U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Federal Emergency Management Agency

Resource: Disaster Assessment Team
Category: Public Works and Engineering (ESF #3)
Kind: Team
Minimum Capabilities (Component) Minimum Capabilities
(Metric)
Type I Type II Type III Type IV Other
Team Personnel  

Institutional Services Manager

Assessment Director

Assessment Team Leader

 
Description  

Responsible for seeing that the building is safe, damage to the building is evaluated, and measures are formulated and implemented to remedy or correct problems; Upon notification of a problem, establishes that no threat exists to personnel safety, secures the affected area and/or building, and alerts Assessment Director; Establishes priorities for facility repairs, and follows the progress of repairs once begun ourmeds.org

Organizes and manages the process by which damage is evaluated; Responsible for notifying and instructing Assessment Team Leaders, and enlisting the assistance of in-house or outside experts/resource people as required; Evaluates findings and recommendations, and contacts the Recovery Director with recovery recommendations

Selects and assembles the team members and directs their operations; Instructs the team on what to do and how to do it, including methods of inspection and sampling, assessing damaged material, and documenting the process; Monitors the damage investigation, reporting recommendations to the Assessment Director

 
Training or Requirements  

Must be multidisciplinary and familiar with health personnel, engineering specialists, logisticians, environmental experts, and communications specialists; Must also be able to record observations and decisions made by the team, photograph and record disaster site damage, and investigate where damage exists; Able to analyze the significance of affected infrastructure, estimate the extent of damages, and establish initial priorities for recovery

Must be multidisciplinary and familiar with health personnel, engineering specialists, logisticians, environmental experts, and communications specialists; Must also be able to record observations and decisions made by the team, photograph and record disaster site damage, and investigate where damage exists; Able to analyze the significance of affected infrastructure, estimate the extent of damages, and establish initial priorities for recovery

Must be multidisciplinary and familiar with health personnel, engineering specialists, logisticians, environmental experts, and communications specialists; Must also be able to record observations and decisions made by the team, photograph and record disaster site damage, and investigate where damage exists;. Able to analyze the significance of affected infrastructure, estimate the extent of damages, and establish initial priorities for recovery

 
Crew Availability  

Incident Specific and Site Specific

Incident Specific and Site Specific

Incident Specific and Site Specific

 

Comments:

There is only one type of Disaster Assessment Team because it is a specialty and based on level of devastation; however, the team possesses different personnel types/roles. The team members should be equipped with their own laptops, cell phones, and vehicles, and should be able to stay based on severity of incident (i.e., “Site-Specific” and “Incident-Specific”). Team size, expertise, and functional requirements will be determined at the disaster location.



National Mutual Aid & Resource Management Initiative
Public Works