Proactive and Reactive Role of Human Resource Professionals in an Aftershock Management

Disasters do not leave a business unaffected. When it is natural disaster, the effects are felt at various phases of life. Organisations, work, employee life and their psychological balance all get affected by natural disasters. The impacts of natural disasters like earthquake, hurricane, and tsunami and similar others can be severely damaging to a region, businesses, economy and people. Damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure on top of the damage to lives can continue for over quite a period of time. The important task here remains for businesses to have continuity plans to offer information on how to survive back as a resilient organisation, and their operations will be gradually restored. A successful response is the outcome of an inclusive corporate readiness and a well-structured disaster management programme that creates an overarching decision-making framework that orchestrates and supports an organisation's various incident and site-level response activities. Here, the role of human resource (HR) is immense. HR leaders have a strategic role and have to shoulder the accountability to make sure that their organisations are alert of internal vulnerabilities on the human side to different types of crises and to ensure their disaster management plan takes care of all potential risks and concerns. HR needs to make sure that the human capital is taken care of, given support in all disaster management and business continuity plans. HR has to offer real value protection or enrichment through disaster communication plans, disaster resource planning, and help with training in safety and security, manage internal talent and has relevant succession planning. The present conceptual paper discusses the role of HR in managing the risks, planning for the future, immediate responses to the victims and how they can extend the support to the employees and sail through smoothly in the disaster.