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understand what infrastructure truly is critical. Likewise, businesses cannot
develop contingency plans without understanding how governments will respond.
To maximize the nation's preparedness, federal, state, and local governments
must join with the private sector to collaboratively develop plans to respond to
major disasters. There are important initiatives in this area already underway by
the Business Round Table and Business Executives for National Security (BENS)
project. We must encourage and build upon these efforts. The private sector must
be an explicit partner in and fully integrated across all levels of response—federal,
state, and local. 4
Filling Gaps
It is the responsibility of the Emergency Manager to develop continuing relation-
ships between themselves and emergency and disaster management stakeholders in
the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Quite often, this is easier said than done
with the increasing demands on the Emergency Manager's time. However, build-
ing these relationships is critical to a successful Emergency Management program.
Each Emergency Manager must examine his or her respective jurisdiction's
Emergency Management Plan and determine what planning, training, exercise,
personnel, and equipment gaps may exist. These gaps may exist due to lack of physi-
cal assets, personnel, or funding, but they also may exist due to lack of expertise.
Whatever the case, it is important to identify these gaps before the emergency or
disaster, and attempt to fill these gaps as soon as possible. PPPs can help Emergency
Managers fill these gaps.
It can be assumed that there are PPPs to assist in filling virtually any opera-
tional gap that an Emergency Manager can identify. Many of these PPPs can be
developed with entities within the Emergency Manager's communities and regions.
Often, entities that can make up these partnerships (if not found within the
Emergency Manager's community) can also be found at the numerous conferences
and symposiums offered for Emergency Managers, Business Continuity Planners,
and other Public Safety officials.
Shared Interest
Common interests for overall preparedness and an effective response and recov-
ery frequently give impetus for PPPs. Frequently, these types of relationships can
strengthen the ability of both parties to deal with a particular issue. One example
of this is Pandemic Flu Planning. Pandemic Flu Planning cannot be done alone
in the public sector or the private sector, for there are some interdependencies that
exist. As we all know, businesses both large and small provide the economic back-
bone for most, if not all, of our communities. Private sector also plays a critical role
in most of our critical infrastructure, such as utilities. If a Pandemic Flu incident
were to occur, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration estimates
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