The most accurate statement regarding modern emergency operations planning is that it should beorganized around functions and not hazards. This is the core principle of theAll-Hazards Approachadvocated byFEMA in CPG 101(Comprehensive Preparedness Guide). A functional EOP focuses on the capabilities that a community needs to respond toanyincident (e.g., Communications, Evacuation, Mass Care, Public Information) rather than creating separate, redundant plans for every possible hazard (e.g., a "Flood Plan," a "Fire Plan," a "Tornado Plan").
A functional organization is more efficient for several reasons:
Simplicity:It avoids duplicating common activities that are required in almost every disaster (e.g., searching for victims).
Flexibility:A functional plan can be adapted to novel or unexpected threats (like a pandemic or a new type of cyber-attack) because the "building blocks" of the response are already in place.
Training:Responders only need to learn one set of procedures for their function (e.g., "Transportation") regardless of the cause of the disaster.
While the EOP isinformedby the Hazard Vulnerability Analysis (HVA), the response is not "limited" to those events (Option A); a good plan must be adaptable to the unknown. Similarly, while an EOP includes recovery elements, its primary focus is theResponsephase; detailed recovery p2lanning is often handled in a separate3Long-Term Recovery Plan(Option C). For aCEDPprofessional, the functional EOP is the "Swiss Army Knife" of emergency management. By perfecting the "Functional Annexes," a jurisdiction ensures it has a robust, scalable capability that can be deployed at a moment's notice to manage any challenge, fulfilling the mission of "All-Hazards" resilience.
