A new methodology for emergency planning in the humanitarian field

“Why do we continually seem one disaster behind?”

Words pronounced by the US House of Representatives in 2006 after the terrible passage of Katrina hurricane still resonate today. Wherever we look, natural and man-made disasters are raging and the emergency response fatigues in keeping the pace with their evolution.

Yet, valuable resources have been sharpened in the emergencies management and preparedness fields to face disasters. Among these, emergency planning has been one of the most powerful whose strength is also witnessed by the enormous number of agencies, institutions, and societies that have adopted it as a valuable tool. The Italian Red Cross is one of them; its rooted presence in the national civil protection system underlines the relevance of this actor in the disaster emergency response to disasters and promote the need to create internal procedures and plans to enhance the effectiveness of its actions.

In this context, this contribution presents the results of a joint project between the Italian Red Cross and Politecnico di Milano to develop a comprehensive planning methodology, that takes into account the specific functions and needs of the association.  Specifically, the main purpose of the project has been the creation of a comprehensive yet easy-to-implement methodology to support the Italian Red Cross local committees in creating simple, operational and effective emergency plans through a step-by-step approach.

Having as main reference the planning methodology developed in the European project “PPRD3 East”, this new methodology has been developed applying a learning-by-doing approach. In particular, the flood emergency plan of a local committee in the province of Como (Italy) has been designed. The engagement of all the relevant stakeholders, and in particular Red Cross volunteers, allowed the development of a participatory process that led to the creation of a valuable and replicable tool for the local committees. The lessons learnt from this experience have been translated into the national guidelines of the Italian Red Cross on emergency planning.