Disaster Planning for the Building Department (Learn Live)

Rarely are communities fully prepared when responding to disaster events. A condition that results from communities being left on their own to struggle with developing disaster response plans. In the case of building departments, an inadequate or absent disaster response plan can result in a community’s inability to obtain local, state or federal assistance and/or its residents reoccupying potentially unsafe structures. Namely, when Post-disaster Damage Assessments (a.k.a. Damage Assessments) are not conducted quickly and Emergency Managers are not able to obtain reliable PDA data, a community’s ability to request and obtain local, state and/or federal assistance is greatly impacted. Further, when Post-disaster Building Safety Evaluations (a.k.a. Building Safety Evaluations) are not conducted, the community’s residents will reoccupy potentially unsafe structures. In a small-scale localized event local building departments are often able to provide these valuable assessments and evaluations. However, in a large scale and/or wide area disaster, local building departments are unable to meet the demand further emphasizing the need for a disaster response plan. This training session introduces and focuses on the post-disaster roles and responsibilities typically assigned to building departments. Key among these responsibilities are Post-disaster Damage Assessments and Post-Disaster Building Safety Evaluations. This training session also discusses training and credentialing requirements for Damage Assessors and Post-Disaster Building Safety Evaluators. This training session also introduces and focuses on disaster planning basics for the building department. By developing a disaster response plan, building departments are better able to respond to the needs of their community and jump start its recovery.