+ 211 Call System

2-1-1 Colorado streamlines services and provides one central location where people can get connected to the resources they need. 2-1-1 can be called or an online searchable database can be used.

+ Adaptation

An adjustment in natural or human systems to a new or changing environment. Adaptation includes proactive planning and preparation to reduce risk, utilize new opportunities, and enhance resilience.

+ Community Stakeholders

Residents, groups of residents, organizations, companies, agencies, or others that have a connection to community resilience and a vested interest in the outcomes of any specific resilience project. These may be individuals or groups that can help in the assessment, preparation, recovery, or implementation of resilience strategies.

+ Disaster Assistance Center (DAC)

A location that coordinates Disaster Assistance.

+ Disaster Case Management (DCM)

Provides centralized support for community members affected by a disaster. FEMA has a grant program that can be used to provide this support. The program frequently involves a partnership between a case manager and a disaster survivor to develop and carry out the survivor’s long-term recovery plan.

+ Disaster Recovery Center (DRC)

Generally opened post-disaster, the recovery center provides a one-stop-shop to support residents and community members affected by a disaster.

+ Emergency Operations Center (EOC)

Immediate and ongoing emergency operations are conducted in a community’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Once activated, the EOC becomes the coordination nexus for people, information, and resources as outlined in the community Emergency Operations Plan.

+ Emergency Operations Plan (EOP)

An emergency operations plan is an official document that details how emergencies and disasters will be handled within the jurisdiction. They identify the personnel, equipment, facilities, supplies, and other available resources, and assign responsibilities and authorities as are required to conduct certain activities. Many communities’ EOP’s group specific roles, responsibilities, and resources into distinct functional annexes called Emergency Support Functions.

+ Emergency Support Function (ESF)

An ESF is an organizational arrangement through which the different stakeholders involved in a specific disaster-related function are organized. In an Emergency Operations Plan, the ESF details the leadership and support arrangements that exist (inclusive of governmental, private sector, NGO, and other stakeholders), lists relevant statutory authorities, and details the actions and activities to be conducted by those relevant stakeholders.

+ FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP)

The program is authorized by Section 404 of the Stafford Act, 42 U.S. C. 5170c. The key purpose of the program is to ensure the opportunity to take critical mitigation measures to reduce the risk of loss of life and property from future disasters is not lost during the reconstruction process following a disaster.

+ Frontline communities

Historically disadvantaged and underserved members of the community experience the first and worst impacts of climate change. These frontline community members may include older adults in the community, those with disabilities, low-income residents, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color), LGBTQ individuals, English as a Second Language (ESL) communities, the unhoused, those who lack transportation, and those who lack access to television, radio, internet, and/or phone service.

+ Hazard

An event or physical condition that has the potential to cause fatalities, injuries, property damage, infrastructure damage, agricultural losses, damage to the environment, interruption of business, or other types of harm or loss.

+ Hazard mitigation

Sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk to human life and property through actions that reduce hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. Hazard mitigation can be one component of climate change adaptation.

+ In-kind Donations

Goods, services, and commodities (not money) that are donated, generally after a disaster.

+ Incident Command System (ICS)

A component of the National Incident Management System (NIMS). The combination of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures and communications operating within a common organizational structure, designed to aid in domestic incident management activities. It is used for a broad spectrum of emergencies, from small to complex incidents, both natural and manmade, including acts of catastrophic terrorism. ICS is used by all levels of government—federal, state, local and tribal as well as by many private-sector and nongovernmental organizations.

+ Individual Assistance

Direct assistance to individuals affected by a disaster.

+ Local Disaster Recovery Manager

The role of the Local Disaster Recovery Manager is to organize, coordinate, and advance the recovery at the local level. The experience and skill sets of these individuals should include a strong basis in community development and good knowledge of the community's demographics.

+ Long Term Community Recovery (LTCR)

Phase of recovery that may continue for months or years and addresses redevelopment and revitalization of the impacted area, rebuilding or relocating damaged or destroyed social, economic, natural, and built environments and a move to self-sufficiency, sustainability, and resilience.

+ Moratorium

A legally authorized period of delay or waiting period set by an authority.

+ National Disaster Recovery Framework

The National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF) enables effective recovery support to disaster-impacted states, tribes, and territorial and local jurisdictions. It provides a flexible structure that enables disaster recovery managers to operate in a unified and collaborative manner. The NDRF focuses on how best to restore, redevelop, and revitalize the health, social, economic, natural, and environmental fabric of the community and build a more resilient nation.

+ Pre-Disaster Recovery Plan

Pre-disaster recovery planning promotes a process in which the whole community fully engages. It is an important process that allows a comprehensive and integrated understanding of community objectives, connects community plans to guide post-disaster decisions and investments, and aids in understanding the key considerations and processes that local governments can use to build a community’s recovery capacity.

+ Preparedness

Actions taken to plan, organize, equip, train, and exercise to build and sustain the capabilities necessary to prevent, protect against, mitigate the effects of, respond to and recover from threats and hazards and build adaptive capacity.

+ Pre-disaster recovery plan

Pre-disaster recovery planning promotes a process in which the whole community fully engages. It is an important process that allows a comprehensive and integrated understanding of community objectives, connects community plans to guide post-disaster decisions and investments, and aids in understanding the key considerations and processes that local governments can use to build a community’s recovery capacity.

+ Recovery Support Function (RSF)

Similar to an Emergency Support Function, an RSF is an organizational arrangement through which different stakeholders involved in a specific function are organized. RSFs have led and support agencies and the RSF structure establishes the necessary authorities, provisions, and resources required for these agencies to carry out their responsibilities as assigned. Unlike the ESF-affiliated agencies, the RSF agencies report to a recovery coordinator appointed by the community lead official or board of commissioners. Ongoing activation of the RSF is unaffected by the deactivation of the EOC, which is not typically the case with the ESFs. Many communities link their RSFs with those of the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF), which is FEMA’s recovery support construct. Under the NDRF, there are 6 RSFs, including:

• Community Planning and Capacity Building
• Economic Recovery
• Health and Social Services
• Housing
• Infrastructure Systems
• Natural and Cultural Resources

+ Shocks

Large, disruptive events that cause significant immediate damage, injuries and deaths, or result in sudden changes in a community. Shocks are direct vulnerabilities; they are intense, acute events that can disrupt communities. They include flash floods, wildfires, widespread loss of electrical power, dam failures, public health crises, and terrorist attacks. Shocks can lead to significant damage to infrastructure, as well as injuries and deaths. Communities use hazard mitigation as a means to reduce vulnerability by reducing exposure to shocks.

+ Stressors

Chronic conditions that magnify vulnerability and make it harder to recover from shocks. In contrast to shocks, stressors are underlying long-term economic, social, and environmental conditions that can negatively impact a community’s environmental, social, and economic health; they are indirect vulnerabilities. Stressors can also limit a community’s ability to address and recover from a shock. Stressors can include aging infrastructure, an economic downturn, long-term high rates of unemployment, and a lack of affordable housing. Communities use resiliency planning as a way to reduce their indirect vulnerability by addressing and improving the underlying conditions that expose them to hazards and developing a capacity to adapt to changing conditions.

+ Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD)

VOADs are coalitions of volunteer and nonprofit organizations that respond to disasters as part of their overall mission. They are committed to fostering the “four C’s” – communication, coordination, collaboration, and cooperation - in order to better serve people impacted by disasters. VOAD organizations exist in all Colorado communities, even where no formal local VOAD exists. Following a disaster, VOADs may form a recovery organization focused on providing direct assistance to individuals.

+ Vulnerability

The degree to which something is susceptible to or predisposed to adverse effects of hazards as determined by exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. Vulnerability can increase or decrease because of physical (built and environmental), social, political, and/or economic factors.