a given country or region is prone to will be much more frequent than others. Therefore, in order to build from the experience of the participants, it will be useful to initially concentrate on more common risks. In addition within any society minor accidents or technological disasters will occur continually.

Therefore there may be a value in expanding the scope of the training programme to include routine, smaller scale emergencies such as the management of industrial or technological hazards. Experience indicates that many of the principles and practice of response to regular emergencies are readily transferable to the management of much more severe major disasters. However, the scope of a course will inevitably need to be closely related to the specific responsibilities of participating staff.

Since any major disaster will affect virtually every sector of a society, it is imperative that any training course is carefully balanced to reflect this broad scope in its coverage.

As noted a common failing of many disaster management courses is their bias, and selective scope that relates to the experience or professional field of their leaders and teachers, which can result in a distorted view of reality.

Certain dramatic, well publicised major disasters can also result in the sudden influx of a resources on a vast scale. However, there is also the opposite problem, often associated with long-onset disasters such as droughts, where national and international response is pitifully small in relation to the scale of the problem and late in arrival.

Implications for training programmes

2.3.1 Establish a Broad Framework for the Training

The workshop content and the choice of leaders and contributors must relate to their breadth of interest and knowledge across a wide spectrum of social, cultural, political, economic, technological and environmental dimensions. Recognising the complexity of the subject and the inevitable limitations of any single person’s knowledge or professional discipline, it is clear that one implication will be to develop team teaching as well as group work to encourage a wide view of a complex subject.

Much will depend on the skill and commitment of workshop leaders or moderators in maintaining a balanced and broad perspective. Their role, when confronted with any narrowly focused presentation, will be to restore a balance by introducing the social or political implications of a technical issue or vice-versa.

2.3.2 Train Managers in the Assessment of Needs

The foundation of any successful period of emergency management is likely to be an accurate, rapid assessment of survivors’ needs, whether these be social, medical, psychological or economic concerns. This key role will certainly need to figure largely within an effective training course. In addition to the assessment of needs, there is the necessity of securing the agreement of other interested bodies on the validity of these assessments and communicating recommendations to potential donors. A further management skill that will need to be developed will be the capacity to monitor the changing patterns of needs of the surviving community as assistance is provided.

2.3.3 Train Managers to Make Decisions In Crisis Conditions with a Shortage of Information

There are some problems of Government in which speed of decision is the great thing, in which it is essential that some decision, even though it be not the ideal decision, should be taken quickly ...you do well to ask yourself two questions First -is the damage that would be done by some delay in reaching a decision more serious than the damage that a wrong decision would entail? Second -is the material that is the subject of your deliberation such that a decision found to be defective in practice can readily be amended?

W.S. Morrison, 1943First Minister of Planning in the UK,

responsible for post-war reconstruction

In normal conditions it is possible to make decisions in a highly systematic manner, but disaster management does not offer this opportunity. Despite all efforts to set up detailed preparedness plans and to assess situations and needs as precisely as possible (as noted above in Item 3.3), it has to be recognised that this may not be possible). The quotation from Herbert Morrison is a reminder that many decisions made in the aftermath of disasters will inevitably be based on inadequate information. This reality introduces a need to use training programmes to assist officials used to management in normal conditions to adapt to a context where they will need to decide on a course of action without delaying matters to obtain the data they would normally require. This skill can probably be best developed through role playing simulation exercises.

2.4. Crisis Management

In normal circumstances managers usually have time on their side and are able to proceed cautiously using the most sophisticated planning tools to arrive at considered, economical decisions. A crisis manager, on the other hand is expected to analyze information (often incomplete and sometimes inaccurate), make decisions and issue unambiguous instructions whilst operating under extreme pressure.

Brian Ward, Director
Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC)

Any disaster will result in stress for all who are involved in the process of management, as well as putting pressure on each of the key bodies involved in a management role. Therefore, through the training workshop participants need to be alerted to stress and how to cope (or even better, how to manage) in a crisis.

Implications for training programmes

2.4.1 Focus on Stress Management

Senior management is a highly stressful pursuit in all sectors and in normal conditions, but there are additional elements within the sphere of disaster planning that can add to this pressure, and these need to be anticipated within a training programme. The following factors increase stress:

	dealing with a situation where there are large numbers of distressed people who need care
	coping with other people who have management roles but are unable to cope with the pressure, and who display many symptoms of stress, such as irritation and a failure to perform their normal tasks
	coping with a situation where there can be acute time pressure to make rapid decisions
	making important management decisions with inadequate information
	attempting to manage a situation that is both unfamiliar and unexpected

In designing the training programme it is important, as far as is possible, to prepare individuals to cope with the stress of a disaster, as well as outlining a management approach that significantly reduces pressure on senior staff. There are two ways to approach this in training. Firstly, the programme can include crisis management, or the handling of stress. Secondly, stressful conditions can be deliberately incorporated into the training course. This was discussed under Item 2.2.2. and will be further described in the next Item.

2.4.2 Create Stressful Situations Within the Training Programme, to Train Staff to Cope Under Pressure

Having introduced the subject of stress, it is important to use the training programme to let participants experience stressful conditions and hopefully learn how cope with the pressure.

This can best be accomplished through role-playing, simulation exercises or drills, or by creating unexpected situations already described above in Item 2.2. In the use of simulations the directing staff can reduce or increase the pressure through their actions. They can increase stress (by speeding up the demand for action, or by creating new pressures when staff are barely coping with existing tasks).

In simulation exercises it is also possible to monitor individual capacities to cope with stress, as well as collective abilities of management teams. The feedback from such exercises will be the method to permit participants to reflect on their growth in knowledge, skills and attitudes in crisis management

To summarise, ‘Crisis Management Training’ relates to:

	KNOWLEDGE of how our minds and bodies cope or fail under the extra load of stress conditions
	the development of SKILLS in managing whilst under extreme pressure, which differ in some important aspects from normal management processes and
	perhaps the most important capability, the need to develop new, or improved ATTITUDES to tackle problems calmly and methodically despite the external turbulence.

2.5. The Life-Preserving Function of Disaster Management

Disaster and refugee situations are never the place to conduct experiments. Peoples’ lives are at stake. Only use well proven ideas/techniques, and if you want to test out a new idea only introduce it in a stable situation.

Moira Hart

One of the distinctive aspects of disaster planning and management is that lives depend on them in a very direct manner, so training has to be regarded very seriously. Special attention must be given to teach participants certain ‘fail-safe’ management approaches so that ‘back-up systems’ are available wherever this is possible.

Implications for training programmes

2.5.1 Encourage a Spirit of Commitment and Serious Concern

Poor planning and negligent disaster management can and will cost many lives. Of slightly less importance, there is the question of property protection. If management is weak there can be severe losses which can cause further deaths as well as economic hardship in both the short and long-term.

The implication is the need to take the training process very seriously, and this is best done through the example of committed leaders as well as incorporating detailed discussion on this issue in the teaching programme. This will include the need for various attitudes to be in evidence within any disaster management team such as compassion, social concern, acceptance of responsibility, dependability, conscientiousness and preparedness to become accountable to others.

2.5.2 The ‘Life Preserving Function’ of Relief Management Links the Subject into the Charitable/Philanthropic Tradition

Many of the leading relief and development agencies began their existence as pure disaster relief agencies, e.g. CARE, OXFAM and the Red Cross. Although most agencies have subsequently expanded their relief role to a broader developmental function, many people are still drawn into such agencies to work in disaster planning through a deep rooted humanitarian concern. This does not, of course, imply that the personnel in governmental or international agencies do not share this social concern, but the issue is more ‘institutionalised’ in the structure of non-governmental bodies.

The positive implications for training are the existence of deeply committed people who can convey this social concern to an entire training workshop in a highly infectious manner. Agency staff can also, however, bring a questioning spirit as to whether precious relief donations should ever be used to fund anything that is not central to assisting victims. They may be dubious of such activities as staff development or research to improve the agencies’ effectiveness.

An occasional underlying scepticism may be expressed which may derive from a naive assumption that ‘good intentions are likely to lead to good results.’ Adherents of this view may argue that staff training is unnecessary since effectiveness is guaranteed. Such comments can be usefully channelled into highly productive discussions.

Therefore, trainers need to be aware of the various positive and negative expressions of philanthropy, and through their training programme seek to channel social concern away from emotional rhetoric and its frequent bedfellow, a ‘hand-out’ mentality, to a more systematic approach based on accurate assessment of needs.

2.5.3 Teach Staff how to Incorporate ‘Fail-Safe Mechanisms’ in Management Tools and Approaches

Following from the awareness that disaster planning is primarily concerned with life-saving activities, emphasis must be placed on contingency planning to provide double protection of all critical facilities.

Examples need to given which explain how various countries provide ‘back-up systems’ for all critical facilities, or ‘lifelines.’ These can include:

	telephone lines to be backed up by radio links
	all copies of disaster plans to be in various locations
	management to continue even if designated staff are unavailable or killed, since all key managers will have designated deputies
	designated powers to obtain alternative ‘life-line resources’ when normal stocks are inadequate or inaccessible

Having considered examples of such ‘fail-safe measures’ the training will need to consider how to achieve double protection in given situations, despite pressing resource limitations which often result in there not even being single lifeline resources available.

Summary

The distinctive aspects that need to figure largely in a disaster management course can be summarised as follows:

Training courses are frequently international in nature, resulting in cross-cultural issues.

Training is directed towards the management of situations that may never occur, or if they do can be unexpected in their timing and consequences.

By their very nature all major disasters are vast in the scope and scale of impact, with implications on a wide range of sectors of a given society.

Emergency planning has to operate effectively in a situation where reliable information is a rare commodity requiring decisions to be made on slender information.

Training must recognise that participants will be required to operate under extreme pressure and work within stressful situations.

Disaster management is a close relation of the philanthropic, charitable tradition with its inherent strengths and weaknesses.

Effective emergency planning will have an impact in saving lives and protecting property, within emergency planning the management task will be to provide ‘back-up systems’ to all essential life saving services.

Page 2

Since any major disaster will affect virtually every sector of a society, it is imperative that any training course is carefully balanced to reflect this broad scope in its coverage.

As noted a common failing of many disaster management courses is their bias, and selective scope that relates to the experience or professional field of their leaders and teachers, which can result in a distorted view of reality.

Certain dramatic, well publicised major disasters can also result in the sudden influx of a resources on a vast scale. However, there is also the opposite problem, often associated with long-onset disasters such as droughts, where national and international response is pitifully small in relation to the scale of the problem and late in arrival.

Implications for training programmes

2.3.1 Establish a Broad Framework for the Training

The workshop content and the choice of leaders and contributors must relate to their breadth of interest and knowledge across a wide spectrum of social, cultural, political, economic, technological and environmental dimensions. Recognising the complexity of the subject and the inevitable limitations of any single person’s knowledge or professional discipline, it is clear that one implication will be to develop team teaching as well as group work to encourage a wide view of a complex subject.

Much will depend on the skill and commitment of workshop leaders or moderators in maintaining a balanced and broad perspective. Their role, when confronted with any narrowly focused presentation, will be to restore a balance by introducing the social or political implications of a technical issue or vice-versa.

2.3.2 Train Managers in the Assessment of Needs

The foundation of any successful period of emergency management is likely to be an accurate, rapid assessment of survivors’ needs, whether these be social, medical, psychological or economic concerns. This key role will certainly need to figure largely within an effective training course. In addition to the assessment of needs, there is the necessity of securing the agreement of other interested bodies on the validity of these assessments and communicating recommendations to potential donors. A further management skill that will need to be developed will be the capacity to monitor the changing patterns of needs of the surviving community as assistance is provided.

2.3.3 Train Managers to Make Decisions In Crisis Conditions with a Shortage of Information

There are some problems of Government in which speed of decision is the great thing, in which it is essential that some decision, even though it be not the ideal decision, should be taken quickly ...you do well to ask yourself two questions First -is the damage that would be done by some delay in reaching a decision more serious than the damage that a wrong decision would entail? Second -is the material that is the subject of your deliberation such that a decision found to be defective in practice can readily be amended?

W.S. Morrison, 1943First Minister of Planning in the UK,

responsible for post-war reconstruction

In normal conditions it is possible to make decisions in a highly systematic manner, but disaster management does not offer this opportunity. Despite all efforts to set up detailed preparedness plans and to assess situations and needs as precisely as possible (as noted above in Item 3.3), it has to be recognised that this may not be possible). The quotation from Herbert Morrison is a reminder that many decisions made in the aftermath of disasters will inevitably be based on inadequate information. This reality introduces a need to use training programmes to assist officials used to management in normal conditions to adapt to a context where they will need to decide on a course of action without delaying matters to obtain the data they would normally require. This skill can probably be best developed through role playing simulation exercises.

Page 3

(introduction...)

SUMMARY OF SECTION 2

This section identifies which elements of disaster management appear to be distinguishing features from the normal management of development programmes. Suggestions are included for ways to express this focus in the development of an effective training programme.

Management has been defined as the efficient use of resources to achieve a clearly defined set of objectives. Therefore management training has to be structured in such a manner to develop attitudes, skills and knowledge to secure improved performance in the control of relevant resources for any specific task.

Obviously, training programmes all vary in their content according to the process being managed, but there are close similarities in the realm of teaching and learning approaches. Since management training, operating at all organisational levels, is widespread, a vast body of literature has been produced on the ‘whys and wherefores’ of the teaching process. So it follows that in the initiation of the major Disaster Management Training Programme (DMTP) it is vital to avoid a redundant exercise that risks ‘re-inventing many a wheel.’

The need is to explore this body of normal management training experience, which is well embodied in the literature to determine which elements can be readily incorporated into teaching/learning materials. However, on reflection it appears to be more sensible to reverse the question by identifying what is distinctive about disaster management training from routine management training in order to decide, in terms of both content and communication, what needs adding or subtracting.

The particular elements of disaster management training courses that make them distinctive from normal management courses, in, for example. Development Project Administration, can be classified under the following five topics:

2.1. International Scope2.2 Disasters Intermittent, Uncertain and Unexpected2.3. Disasters Scale and Scope2.4. Crisis Management

2.5. The Life Preserving Function of Disaster Management

It is apparent that the aspects of disaster planning that are distinctive ‘special features’ of resource management are all related to emergency planning or preparedness.

Other aspects of disaster planning such as mitigation and reconstruction planning need to be ‘normalised’. Mitigation planning and implementation is the natural bedfellow of development planning, and ideally needs to be fully integrated into this sector. Thus, any normal housing programme in a seismic area should incorporate aseismic design principles.

Similarly, reconstruction, which can take ten years to accomplish after a major disaster, has to be seen in terms of normal urban or rural development.

Therefore, each of the above topics relates to emergency planning and preparedness. The issues will be considered in the following text, noting certain important implications for training.

2.1. International Scope

Disaster Management Training courses are often international in their focus of interest as well as in the selection of participants and resource persons. There are various reasons for this situation, which include the reality that hazards are rarely confined to tidy national boundaries, well established patterns of international funding of assistance and patterns of international and regional cooperation.

Implications for training programmes

2.1.1 Consider Cross-Cultural Issues

...ideas, attitudes, approach and philosophy are often very different (between diverse cultures)...the way an object or event is understood and defined is often quite different ...situations are culturally defined and modified by our own cultural backgrounds. For we don’t just perceive, we learn to perceive. Thus we are, in fact, culturally programmed, much like our computers.

Martin Green

Attention must be paid to cross-cultural factors which can inhibit or enhance the effectiveness of a training programme. Barriers can relate to unfamiliar styles and modes of teaching as well as to hostile or unsympathetic attitudes between participants from countries, or cultures where there are residual patterns of rivalry and mutual suspicion.

However, with all these problems there is potentially a rich reward to be gained from the mixture of cultures participating together in a learning experience.

2.1.2 Be Aware of Language Implications

There may be language barriers to accommodate. This may require that participants be tested for linguistic proficiency as part of the selection process. The language ability of participants will also need to be considered in the selection of course reading materials and in the use of resource persons. Normally, within a workshop focused on a relatively small group there is a need to avoid the cost in time and money of providing two-way translation of presentations.

Where there are language barriers, workshop leaders also need to be aware of the danger in using unexplained acronyms as well as the jargon of the subject. Examples could include ‘quick and dirty approach,’ ‘the project impacted in negative terms on the target group’ and ‘NGO groups, some being expat PVOs, were in the EOC when the chairman of the NDCC arrived from the centre to assume control.’ It is obviously better to confine terminology to simple expressions wherever possible using examples to make a point clearly.

The language issue has implications in any discussion about definitions. It is important to discuss concepts. For example, it is preferable to talk about the need for realistic, affordable safety standards, rather than using restricting terminology or definitions, such as the term ‘mitigation.’ Precise terms such as this may not readily translate into a single word, and a person without English as a first language can rightly be very sensitive to any ethnocentric assumption made in an international training course that a word in one language should be the chosen term when they have no equivalent term in their own language.

2.1.3 Recognise the Assets of an International Focus

International dimensions are not to be regarded as potential liabilities. Rather, they should be seen in a highly positive light as a major contribution to successful training. This is the value of enabling participants from one culture or nation to be exposed to differing perceptions of their situation by outsiders.

Through this process they may be able to see their situation with some objectivity for the first time. The ‘view from another country’ can also provide comparative analysis and this detachment can be a vital ingredient in a training course that is expansive in nature rather than being a narrow insular experience.

2.1.4 Consider International Dependency and Cooperation

Many national training programmes begin their life with international support in the form of funds and imported resource persons. Whilst these visiting persons can fulfill the ‘external window role,’ they may have a negative impact by deflecting the need to develop and use national resource persons. It is possible for a form of dependency to develop with the local organisers depending on such visitors, and as a complementary process for the visiting resource persons depending on the courses for their own experience and reputations.

Perhaps as national training programmes develop, local organisers will be wise to retain the international focus, but place more reliance on the use of resource persons from within their own region, with countries that may share common languages and cultures and most important -the same types of hazard.

2.2. Disasters Intermittent, Uncertain and Unexpected

The vast proportion of disasters are marked by uncertainty, contradictory information and ambiguity. That is to say, no matter how large the event itself, no matter how grim the media’s reporting of it, critical unknowns -affected populations, damage assessment, needs - are prone to serious distortions and contradictory evidence.

Randolph C. Kent

Training courses for disaster management may be unique in comparison with other types of management training in their focus on preparing for an event which may have never previously occurred in the experience of the trainee, and which may even never take place in their future work. There are obvious exceptions: with frequent return hazards which may be seasonal in nature, with flooding or cyclones occurring in an annual cycle. However, there are other situations where the return period of an earthquake or volcanic eruption may be 40-70 years, or longer. In addition to being intermittent occurrences, hazards can be unexpected in their timing, so ‘planning for surprise’ has to become a key element in effective hazard management.

Implications for training programmes

2.2.1 Include Authentic Descriptions of Disaster Events

The organisers of a training course need to make strenuous efforts to convey, in as vivid a manner as possible, what actually occurs in a disaster. This may be achieved by drawing in resource persons with direct personal exposure to be able to first-hand descriptions of the types of hazard being considered in the training course. Further measures to convey reality may include the use of films, slides and videos.

2.2.2 Build In the Surprise Element

A training course may also benefit from the inclusion of some ‘shock tactics’ that may to some degree replicate the surprise and disturbance of a sudden disaster occurring. The announced programme may unexpectedly change and an unplanned event may take place which leaves participants in an uncertain frame of mind with a problem to cope with.

2.2.3 Incorporate Routine Hazards in the Content of the Workshop

Although certain disasters will be rare events, it is likely that some of the hazards that a given country or region is prone to will be much more frequent than others. Therefore, in order to build from the experience of the participants, it will be useful to initially concentrate on more common risks. In addition within any society minor accidents or technological disasters will occur continually.

Therefore there may be a value in expanding the scope of the training programme to include routine, smaller scale emergencies such as the management of industrial or technological hazards. Experience indicates that many of the principles and practice of response to regular emergencies are readily transferable to the management of much more severe major disasters. However, the scope of a course will inevitably need to be closely related to the specific responsibilities of participating staff.

Since any major disaster will affect virtually every sector of a society, it is imperative that any training course is carefully balanced to reflect this broad scope in its coverage.

As noted a common failing of many disaster management courses is their bias, and selective scope that relates to the experience or professional field of their leaders and teachers, which can result in a distorted view of reality.

Certain dramatic, well publicised major disasters can also result in the sudden influx of a resources on a vast scale. However, there is also the opposite problem, often associated with long-onset disasters such as droughts, where national and international response is pitifully small in relation to the scale of the problem and late in arrival.

Implications for training programmes

2.3.1 Establish a Broad Framework for the Training

The workshop content and the choice of leaders and contributors must relate to their breadth of interest and knowledge across a wide spectrum of social, cultural, political, economic, technological and environmental dimensions. Recognising the complexity of the subject and the inevitable limitations of any single person’s knowledge or professional discipline, it is clear that one implication will be to develop team teaching as well as group work to encourage a wide view of a complex subject.

Much will depend on the skill and commitment of workshop leaders or moderators in maintaining a balanced and broad perspective. Their role, when confronted with any narrowly focused presentation, will be to restore a balance by introducing the social or political implications of a technical issue or vice-versa.

2.3.2 Train Managers in the Assessment of Needs

The foundation of any successful period of emergency management is likely to be an accurate, rapid assessment of survivors’ needs, whether these be social, medical, psychological or economic concerns. This key role will certainly need to figure largely within an effective training course. In addition to the assessment of needs, there is the necessity of securing the agreement of other interested bodies on the validity of these assessments and communicating recommendations to potential donors. A further management skill that will need to be developed will be the capacity to monitor the changing patterns of needs of the surviving community as assistance is provided.

2.3.3 Train Managers to Make Decisions In Crisis Conditions with a Shortage of Information

There are some problems of Government in which speed of decision is the great thing, in which it is essential that some decision, even though it be not the ideal decision, should be taken quickly ...you do well to ask yourself two questions First -is the damage that would be done by some delay in reaching a decision more serious than the damage that a wrong decision would entail? Second -is the material that is the subject of your deliberation such that a decision found to be defective in practice can readily be amended?

W.S. Morrison, 1943First Minister of Planning in the UK,

responsible for post-war reconstruction

In normal conditions it is possible to make decisions in a highly systematic manner, but disaster management does not offer this opportunity. Despite all efforts to set up detailed preparedness plans and to assess situations and needs as precisely as possible (as noted above in Item 3.3), it has to be recognised that this may not be possible). The quotation from Herbert Morrison is a reminder that many decisions made in the aftermath of disasters will inevitably be based on inadequate information. This reality introduces a need to use training programmes to assist officials used to management in normal conditions to adapt to a context where they will need to decide on a course of action without delaying matters to obtain the data they would normally require. This skill can probably be best developed through role playing simulation exercises.

2.4. Crisis Management

In normal circumstances managers usually have time on their side and are able to proceed cautiously using the most sophisticated planning tools to arrive at considered, economical decisions. A crisis manager, on the other hand is expected to analyze information (often incomplete and sometimes inaccurate), make decisions and issue unambiguous instructions whilst operating under extreme pressure.

Brian Ward, Director
Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC)

Any disaster will result in stress for all who are involved in the process of management, as well as putting pressure on each of the key bodies involved in a management role. Therefore, through the training workshop participants need to be alerted to stress and how to cope (or even better, how to manage) in a crisis.

Implications for training programmes

2.4.1 Focus on Stress Management

Senior management is a highly stressful pursuit in all sectors and in normal conditions, but there are additional elements within the sphere of disaster planning that can add to this pressure, and these need to be anticipated within a training programme. The following factors increase stress:

	dealing with a situation where there are large numbers of distressed people who need care
	coping with other people who have management roles but are unable to cope with the pressure, and who display many symptoms of stress, such as irritation and a failure to perform their normal tasks
	coping with a situation where there can be acute time pressure to make rapid decisions
	making important management decisions with inadequate information
	attempting to manage a situation that is both unfamiliar and unexpected

In designing the training programme it is important, as far as is possible, to prepare individuals to cope with the stress of a disaster, as well as outlining a management approach that significantly reduces pressure on senior staff. There are two ways to approach this in training. Firstly, the programme can include crisis management, or the handling of stress. Secondly, stressful conditions can be deliberately incorporated into the training course. This was discussed under Item 2.2.2. and will be further described in the next Item.

2.4.2 Create Stressful Situations Within the Training Programme, to Train Staff to Cope Under Pressure

Having introduced the subject of stress, it is important to use the training programme to let participants experience stressful conditions and hopefully learn how cope with the pressure.

This can best be accomplished through role-playing, simulation exercises or drills, or by creating unexpected situations already described above in Item 2.2. In the use of simulations the directing staff can reduce or increase the pressure through their actions. They can increase stress (by speeding up the demand for action, or by creating new pressures when staff are barely coping with existing tasks).

In simulation exercises it is also possible to monitor individual capacities to cope with stress, as well as collective abilities of management teams. The feedback from such exercises will be the method to permit participants to reflect on their growth in knowledge, skills and attitudes in crisis management

To summarise, ‘Crisis Management Training’ relates to:

	KNOWLEDGE of how our minds and bodies cope or fail under the extra load of stress conditions
	the development of SKILLS in managing whilst under extreme pressure, which differ in some important aspects from normal management processes and
	perhaps the most important capability, the need to develop new, or improved ATTITUDES to tackle problems calmly and methodically despite the external turbulence.

2.5. The Life-Preserving Function of Disaster Management

Disaster and refugee situations are never the place to conduct experiments. Peoples’ lives are at stake. Only use well proven ideas/techniques, and if you want to test out a new idea only introduce it in a stable situation.

Moira Hart

One of the distinctive aspects of disaster planning and management is that lives depend on them in a very direct manner, so training has to be regarded very seriously. Special attention must be given to teach participants certain ‘fail-safe’ management approaches so that ‘back-up systems’ are available wherever this is possible.

Implications for training programmes

2.5.1 Encourage a Spirit of Commitment and Serious Concern

Poor planning and negligent disaster management can and will cost many lives. Of slightly less importance, there is the question of property protection. If management is weak there can be severe losses which can cause further deaths as well as economic hardship in both the short and long-term.

The implication is the need to take the training process very seriously, and this is best done through the example of committed leaders as well as incorporating detailed discussion on this issue in the teaching programme. This will include the need for various attitudes to be in evidence within any disaster management team such as compassion, social concern, acceptance of responsibility, dependability, conscientiousness and preparedness to become accountable to others.

2.5.2 The ‘Life Preserving Function’ of Relief Management Links the Subject into the Charitable/Philanthropic Tradition

Many of the leading relief and development agencies began their existence as pure disaster relief agencies, e.g. CARE, OXFAM and the Red Cross. Although most agencies have subsequently expanded their relief role to a broader developmental function, many people are still drawn into such agencies to work in disaster planning through a deep rooted humanitarian concern. This does not, of course, imply that the personnel in governmental or international agencies do not share this social concern, but the issue is more ‘institutionalised’ in the structure of non-governmental bodies.

The positive implications for training are the existence of deeply committed people who can convey this social concern to an entire training workshop in a highly infectious manner. Agency staff can also, however, bring a questioning spirit as to whether precious relief donations should ever be used to fund anything that is not central to assisting victims. They may be dubious of such activities as staff development or research to improve the agencies’ effectiveness.

An occasional underlying scepticism may be expressed which may derive from a naive assumption that ‘good intentions are likely to lead to good results.’ Adherents of this view may argue that staff training is unnecessary since effectiveness is guaranteed. Such comments can be usefully channelled into highly productive discussions.

Therefore, trainers need to be aware of the various positive and negative expressions of philanthropy, and through their training programme seek to channel social concern away from emotional rhetoric and its frequent bedfellow, a ‘hand-out’ mentality, to a more systematic approach based on accurate assessment of needs.

2.5.3 Teach Staff how to Incorporate ‘Fail-Safe Mechanisms’ in Management Tools and Approaches

Following from the awareness that disaster planning is primarily concerned with life-saving activities, emphasis must be placed on contingency planning to provide double protection of all critical facilities.

Examples need to given which explain how various countries provide ‘back-up systems’ for all critical facilities, or ‘lifelines.’ These can include:

	telephone lines to be backed up by radio links
	all copies of disaster plans to be in various locations
	management to continue even if designated staff are unavailable or killed, since all key managers will have designated deputies
	designated powers to obtain alternative ‘life-line resources’ when normal stocks are inadequate or inaccessible

Having considered examples of such ‘fail-safe measures’ the training will need to consider how to achieve double protection in given situations, despite pressing resource limitations which often result in there not even being single lifeline resources available.

Summary

The distinctive aspects that need to figure largely in a disaster management course can be summarised as follows:

Training courses are frequently international in nature, resulting in cross-cultural issues.

Training is directed towards the management of situations that may never occur, or if they do can be unexpected in their timing and consequences.

By their very nature all major disasters are vast in the scope and scale of impact, with implications on a wide range of sectors of a given society.

Emergency planning has to operate effectively in a situation where reliable information is a rare commodity requiring decisions to be made on slender information.

Training must recognise that participants will be required to operate under extreme pressure and work within stressful situations.

Disaster management is a close relation of the philanthropic, charitable tradition with its inherent strengths and weaknesses.

Effective emergency planning will have an impact in saving lives and protecting property, within emergency planning the management task will be to provide ‘back-up systems’ to all essential life saving services.

Page 4

Since any major disaster will affect virtually every sector of a society, it is imperative that any training course is carefully balanced to reflect this broad scope in its coverage.

As noted a common failing of many disaster management courses is their bias, and selective scope that relates to the experience or professional field of their leaders and teachers, which can result in a distorted view of reality.

Certain dramatic, well publicised major disasters can also result in the sudden influx of a resources on a vast scale. However, there is also the opposite problem, often associated with long-onset disasters such as droughts, where national and international response is pitifully small in relation to the scale of the problem and late in arrival.

Implications for training programmes

2.3.1 Establish a Broad Framework for the Training

The workshop content and the choice of leaders and contributors must relate to their breadth of interest and knowledge across a wide spectrum of social, cultural, political, economic, technological and environmental dimensions. Recognising the complexity of the subject and the inevitable limitations of any single person’s knowledge or professional discipline, it is clear that one implication will be to develop team teaching as well as group work to encourage a wide view of a complex subject.

Much will depend on the skill and commitment of workshop leaders or moderators in maintaining a balanced and broad perspective. Their role, when confronted with any narrowly focused presentation, will be to restore a balance by introducing the social or political implications of a technical issue or vice-versa.

2.3.2 Train Managers in the Assessment of Needs

The foundation of any successful period of emergency management is likely to be an accurate, rapid assessment of survivors’ needs, whether these be social, medical, psychological or economic concerns. This key role will certainly need to figure largely within an effective training course. In addition to the assessment of needs, there is the necessity of securing the agreement of other interested bodies on the validity of these assessments and communicating recommendations to potential donors. A further management skill that will need to be developed will be the capacity to monitor the changing patterns of needs of the surviving community as assistance is provided.

2.3.3 Train Managers to Make Decisions In Crisis Conditions with a Shortage of Information

There are some problems of Government in which speed of decision is the great thing, in which it is essential that some decision, even though it be not the ideal decision, should be taken quickly ...you do well to ask yourself two questions First -is the damage that would be done by some delay in reaching a decision more serious than the damage that a wrong decision would entail? Second -is the material that is the subject of your deliberation such that a decision found to be defective in practice can readily be amended?

W.S. Morrison, 1943First Minister of Planning in the UK,

responsible for post-war reconstruction

In normal conditions it is possible to make decisions in a highly systematic manner, but disaster management does not offer this opportunity. Despite all efforts to set up detailed preparedness plans and to assess situations and needs as precisely as possible (as noted above in Item 3.3), it has to be recognised that this may not be possible). The quotation from Herbert Morrison is a reminder that many decisions made in the aftermath of disasters will inevitably be based on inadequate information. This reality introduces a need to use training programmes to assist officials used to management in normal conditions to adapt to a context where they will need to decide on a course of action without delaying matters to obtain the data they would normally require. This skill can probably be best developed through role playing simulation exercises.

Page 5

Since any major disaster will affect virtually every sector of a society, it is imperative that any training course is carefully balanced to reflect this broad scope in its coverage.

As noted a common failing of many disaster management courses is their bias, and selective scope that relates to the experience or professional field of their leaders and teachers, which can result in a distorted view of reality.

Certain dramatic, well publicised major disasters can also result in the sudden influx of a resources on a vast scale. However, there is also the opposite problem, often associated with long-onset disasters such as droughts, where national and international response is pitifully small in relation to the scale of the problem and late in arrival.

Implications for training programmes

2.3.1 Establish a Broad Framework for the Training

The workshop content and the choice of leaders and contributors must relate to their breadth of interest and knowledge across a wide spectrum of social, cultural, political, economic, technological and environmental dimensions. Recognising the complexity of the subject and the inevitable limitations of any single person’s knowledge or professional discipline, it is clear that one implication will be to develop team teaching as well as group work to encourage a wide view of a complex subject.

Much will depend on the skill and commitment of workshop leaders or moderators in maintaining a balanced and broad perspective. Their role, when confronted with any narrowly focused presentation, will be to restore a balance by introducing the social or political implications of a technical issue or vice-versa.

2.3.2 Train Managers in the Assessment of Needs

The foundation of any successful period of emergency management is likely to be an accurate, rapid assessment of survivors’ needs, whether these be social, medical, psychological or economic concerns. This key role will certainly need to figure largely within an effective training course. In addition to the assessment of needs, there is the necessity of securing the agreement of other interested bodies on the validity of these assessments and communicating recommendations to potential donors. A further management skill that will need to be developed will be the capacity to monitor the changing patterns of needs of the surviving community as assistance is provided.

2.3.3 Train Managers to Make Decisions In Crisis Conditions with a Shortage of Information

There are some problems of Government in which speed of decision is the great thing, in which it is essential that some decision, even though it be not the ideal decision, should be taken quickly ...you do well to ask yourself two questions First -is the damage that would be done by some delay in reaching a decision more serious than the damage that a wrong decision would entail? Second -is the material that is the subject of your deliberation such that a decision found to be defective in practice can readily be amended?

W.S. Morrison, 1943First Minister of Planning in the UK,

responsible for post-war reconstruction

In normal conditions it is possible to make decisions in a highly systematic manner, but disaster management does not offer this opportunity. Despite all efforts to set up detailed preparedness plans and to assess situations and needs as precisely as possible (as noted above in Item 3.3), it has to be recognised that this may not be possible). The quotation from Herbert Morrison is a reminder that many decisions made in the aftermath of disasters will inevitably be based on inadequate information. This reality introduces a need to use training programmes to assist officials used to management in normal conditions to adapt to a context where they will need to decide on a course of action without delaying matters to obtain the data they would normally require. This skill can probably be best developed through role playing simulation exercises.

Page 6

(introduction...)

SUMMARY OF SECTION 2

This section identifies which elements of disaster management appear to be distinguishing features from the normal management of development programmes. Suggestions are included for ways to express this focus in the development of an effective training programme.

Management has been defined as the efficient use of resources to achieve a clearly defined set of objectives. Therefore management training has to be structured in such a manner to develop attitudes, skills and knowledge to secure improved performance in the control of relevant resources for any specific task.

Obviously, training programmes all vary in their content according to the process being managed, but there are close similarities in the realm of teaching and learning approaches. Since management training, operating at all organisational levels, is widespread, a vast body of literature has been produced on the ‘whys and wherefores’ of the teaching process. So it follows that in the initiation of the major Disaster Management Training Programme (DMTP) it is vital to avoid a redundant exercise that risks ‘re-inventing many a wheel.’

The need is to explore this body of normal management training experience, which is well embodied in the literature to determine which elements can be readily incorporated into teaching/learning materials. However, on reflection it appears to be more sensible to reverse the question by identifying what is distinctive about disaster management training from routine management training in order to decide, in terms of both content and communication, what needs adding or subtracting.

The particular elements of disaster management training courses that make them distinctive from normal management courses, in, for example. Development Project Administration, can be classified under the following five topics:

2.1. International Scope2.2 Disasters Intermittent, Uncertain and Unexpected2.3. Disasters Scale and Scope2.4. Crisis Management

2.5. The Life Preserving Function of Disaster Management

It is apparent that the aspects of disaster planning that are distinctive ‘special features’ of resource management are all related to emergency planning or preparedness.

Other aspects of disaster planning such as mitigation and reconstruction planning need to be ‘normalised’. Mitigation planning and implementation is the natural bedfellow of development planning, and ideally needs to be fully integrated into this sector. Thus, any normal housing programme in a seismic area should incorporate aseismic design principles.

Similarly, reconstruction, which can take ten years to accomplish after a major disaster, has to be seen in terms of normal urban or rural development.

Therefore, each of the above topics relates to emergency planning and preparedness. The issues will be considered in the following text, noting certain important implications for training.

2.1. International Scope

Disaster Management Training courses are often international in their focus of interest as well as in the selection of participants and resource persons. There are various reasons for this situation, which include the reality that hazards are rarely confined to tidy national boundaries, well established patterns of international funding of assistance and patterns of international and regional cooperation.

Implications for training programmes

2.1.1 Consider Cross-Cultural Issues

...ideas, attitudes, approach and philosophy are often very different (between diverse cultures)...the way an object or event is understood and defined is often quite different ...situations are culturally defined and modified by our own cultural backgrounds. For we don’t just perceive, we learn to perceive. Thus we are, in fact, culturally programmed, much like our computers.

Martin Green

Attention must be paid to cross-cultural factors which can inhibit or enhance the effectiveness of a training programme. Barriers can relate to unfamiliar styles and modes of teaching as well as to hostile or unsympathetic attitudes between participants from countries, or cultures where there are residual patterns of rivalry and mutual suspicion.

However, with all these problems there is potentially a rich reward to be gained from the mixture of cultures participating together in a learning experience.

2.1.2 Be Aware of Language Implications

There may be language barriers to accommodate. This may require that participants be tested for linguistic proficiency as part of the selection process. The language ability of participants will also need to be considered in the selection of course reading materials and in the use of resource persons. Normally, within a workshop focused on a relatively small group there is a need to avoid the cost in time and money of providing two-way translation of presentations.

Where there are language barriers, workshop leaders also need to be aware of the danger in using unexplained acronyms as well as the jargon of the subject. Examples could include ‘quick and dirty approach,’ ‘the project impacted in negative terms on the target group’ and ‘NGO groups, some being expat PVOs, were in the EOC when the chairman of the NDCC arrived from the centre to assume control.’ It is obviously better to confine terminology to simple expressions wherever possible using examples to make a point clearly.

The language issue has implications in any discussion about definitions. It is important to discuss concepts. For example, it is preferable to talk about the need for realistic, affordable safety standards, rather than using restricting terminology or definitions, such as the term ‘mitigation.’ Precise terms such as this may not readily translate into a single word, and a person without English as a first language can rightly be very sensitive to any ethnocentric assumption made in an international training course that a word in one language should be the chosen term when they have no equivalent term in their own language.

2.1.3 Recognise the Assets of an International Focus

International dimensions are not to be regarded as potential liabilities. Rather, they should be seen in a highly positive light as a major contribution to successful training. This is the value of enabling participants from one culture or nation to be exposed to differing perceptions of their situation by outsiders.

Through this process they may be able to see their situation with some objectivity for the first time. The ‘view from another country’ can also provide comparative analysis and this detachment can be a vital ingredient in a training course that is expansive in nature rather than being a narrow insular experience.

2.1.4 Consider International Dependency and Cooperation

Many national training programmes begin their life with international support in the form of funds and imported resource persons. Whilst these visiting persons can fulfill the ‘external window role,’ they may have a negative impact by deflecting the need to develop and use national resource persons. It is possible for a form of dependency to develop with the local organisers depending on such visitors, and as a complementary process for the visiting resource persons depending on the courses for their own experience and reputations.

Perhaps as national training programmes develop, local organisers will be wise to retain the international focus, but place more reliance on the use of resource persons from within their own region, with countries that may share common languages and cultures and most important -the same types of hazard.

2.2. Disasters Intermittent, Uncertain and Unexpected

The vast proportion of disasters are marked by uncertainty, contradictory information and ambiguity. That is to say, no matter how large the event itself, no matter how grim the media’s reporting of it, critical unknowns -affected populations, damage assessment, needs - are prone to serious distortions and contradictory evidence.

Randolph C. Kent

Training courses for disaster management may be unique in comparison with other types of management training in their focus on preparing for an event which may have never previously occurred in the experience of the trainee, and which may even never take place in their future work. There are obvious exceptions: with frequent return hazards which may be seasonal in nature, with flooding or cyclones occurring in an annual cycle. However, there are other situations where the return period of an earthquake or volcanic eruption may be 40-70 years, or longer. In addition to being intermittent occurrences, hazards can be unexpected in their timing, so ‘planning for surprise’ has to become a key element in effective hazard management.

Implications for training programmes

2.2.1 Include Authentic Descriptions of Disaster Events

The organisers of a training course need to make strenuous efforts to convey, in as vivid a manner as possible, what actually occurs in a disaster. This may be achieved by drawing in resource persons with direct personal exposure to be able to first-hand descriptions of the types of hazard being considered in the training course. Further measures to convey reality may include the use of films, slides and videos.

2.2.2 Build In the Surprise Element

A training course may also benefit from the inclusion of some ‘shock tactics’ that may to some degree replicate the surprise and disturbance of a sudden disaster occurring. The announced programme may unexpectedly change and an unplanned event may take place which leaves participants in an uncertain frame of mind with a problem to cope with.

2.2.3 Incorporate Routine Hazards in the Content of the Workshop

Although certain disasters will be rare events, it is likely that some of the hazards that a given country or region is prone to will be much more frequent than others. Therefore, in order to build from the experience of the participants, it will be useful to initially concentrate on more common risks. In addition within any society minor accidents or technological disasters will occur continually.

Therefore there may be a value in expanding the scope of the training programme to include routine, smaller scale emergencies such as the management of industrial or technological hazards. Experience indicates that many of the principles and practice of response to regular emergencies are readily transferable to the management of much more severe major disasters. However, the scope of a course will inevitably need to be closely related to the specific responsibilities of participating staff.

Since any major disaster will affect virtually every sector of a society, it is imperative that any training course is carefully balanced to reflect this broad scope in its coverage.

As noted a common failing of many disaster management courses is their bias, and selective scope that relates to the experience or professional field of their leaders and teachers, which can result in a distorted view of reality.

Certain dramatic, well publicised major disasters can also result in the sudden influx of a resources on a vast scale. However, there is also the opposite problem, often associated with long-onset disasters such as droughts, where national and international response is pitifully small in relation to the scale of the problem and late in arrival.

Implications for training programmes

2.3.1 Establish a Broad Framework for the Training

The workshop content and the choice of leaders and contributors must relate to their breadth of interest and knowledge across a wide spectrum of social, cultural, political, economic, technological and environmental dimensions. Recognising the complexity of the subject and the inevitable limitations of any single person’s knowledge or professional discipline, it is clear that one implication will be to develop team teaching as well as group work to encourage a wide view of a complex subject.

Much will depend on the skill and commitment of workshop leaders or moderators in maintaining a balanced and broad perspective. Their role, when confronted with any narrowly focused presentation, will be to restore a balance by introducing the social or political implications of a technical issue or vice-versa.

2.3.2 Train Managers in the Assessment of Needs

The foundation of any successful period of emergency management is likely to be an accurate, rapid assessment of survivors’ needs, whether these be social, medical, psychological or economic concerns. This key role will certainly need to figure largely within an effective training course. In addition to the assessment of needs, there is the necessity of securing the agreement of other interested bodies on the validity of these assessments and communicating recommendations to potential donors. A further management skill that will need to be developed will be the capacity to monitor the changing patterns of needs of the surviving community as assistance is provided.

2.3.3 Train Managers to Make Decisions In Crisis Conditions with a Shortage of Information

There are some problems of Government in which speed of decision is the great thing, in which it is essential that some decision, even though it be not the ideal decision, should be taken quickly ...you do well to ask yourself two questions First -is the damage that would be done by some delay in reaching a decision more serious than the damage that a wrong decision would entail? Second -is the material that is the subject of your deliberation such that a decision found to be defective in practice can readily be amended?

W.S. Morrison, 1943First Minister of Planning in the UK,

responsible for post-war reconstruction

In normal conditions it is possible to make decisions in a highly systematic manner, but disaster management does not offer this opportunity. Despite all efforts to set up detailed preparedness plans and to assess situations and needs as precisely as possible (as noted above in Item 3.3), it has to be recognised that this may not be possible). The quotation from Herbert Morrison is a reminder that many decisions made in the aftermath of disasters will inevitably be based on inadequate information. This reality introduces a need to use training programmes to assist officials used to management in normal conditions to adapt to a context where they will need to decide on a course of action without delaying matters to obtain the data they would normally require. This skill can probably be best developed through role playing simulation exercises.

2.4. Crisis Management

In normal circumstances managers usually have time on their side and are able to proceed cautiously using the most sophisticated planning tools to arrive at considered, economical decisions. A crisis manager, on the other hand is expected to analyze information (often incomplete and sometimes inaccurate), make decisions and issue unambiguous instructions whilst operating under extreme pressure.

Brian Ward, Director
Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC)

Any disaster will result in stress for all who are involved in the process of management, as well as putting pressure on each of the key bodies involved in a management role. Therefore, through the training workshop participants need to be alerted to stress and how to cope (or even better, how to manage) in a crisis.

Implications for training programmes

2.4.1 Focus on Stress Management

Senior management is a highly stressful pursuit in all sectors and in normal conditions, but there are additional elements within the sphere of disaster planning that can add to this pressure, and these need to be anticipated within a training programme. The following factors increase stress:

	dealing with a situation where there are large numbers of distressed people who need care
	coping with other people who have management roles but are unable to cope with the pressure, and who display many symptoms of stress, such as irritation and a failure to perform their normal tasks
	coping with a situation where there can be acute time pressure to make rapid decisions
	making important management decisions with inadequate information
	attempting to manage a situation that is both unfamiliar and unexpected

In designing the training programme it is important, as far as is possible, to prepare individuals to cope with the stress of a disaster, as well as outlining a management approach that significantly reduces pressure on senior staff. There are two ways to approach this in training. Firstly, the programme can include crisis management, or the handling of stress. Secondly, stressful conditions can be deliberately incorporated into the training course. This was discussed under Item 2.2.2. and will be further described in the next Item.

2.4.2 Create Stressful Situations Within the Training Programme, to Train Staff to Cope Under Pressure

Having introduced the subject of stress, it is important to use the training programme to let participants experience stressful conditions and hopefully learn how cope with the pressure.

This can best be accomplished through role-playing, simulation exercises or drills, or by creating unexpected situations already described above in Item 2.2. In the use of simulations the directing staff can reduce or increase the pressure through their actions. They can increase stress (by speeding up the demand for action, or by creating new pressures when staff are barely coping with existing tasks).

In simulation exercises it is also possible to monitor individual capacities to cope with stress, as well as collective abilities of management teams. The feedback from such exercises will be the method to permit participants to reflect on their growth in knowledge, skills and attitudes in crisis management

To summarise, ‘Crisis Management Training’ relates to:

	KNOWLEDGE of how our minds and bodies cope or fail under the extra load of stress conditions
	the development of SKILLS in managing whilst under extreme pressure, which differ in some important aspects from normal management processes and
	perhaps the most important capability, the need to develop new, or improved ATTITUDES to tackle problems calmly and methodically despite the external turbulence.

2.5. The Life-Preserving Function of Disaster Management

Disaster and refugee situations are never the place to conduct experiments. Peoples’ lives are at stake. Only use well proven ideas/techniques, and if you want to test out a new idea only introduce it in a stable situation.

Moira Hart

One of the distinctive aspects of disaster planning and management is that lives depend on them in a very direct manner, so training has to be regarded very seriously. Special attention must be given to teach participants certain ‘fail-safe’ management approaches so that ‘back-up systems’ are available wherever this is possible.

Implications for training programmes

2.5.1 Encourage a Spirit of Commitment and Serious Concern

Poor planning and negligent disaster management can and will cost many lives. Of slightly less importance, there is the question of property protection. If management is weak there can be severe losses which can cause further deaths as well as economic hardship in both the short and long-term.

The implication is the need to take the training process very seriously, and this is best done through the example of committed leaders as well as incorporating detailed discussion on this issue in the teaching programme. This will include the need for various attitudes to be in evidence within any disaster management team such as compassion, social concern, acceptance of responsibility, dependability, conscientiousness and preparedness to become accountable to others.

2.5.2 The ‘Life Preserving Function’ of Relief Management Links the Subject into the Charitable/Philanthropic Tradition

Many of the leading relief and development agencies began their existence as pure disaster relief agencies, e.g. CARE, OXFAM and the Red Cross. Although most agencies have subsequently expanded their relief role to a broader developmental function, many people are still drawn into such agencies to work in disaster planning through a deep rooted humanitarian concern. This does not, of course, imply that the personnel in governmental or international agencies do not share this social concern, but the issue is more ‘institutionalised’ in the structure of non-governmental bodies.

The positive implications for training are the existence of deeply committed people who can convey this social concern to an entire training workshop in a highly infectious manner. Agency staff can also, however, bring a questioning spirit as to whether precious relief donations should ever be used to fund anything that is not central to assisting victims. They may be dubious of such activities as staff development or research to improve the agencies’ effectiveness.

An occasional underlying scepticism may be expressed which may derive from a naive assumption that ‘good intentions are likely to lead to good results.’ Adherents of this view may argue that staff training is unnecessary since effectiveness is guaranteed. Such comments can be usefully channelled into highly productive discussions.

Therefore, trainers need to be aware of the various positive and negative expressions of philanthropy, and through their training programme seek to channel social concern away from emotional rhetoric and its frequent bedfellow, a ‘hand-out’ mentality, to a more systematic approach based on accurate assessment of needs.

2.5.3 Teach Staff how to Incorporate ‘Fail-Safe Mechanisms’ in Management Tools and Approaches

Following from the awareness that disaster planning is primarily concerned with life-saving activities, emphasis must be placed on contingency planning to provide double protection of all critical facilities.

Examples need to given which explain how various countries provide ‘back-up systems’ for all critical facilities, or ‘lifelines.’ These can include:

	telephone lines to be backed up by radio links
	all copies of disaster plans to be in various locations
	management to continue even if designated staff are unavailable or killed, since all key managers will have designated deputies
	designated powers to obtain alternative ‘life-line resources’ when normal stocks are inadequate or inaccessible

Having considered examples of such ‘fail-safe measures’ the training will need to consider how to achieve double protection in given situations, despite pressing resource limitations which often result in there not even being single lifeline resources available.

Summary

The distinctive aspects that need to figure largely in a disaster management course can be summarised as follows:

Training courses are frequently international in nature, resulting in cross-cultural issues.

Training is directed towards the management of situations that may never occur, or if they do can be unexpected in their timing and consequences.

By their very nature all major disasters are vast in the scope and scale of impact, with implications on a wide range of sectors of a given society.

Emergency planning has to operate effectively in a situation where reliable information is a rare commodity requiring decisions to be made on slender information.

Training must recognise that participants will be required to operate under extreme pressure and work within stressful situations.

Disaster management is a close relation of the philanthropic, charitable tradition with its inherent strengths and weaknesses.

Effective emergency planning will have an impact in saving lives and protecting property, within emergency planning the management task will be to provide ‘back-up systems’ to all essential life saving services.

Page 7

Since any major disaster will affect virtually every sector of a society, it is imperative that any training course is carefully balanced to reflect this broad scope in its coverage.

As noted a common failing of many disaster management courses is their bias, and selective scope that relates to the experience or professional field of their leaders and teachers, which can result in a distorted view of reality.

Certain dramatic, well publicised major disasters can also result in the sudden influx of a resources on a vast scale. However, there is also the opposite problem, often associated with long-onset disasters such as droughts, where national and international response is pitifully small in relation to the scale of the problem and late in arrival.

Implications for training programmes

2.3.1 Establish a Broad Framework for the Training

The workshop content and the choice of leaders and contributors must relate to their breadth of interest and knowledge across a wide spectrum of social, cultural, political, economic, technological and environmental dimensions. Recognising the complexity of the subject and the inevitable limitations of any single person’s knowledge or professional discipline, it is clear that one implication will be to develop team teaching as well as group work to encourage a wide view of a complex subject.

Much will depend on the skill and commitment of workshop leaders or moderators in maintaining a balanced and broad perspective. Their role, when confronted with any narrowly focused presentation, will be to restore a balance by introducing the social or political implications of a technical issue or vice-versa.

2.3.2 Train Managers in the Assessment of Needs

The foundation of any successful period of emergency management is likely to be an accurate, rapid assessment of survivors’ needs, whether these be social, medical, psychological or economic concerns. This key role will certainly need to figure largely within an effective training course. In addition to the assessment of needs, there is the necessity of securing the agreement of other interested bodies on the validity of these assessments and communicating recommendations to potential donors. A further management skill that will need to be developed will be the capacity to monitor the changing patterns of needs of the surviving community as assistance is provided.

2.3.3 Train Managers to Make Decisions In Crisis Conditions with a Shortage of Information

There are some problems of Government in which speed of decision is the great thing, in which it is essential that some decision, even though it be not the ideal decision, should be taken quickly ...you do well to ask yourself two questions First -is the damage that would be done by some delay in reaching a decision more serious than the damage that a wrong decision would entail? Second -is the material that is the subject of your deliberation such that a decision found to be defective in practice can readily be amended?

W.S. Morrison, 1943First Minister of Planning in the UK,

responsible for post-war reconstruction

In normal conditions it is possible to make decisions in a highly systematic manner, but disaster management does not offer this opportunity. Despite all efforts to set up detailed preparedness plans and to assess situations and needs as precisely as possible (as noted above in Item 3.3), it has to be recognised that this may not be possible). The quotation from Herbert Morrison is a reminder that many decisions made in the aftermath of disasters will inevitably be based on inadequate information. This reality introduces a need to use training programmes to assist officials used to management in normal conditions to adapt to a context where they will need to decide on a course of action without delaying matters to obtain the data they would normally require. This skill can probably be best developed through role playing simulation exercises.