How do you update your emergency plan after a crisis?

1 Assess the impact

The first step is to assess the impact of the crisis on your organization, your community, and your resources. You need to collect and analyze data on what happened, what worked well, what did not work well, and what can be improved. You can use various methods to gather this information, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, reports, audits, or evaluations. You should also consider the emotional and psychological impact of the crisis on your staff, your clients, and your partners, and provide them with appropriate support and counseling.

2 Identify the gaps

The second step in responding to a crisis is to identify the gaps in your emergency plan that it revealed or created. You should compare your plan with the actual performance and outcome, and note any discrepancies, weaknesses, or errors. Additionally, consider any new risks, threats, or opportunities that emerged from the crisis and how they affect your plan. Common gaps in emergency plans include inadequate communication and coordination among stakeholders, insufficient training and awareness of staff and clients, lack of contingency plans and backup systems, outdated or inaccurate information and data, unrealistic or unclear roles and responsibilities, and incompatible or unreliable equipment and technology.

3 Update the plan

The third step is to update your emergency plan based on the impact assessment and the gap analysis. By revising your plan to address the issues and challenges that the crisis exposed or created, and incorporating best practices and lessons learned from the crisis, you can ensure that your plan reflects any changes in your organization, community, or resources. Common updates in emergency plans involve adding or modifying objectives, strategies, actions, or indicators; developing or enhancing communication and coordination mechanisms; increasing or reallocating resources and budget; improving or replacing equipment and technology; providing or expanding training and awareness programs; and clarifying or changing roles and responsibilities.

4 Test and validate

The fourth step is to test and validate your updated emergency plan to ensure that it is effective, efficient, and relevant. You need to conduct exercises, simulations, drills, or scenarios to test your plan under different conditions and situations, and to evaluate its performance and outcome. You should also solicit feedback and input from your staff, your clients, your partners, and your experts, and use it to improve your plan. You should also document and report your testing and validation results, and share them with your stakeholders.

Updating your emergency plan after a crisis is a crucial step to improve your preparedness and resilience, and to reduce your vulnerability and risk. By following this four-step process, you can ensure that your emergency plan is aligned with your current needs, expectations, and realities, and that it can help you cope with any future crisis.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?