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ICC eNews

Disaster Response at the Next Level

Through new initiatives, stronger partnerships and enhanced communications, the International Code Council is taking disaster response to the next level, outgoing Board President Steve Shapiro told Annual Conference delegates in Minneapolis. Shapiro said the Council's efforts to establish the Disaster Response Network and supporting committee, develop new training and certification examinations, and the response of Code Council members have laid the foundation for the Disaster Support Program that assists communities prone to disasters.

"Like many of you, I come from a community that has been impacted by natural hazards," Shapiro said. "And like many of you, I have been moved and occasionally frustrated by the impact disasters have on communities, and on their ability to recover—along with their ability to prevent future events."

The Disaster Support Program contains several key initiatives, including: an outreach function designed to contact impacted communities to offer the support of the Code Council; a plan to utilize the Emergency Management Assistance Compact—known as E-MAC—to allow officials to deploy across state borders with compensation for expenses and liability coverage, as a sponsored asset of their home state's Emergency Management Agency; stronger ties with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regarding mitigation assessment teams, and support for response and recovery operations; and a rapid communications response component using the post-disaster window of opportunity to educate the public on the importance of codes and code compliance.

"In the past year, we have made strides in developing this program and addressing our broad mission," said Shapiro, who pointed to the activation of the outreach program; a revised, stronger Memorandum of Understanding with FEMA that addresses the role of code officials as assets during response, recovery and mitigation; and a response technical team of internal experts partnering with communications staff to develop code-related information following each event and at key times throughout the year.

"Two chapters are assisting us in piloting the 'chapter team' concept to interface with the E-MAC process," Shapiro continued. "And we are in discussions with other organizations to contribute members to inter-disciplinary teams. We hope that as communities strengthen their codes and commit to effective code compliance that the need for such teams will be lessened over time, but we want to stand ready as a qualified and available resource should we be needed."