Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
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Some critical infrastructures and key resources (CIKR), such as communi-
cations, energy, and cyber facilities, are required to plan and exercise to
strengthen their ability to mitigate, withstand a disaster and recover quickly.
An exercise provides a focused simulated scenario where participants have the
opportunity to function as they would in a real-world incident. Exercises serve as a
valuable tool in the identification of enhancements, improvements to performance,
and capabilities. This foresight provides the opportunity to train, practice, validate,
and enhance activities within a realistic environment. In addition to meeting some
regulatory requirements, exercises serve to
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Clarify roles and responsibilities
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Improve organizational and interagency coordination and communications
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Find resource gaps
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Develop and improve individual performance
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Identify opportunities for improvement
The focus of an exercise should always be on practice, as well as identifying and
eliminating problems
before
an actual disaster. The benefit of an exercise comes not
only from the practice or identification of something that needs to be improved, but
in actually making a change or an improvement. The recommendations developed
from the exercise must be acted on to make the effort worthwhile. Identified cor-
rective actions are a critical part of exercise design and follow-up.
Multiyear Exercise Program
Exercise program development is not addressed here but deserves a strong empha-
sis. A single exercise will not cover all functions and eventualities. It will also not
involve all of the potential people and organizations that might be involved in a
real-world incident. If you are going through the effort to design and deliver an
exercise, take a few extra steps and establish a more beneficial and lasting exer-
cise program—one based on a long-term, carefully constructed plan. By creating a
comprehensive program, your exercises can build on one another to maximize the
organization's goals and capabilities, provide training to a wider group of partici-
pants, and vastly improve your organizations' ability to manage a disaster.
How This Material Is Organized
Exercise design, implementation, evaluation, and improvement can appear complex
and overwhelming with a wide range of steps, tasks, and operations. The material
