Question

In the disaster Management Cycle, which stage primarily focuses on building resilience before a disaster occurs?

• A. Preparedness
• B. Response
• C. Mitigation
• D. Recovery

Answer 1

Answer:

C. Mitigation

The Disaster Management Cycle is typically divided into four main phases: Mitigation, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery. These phases can be further categorized as occurring before, during, or after a disaster.

Stage	When it Happens	Primary Focus	Building Resilience
Mitigation	Before the disaster (long-term)	Eliminating or reducing the long-term risk to human life and property.	This is the stage most focused on building deep, long-term resilience by reducing the severity of the hazard's impact.
Preparedness	Before the disaster (short-term)	Planning, training, and equipping to ensure an effective and timely response.	It focuses on operational readiness and response capacity, which is a form of resilience.
Response	During and immediately After the disaster	Providing immediate and short-term relief (search and rescue, shelter, medical aid).	Not focused on building long-term resilience; focused on saving lives and stabilizing the situation.
Recovery	After the disaster (short-term to long-term)	Restoring the community to its normal or improved pre-disaster state.	This stage rebuilds and often improves resilience, but the primary focus of building resilience before the event is Mitigation.

Mitigation includes the long-term structural and non-structural measures (like building codes, land-use planning, and retrofitting critical infrastructure) that physically make a community more resilient to the next hazard.