disaster: key terms and acronyms

7/29/2019 Disaster: Key Terms and Acronyms

1/5

Key Terms and Acronyms

1 Catholic Charities USA | www.catholiccharitiesusa.org

Disaster TermsAccountability: The responsibility to demonstrate to stakeholders, foremost of whom are disaster-affected people,that disaster assistance complies with agreed standards. (Sphere Handbook)

Capacity building: Any intervention designed either to reinforce or create strengths upon which communities candraw to offset disaster-related vulnerability (Lautze, Hammond, Coping with Crisis, Coping with Aid, December1996).

Community Resource Site: (also known as a POD: Point of Distribution, POM: Point of Ministry; DRS:Disaster Resource Site) A place where disaster resource supplies are coordinated for distribution to affectedcommunity members. Sites can be singular agency sites, or a place where multiple agencies convene for joint

distribution of disaster resources such as meals, cleaning supplies, hygiene kits, etc.

Complex Emergency: Internal political crises and/or armed conflict, complicated by an array of political, social andeconomic factors. (Source: United Nations CETI Contingency Planning Training, Oct. 1996).

Contingency Planning: A forward planning process in a state of uncertainty in which scenarios and objectives areagreed, managerial and technical actions defined, and potential response systems put in place to prevent or improveresponse to a disaster.

Coping Strategy/Mechanism: Various activities that individuals, households and communities develop toovercome poverty, adversity and crisis. Coping strategies vary by region, community, social class, ethnic group,gender, and according to the nature and duration of the risk or emergency occurring at the time. Patterns of coping

behavior as well as household assets utilized to cope with a crisis will depend on whowomen or men make thedecisions (Maxwell, S. and Frankenberger, T., Household Food Security: Concepts, Indicators, Measurements. ATechnical Review; UNICEF, IFAD, USA, 1995)

Disaster: Situation or event, which overwhelms local capacity, necessitating a request to national or internationallevel for external assistance (definition considered in EM-DAT) ; An unforeseen and often sudden event that causesgreat damage, destruction and human suffering. Though often caused by nature, disasters can have human origins.Wars and civil disturbances that destroy homelands and displace people are included among the causes of disasters.Other causes can be: building collapse, blizzard, drought, epidemic, earthquake, explosion, fire, flood, hazardousmaterial or transportation incident (such as a chemical spill), hurricane, nuclear incident, tornado, or volcano(Disaster Relief).

Disaster-Affected People/Population: All people whose life or health are threatened by disaster, whetherdisplaced or in their home area. (Sphere Handbook)


2/5



Early Responders: provides emergency response during the initial hours of natural or accidental disasters andterrorist attacks, serving a support role to the community that enables fast and effective response to victims. EarlyResponders include state and local responders and community based agencies that provide initial informationregarding site and size of damages, instigate emergency operational support services to provide comfort to peopleaffected by the disaster that may include provisions of first aid, water, sanitation, shelter, counseling for recovery, andcoordination of relief materials. The extended role of Early Responders makes them active players during the

process of recovery by providing information, networking amongst disaster related organizations, tending to theneeds of special groups such as disabled persons, children, elderly pregnant women, etc., assisting in the return ofevacuated populations, monitoring client support, providing referrals to partner agencies and other community basedgroups, participating in the evaluation of services delivery, preparedness activities, and determining post-incident andrecovery support towards the development of future strategy.

Early Warning: A process of information gathering and policy analysis to allow the prediction of developing crisesand action either to prevent them or contain their effects. The key elements of early warning are collection ofinformation, analysis of that information, dissemination of findings and action.

Emergency: An emergency is an extraordinary situation, present or imminent, in which there are serious andimmediate threats to human life, dignity and livelihoods.

Emergency/Disaster Preparedness: Emergency/Disaster preparedness activities aim to protect lives andproperty from an immediate threat, to promote rapid reaction in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, and tostructure the response to both the emergency and longer-term recovery operations.

First Responders: are trained and equipped, in the event of a natural or accidental disasters and terrorist attacks, toarrive on the scene and take action immediately. In the first hours of an event, First Responders from variousdisciplines, which could include police, fire, emergency medical personnel and public works, must attempt to enterthe scene, set up a command center, establish safe and secure perimeters around the disaster site in order to savelives and protect property, evacuate those within or near the site, tend to the injured and dead and transport them tocare centers or morgues, restrict and redirect traffic and pedestrians, reroute and restore public utilities, removedebris, and begin the process of recovery.

Humanitarian Assistance: The provision of basic requirements which meet peoples needs for adequate water,sanitation, nutrition, food, shelter and health care. (Sphere Handbook)

Internally Displaced Person: persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leavetheir homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of a natural orhuman-made disaster, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border. (Cohen, Roberta andFrancis Deng. Masses in Flight: The Global Crisis of Internal Displacement, Brookings Institution Press,Washington, D.C., 1998)

Livelihood: Means of support or subsistence; adequate stocks and flows of food and cash to meet basic needs.Livelihood strategy refers to the manner in which a household allocates its members labor time in the pursuit ofvarious means of earning to meet basic needs. (Food Security, Poverty and Women: Lessons from Rural Asia, IFAD,

Rome, 1997)


3/5



Long Term Responders: provide support with needs not met by the State/FEMA programs in the aftermath of anatural or accidental disaster and terrorist attacks, acting as a resource for free or discounted assistance. Long TermRespondersare community based agencies or organizations that coordinate their response to disaster survivors.Responses may include disaster case management, crisis counseling, home repairs, debris removal frominside/outside a home, access to legal aid, identification of unmet needs such as medical expenses, transportation,rental assistance, mental health counseling, etc., in an effort to help disaster survivors over the long haul. Long

Term Responderswork to re-establish a healthy functioning community that can sustain itself over many yearsthrough various activities such as the leveraging of funds to complete projects, building a safety net of organizationsand agencies, and the development of recovery plans towards the rebuilding of a stronger community able towithstand the next disaster.

Mitigation: activities that focus on minimizing the impact of a disaster or, in the case of slow-onset disasters,preventing ultimate catastrophe through activities which decrease peoples vulnerabilities.

Natural Disaster: emergencies generated by phenomena such as earthquakes, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, anddrought.

Needs Assessment: a multi-stage process of understanding the immediate needs of a population to prevent loss of

life, stop deterioration of and restore household food and livelihood security status following a disaster.

Refugee: a refugee is someone who is outside his/her country of origin; has a well-founded fear of persecutionbecause of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion; and isunable or unwilling to avail him/herself of the protection of that country, or to return there, for fear of persecution.(Protecting Refugees: A Field Guide for NGOs, United Nations Publications, Geneva, May 1999)

Transparency: openness and accessibility of humanitarian agencies, their systems and information. (The SphereHandbook).


4/5



Acronym Definitions

Acronym Definition Context

ACF Administration for Children and Families Organizational

ALE Annual Loss Expectancy General

ARC American Red Cross OrganizationalBCP Business Continuity Plan Disaster

BIA Business Impact Analysis Disaster

CAN Coordinated Assistance Network Organizational

CCUSA Catholic Charities USA Organizational

CM Case Manager Disaster

CMP Crisis Management Plan Disaster

COA Council on Accreditation Organizational

COAD Community Organizations Active in Disaster Organizational

COOP Continuity of Operations Plan Disaster

CR Change Request General

CRC Central Relief Commissioner General

DART Disaster Assessment and Response Teams Disaster

DCM Disaster Case Management Disaster

DHAP Disaster Housing Assistance Program Disaster

DHS Department of Homeland Security Organizational

DOB Duplication of Benefits Disaster

DOD Department of Defense Organizational

DPH Department of Public Health Organizational

DRC Disaster Recovery Center DisasterDRCM Disaster Recovery Case Management Disaster

DRMT Disaster Recovery Management Team Disaster

DRO Disaster Response Office Disaster

DRP Disaster Recovery Plan/Disaster Response Plan Disaster

EAC Estimated Annual Cost General

EM Emergency Management Disaster

EMS Emergency Medical Services Disaster

EOP Emergency Operations Plan Disaster

FBO Faith Based Organization Organizational

FEMA Federal Emergency Management Administration Organizational

FEMA VALS FEMA Voluntary Agency Liasions Organizational

HHS Health and Human Services Organizational

HSOC Homeland Security Operations Center Disaster

HUD Housing and Urban Development Organizational

IAP Incident Action Plan Disaster

ICS Incident Command System Disaster


5/5



ICT Incident Command Team Disaster

IHP Individuals and Households Program General

IMS Incident Management System Disaster

IRS Internal Revenue Service Organizational

IT Information Technology General

LDR Lutheran Disaster Response Organizational

LEPC Local Emergency Planning Committee Disaster

LTR Long Term Recovery Disaster

LTRDCM Long Term Recovery Disaster Case Management Disaster

LTRO Long Term Recovery Organization Disaster

MI Motivational Interviewing General

NGO Non-Governmental Organizations Organizational

NIMS National Incident Management System Disaster

NRF National Response Framework Disaster

OEM Office of Emergency Management Disaster

OEP Office of Emergency Preparedness OrganizationalOHH Operation Helping Hands Organizational

ONA Other Needs Assistance General

PFA Psychological First Aid Disaster

POC Point of contact Disaster

PTSD Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Disaster

RM Risk Management General

RNA Rapid Needs Assessment Disaster

ROI Return On Investment General

RPO Recovery Point Objective Disaster

RTO Recovery Time Objective Disaster

SBA Small Business Administration Organizational

SBU Strategic Business Unit General

SES Social Economic Status General

SOP Standard Operating Procedures Disaster

STS Secondary Traumatic Stress Disaster

UMCOR United Methodist Committee on Relief Organizational

UNC Unmet Needs Committees Disaster

USCCB United States Conference Catholic Bishops Organizational

USDA United States Department of Agriculture OrganizationalVISTA Volunteers in Service to America Organizational

VOAD Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster Organizational

WHO World Health Organization Organizational

WNDITWB We Never Did It This Way Before General

disaster: key terms and acronyms

Documents