This Kenya National Emergency Response Plan ensures that the country is well prepared to respond to emergencies and disasters and thus provides the framework and structures necessary to ensure clear leadership and effective command, control and coordination for any disaster event impacting Kenya. This Plan aligns response and early recovery arrangements in Kenya with international best practices and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, especially focusing on the following priorities: understanding disaster risk; strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk; enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response and for ensuring focused action in incident management. The Plan aims at achieving the following objectives: establishing a comprehensive multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional and all-hazards framework for the effective management of emergency response in Kenya, recognising the contribution of all responders, including communities themselves, with associated preparedness activities essential to enable an effective response, preparation of plans, undertaking of training and conduct of drills and simulations; establishing a resilient system of coordination and incident command that can harness the contributions of government agencies, civil society, private sector and communities that can be applied at the national, county and sub-county levels; defining key roles and responsibilities for emergency management functions, establishing the conditions under which responders from different levels of government and private or external partners are mobilised; providing a set of concepts and principles that can be applied in preparing to respond to any hazard and at any level, supported by common operating protocols, operational priorities, and general strategies for ensuring interoperability and effective information management; establishing standardised resource management procedures that enhance efficiencies in coordination amongst different jurisdictions or organisations; ensuring a scalable approach, such that it may be used for all emergency incidents; promoting coordination of different institutional, sectoral and community response partners. This Plan details the following phases of emergency management: 1) mitigation, by preventing future emergencies or minimising their effects; 2) preparedness, by preparing to handle emergency; 3) response, by responding safely to emergency; 4)recovery, by providing recovery activities from an emergency. The Plan provides for integrating early warning systems with disaster risk management and mitigation and details functional emergency response areas: rescue and environment; security; health; humanitarian services; essential infrastructure services; emergency management. Strategic objectives of interventions are: protecting human life and, as far as possible, property, animals, and the environment; alleviate suffering; supporting the restoration of disrupted services at the earliest opportunity.
Kenya · 2020-07-01