The role of professional engineers in disaster management

The current scale and frequencies of emergencies that develop into disasters necessitate a professional approach to their management. New initiatives for building resilience provide opportunities for professional engineers to actively engage in proactive services. These would focus on the probable performance of existing and new infrastructure in relation to hazard impacts of excessive magnitude during normal service life of assets. Effective disaster management will therefore be dependent on proactive preparedness, based on improved risk assessments and widely increased resilience capabilities. All opportunities for engagement with forensic assessments, strengthening and rehabilitating existing infrastructure, as well as in preparedness, response, recovery and reconstruction activities, provide avenues for professional engineers to develop more formal connections with emergency service responders and the general public. Over the longer term, the professions should develop a common understanding for dealing proactively with emergency and disaster issues rather than retrospectively, as so often happens at present.