Community emergency plan

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Resilience Forum's communities page says the emergency services have to prioritise those in greatest need, so "communities may need to rely on their own resources until professional help arrives". Communities that have prepared in advance "are able to cope better and recover faster". Creating a community emergency plan is the fourth of its five steps, after being aware of local risks, making sure you are prepared yourself and getting to know your community, and before supporting and developing community resilience.

The forum says a community plan "will help all volunteers know their roles when there's an emergency" and "can be shared with emergency services so that everyone can work together". Its template is designed to help a community prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies in its area. Once shared, the plan is available to the forum's emergency planning team, who may ask the community to work alongside responders by sharing information or giving access to buildings or resources, and to the district or borough emergency control centre, which can act as a point of contact.

Dorset's local resilience forum publishes a similar template, which it calls a community emergency response plan, "a written plan of who will do what, when and why".