PrintPreparedness
The goal of the preparedness stage of the disaster management cycle is to enhance people's capacity to respond to natural hazards and recover from a disaster. The basis of preparedness is planning, whether that planning takes place at the household, local, state, national, or international level. Thus, policies from a local to international scale that guide sound hazard and disaster planning are essential. Emergency planning and communication of plans for their successful execution when a hazard occurs, happens at many levels of society, from the federal level down to the individual. Therefore, for organizational units including state, county, and city governments, to schools, universities, hospitals, and many other organizations, a clear plan is essential.