Preparedness and Planning
USAID’s Preparedness and Planning program builds a sustainable and systematic approach to local-level disaster management. The program helps municipalities be more resilient to crisis or disasters such as floods, wildfires, landslides, or chemical accidents. In order to accomplish program goals, the team works closely with municipalities to:
- Build and institutionalize a disaster management system that addresses preparedness, response, recovery and prevention;
- Fulfill legal obligations by producing and/or updating plans that enable them to cope with hazards;
- Help create and adopt municipal planning ordinances;
- Establish a standing disaster management body that institutionalizes disaster risk reduction.
The Preparedness and Planning program works with crisis responders to improve municipal disaster management. Local government officials, local representatives of republic-level institutions (such as the Ministries of Health, Interior, Defense and Environmental Protection), Red Cross members, businesspeople, journalists and others are working together to develop plans and practices to protect citizens from various hazards that pose a threat to public health and safety.
The program disseminates best practices and methodologies to the larger community of Serbian municipalities, promoting municipalities’ accomplishments through networking events. Model municipalities will serve as leaders in the field of disaster management. The program helps municipalities meet domestic legal obligations and international standards in disaster preparedness. Those meeting these standards will be certified as having “enhanced disaster resilience”. To accomplish this goal, the program has developed “Ten Steps to Enhance Municipal Disaster Resilience.”
Approximately 80 municipalities’ disaster response systems will be strengthened by the end of the program.
Additional information:
Preparedness and Planning Accomplishments
Ten Steps to Enhance Municipal Disaster Resilience
