Decisions made during pre-incident planning and actions taken during the response have the potential to significantly reduce the time and cost spent recovering from a chemical incident as well as the human and environmental health consequences incurred. For example, actions taken to minimize contamination spread save resources and benefit public health and safety by reducing the area and population requiring remediation, decontamination, or treatment. Early efforts to identify exposed individuals can facilitate their treatment and the provision of any needed long-term medical care and monitoring. Timely and informative communications with partners and the public will build trust and buy-in for integrated operations decisions. In fact, many initial recovery activities take place in parallel with similar response activities. Therefore, planning for recovery is as critical as planning for response, and essential recovery activities should be implemented as early as possible after an incident to ensure effective and efficient attainment of recovery outcomes.
Planning for recovery is as critical as planning for response.
As described in the NDRF and shown below, the Recovery Continuum can be divided into three time-based phases (short-, intermediate-, and long-term).
