EHAA - Emergency Management

Emergency Management SIG Coordinator
Terry Mazzucchelli
info@envirohealthaustralia.com.au

Emergency Management is concerned with the prevention of, preparation for, response to and recovery from disasters affecting the community. This is achieved by developing awareness, pre-emptive planning, training and the infrastructure necessary to respond. To be effective, Environ-mental Health Emergency Management works to recognise current and future trends and threats to community health and safety, and be able to draw on the skills and experience of the environmental health workforce. All too often, emergency management focuses on the RESPONSE phase, without due consideration of the environmental health aspects of prevention and recovery. EH practitioners may be called on to coordinate the response of government, voluntary and private agencies to deal with range of needs that minimise further damage and harm to the community and enable it to rebuild after an emergency.

The Emergency Management Special Interest Group is involved in the development of broad understanding of the role of the environmental health practitioner and emergency management.