Emergency Management is the field of dealing with emergencies, especially large human-caused or natural disasters. The field is usually broken into four phases: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. TRORC plays a role in all of these phases, but we are especially active in the first two, since they are more heavily related to planning.
Mitigation involves actions that lessen the likelihood that a disaster will cause damage, or reduce the severity of that damage. Towns can mitigate the effects of disasters by encouraging disaster-resistant development that keeps homes and businesses out of harm's way, such as avoiding floodplains. We also work with towns to ensure that their infrastructure, especially roads and drainage, is built to stand up to expected hazards such as heavy rainstorms. For more information on this subject, click on Pre-Disaster Mitigation to the right.
Preparedness activities get people ready for anticipated disaster events. Having well-trained and equipped responders with good plans and plenty of practice is the best way for towns to prepare for those disasters that cannot be reasonably avoided. For more information on what citizens, businesses and local governments can do to prepare, click on Preparedness to the right.
The response phase is in the midst of disasters where the goal is to save lives and property. Information on Reporting Damage can be found on the menu to the right. Response agencies can be found at www.LEPC12.org.
Recovery begins as the immediate response winds down, and TRORC can assist towns in obtaining and managing state and federal aid, as well as in creating mitigation projects to lessen the damage the next time. For more information on this subject, click on Recovering from a Disaster to the right.
This section of our website is designed to direct you links on the above topics, as well as provide sources of information on specific types of hazards, and direct you to timely news or warnings about active or anticipated emergencies.
For more assistance on emergency-related issues, please contact Kevin Geiger via telephone at 802-457-3188, or email kgeiger@trorc.org. For emergencies during off hours, Kevin may also available by calling his pager 802-450-2277.
Be safe.