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17. Introduction to preparedness

Preparedness is the aggregate of all measures and policies adopted before an event occurs that promotes mitigation of the damage caused by an event and minimises the dysfunction that could result from the damage. More specifically, it includes all planning and resources that are devoted to preventing deaths and morbidity and, thus, to the alleviation of human (individual and collective) suffering during and after the event has taken place. It consists of measures that individuals, a family, a community, locale, country, region, institution, and states maintain, at a particular time, to combat the potential deleterious effects of hazards. Preparedness includes the absorbing, buffering, and response capacities; it also has been called the resilience of the society at risk, to a hazard(s). As the level of preparedness increases, the vulnerability of the community at risk decreases. Preparedness is difficult to measure. The impact of preparedness measures cannot be realised until the next event occurs or it has been shown to be of benefit during disaster drills and exercises. Hence, investments in preparedness have been relatively meager worldwide.