Concepts & Terms of Crisis & Emergency Management

The term crisis management can be defined as the reactions by any person, employer, group, or organization in dealing with any crisis situation from pre-crisis through the end of recovery operations. These reactions include preparation, mitigation, response, and recovery. All of these reactions together are the steps needed to prevent or deal with any crisis situation. Examples of a crisis situation include strikes, riots, violence, tornadoes, industrial accidents, and acts of terrorism. (Crisis, n.d.)

Good crisis management starts with a well thought out plan. All scenarios are different and no crisis will ever be the same as the last. Having a plan that will deal with the main aspects of a crisis situation will benefit those involved because they can take that plan and change it accordingly to deal with the specific crisis at hand. Once a well thought out plan is devised it needs to be implemented and tested to the best of the emergency response coordinators ability. Obviously it is difficult to rehearse without the actual crisis but dry runs to test the stability of the systems and personnel needed, will allow the coordinators to determine its effectiveness once the actual situation occurs.

Emergency management is the managerial element who has the duty of identifying hazards, risks, and weaknesses and formulating plans that would reduce those risks. Emergency management aims to ensure the preparedness, risk mitigation, emergency responsiveness, and emergency recovery that a community needs to cope with any emergency that may happen. Examples of some emergencies include natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and man-made disasters such as chemical spills or other environmental disasters. (Lindell, 2007) Like crisis management, emergency management will only work well as long as there is a well thought out and prepared plan for the possible emergencies that could happen within a community.

Homeland security is the ongoing process of protecting our country from domestic and foreign threats. This duty is performed by many agencies at both the federal and state level but it is the sole duty of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS was created in 2002 with the combining of 22 federal departments and agencies. The goal of DHS is to create a more secured, safer America which is resilient against terrorism and other potential threats. There are three concepts that are key to the homeland security strategy: security, resilience, and customs and exchange. There are five core missions of America's homeland security strategy: prevent terrorism and enhance security, secure and manage our borders, enforce and administer our immigration laws, safeguard and secure cyberspace, and ensure resilience to disasters. (About DHS, n.d.)

Business continuity planning is when an organization has a strategy for minimizing the businesses loss after a disaster has happened. Businesses base their continuity planning