Private Sector, Role in Response

While federal, state, and local governments play crucial roles during disaster response, the private and nonprofit sectors have an increasingly important role. The National Response Framework (NRF), the operational document of the Stafford Act, acknowledges that disasters quickly outstrip the public sector's resources, limiting its ability to respond. As such, governmental bodies have begun to rely on the for-profit (private) and nonprofit (voluntary) sectors to make up the resource shortfall.

Nonprofit organizations, called the Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) community, such as the Red Cross, Catholic Charities, and the Salvation Army, to name a few, play the largest nongovernmental (NGO) role in disaster response and recovery activities. The private sector, however, is playing an increasingly important role in planning and response activities via contractual relationships to provide critical goods and services, utilizing ultra-efficient supply chains developed for their markets.

Small and/or local businesses are forced to respond when disaster strikes, whether that response involves evacuating employees and/or attempts to quickly reopen operations so that citizens can get critical supplies and services, or through more active and altruistic actions such as community response and/or philanthropic donations. Impacted regional or national businesses may have an established supply chain infrastructure to move goods and services to affected areas that smaller businesses lack. Businesses in unaffected areas may also participate in response efforts through donations of goods and services.

The NRF does not generally require specific types of response from the private sector, although industry classified as “critical infrastructure” or “hazardous” includes such industries as electric power, chemical and petroleum, waste treatment, and water distribution. But it does recognize that a functioning private sector is a key to response and recovery in a disaster-struck region. Further, many state and local governments have turned to the private sector to provide critical disaster preparedness, response, and recovery goods and services through private contracts for such things as buses and medical supplies used in evacuations, supply chain and logistics support in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, and debris removal and case management services for long-term recovery.