During-incident process assessment in emergency management: Concept and strategy

An incident is normally composed of three stages: pre-incident, during-incident and post-incident. The assessment is a prominent composition in the lifecycle of emergency management for the purpose of quick and effective response. Present-day assessment methods mainly concern the pre-incident risk evaluation and the post-incident loss evaluation. However, during-incident process assessment is of crucial importance to assist the decision-making in emergency response and eventually achieve the goals of emergency management. This paper analyzes the influencing factors of during-incident process assessment and proposes a conceptual model of assessment. Three during-incident process assessment strategies, namely, “mitigability”, “rescuability”, and recoverability are illustrated which quantitatively characterize the evolution of incidents and corresponding responses, and hence contribute to appropriate decisions in practical applications.

► During-incident assessment is future-oriented, instant, and dynamic measurement. ► It comprises three strategies: “mitigability”, “rescuability”, and recoverability. ► The assessments can be measured by possibility and necessity of response operations. ► The assessments quantitatively characterize the evolution of incidents and responses. ► The assessments assist the decision-making in emergency response.