The Australian Government’s Crisis Management Continuum (Continuum) comprises 7 phases:

1. Prevention refers to measures to eliminate or reduce the severity of a hazard or crisis, and/or the likelihood of a hazard or crisis occurring. Prevention is not covered by this Framework.
2. Preparedness refers to arrangements to ensure that, should a crisis occur, the required resources, capabilities and services can be efficiently mobilised and deployed. Near-term preparedness recognises the need to rapidly prepare for an imminent crisis. For more detail on preparedness, refer to the Australian Disaster Preparedness Framework.⁴
3. Response refers to immediate actions taken to ensure that crisis impacts and consequences are minimised, and that those affected are supported as quickly as possible.
4. Relief refers to meeting the essential needs of food, water, shelter, energy, communications and essential medical services for those affected by a crisis event.
5. Recovery refers to early and longer-term measures to restore or improve the livelihoods, health, economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets, systems and activities, of a disaster-affected community or society. Early recovery includes temporary and near-term measures to support anticipated community needs. Recovery measures should align with the principles of sustainable development and ‘build back better’⁵ to avoid or reduce future disaster risk⁶.
6. Reconstruction refers to implementing longer-term strategies post-incident to ‘build back better’ from a crisis, including identifying sustainable development approaches and mitigation measures that may be applicable beyond the directly affected community. Reconstruction is not covered by this Framework.
7. Risk reduction refers to reducing future risk by identifying and enacting measures that may be taken to reduce the impacts and consequences of future crises. Risk reduction is not covered by this Framework. Refer to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework⁷ for more information.

Across the Continuum, resilience refers to the ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt to, transform and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions through risk management.⁸ The Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience (AIDR) publishes a collection of handbooks that provide guidance on national principles and practices for crisis resilience, including elements of the 7 phases of the Continuum.⁹

Footnotes

4. The Australian Disaster Preparedness Framework. Return to footnote 4 ↩
5. A definition of 'build back better'. Return to footnote 5 ↩
6. This is defined by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). Return to footnote 6 ↩
7. The National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework. Return to footnote 7 ↩
8. As defined by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). Return to footnote 8 ↩
9. The AIDR Handbook Collection. Return to footnote 9 ↩