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# Disasters and the nurse: risk reduction, preparedness, response and recovery (and shelters)

- Fundamental

Disaster care starts long before the event: the nurse helps know and reduce the risk, prepares, responds and supports recovery.

Updated Nov 13, 2026

## Key points

- Ley 1523 de 2012: three processes, knowing the risk, reducing the risk and managing disasters.
- Reduction = mitigation (lowering existing risk) + prevention (avoiding new risk).
- Response includes health and basic sanitation, search and rescue, shelters and food, and public information; its effectiveness depends on preparedness.
- Recovery seeks normal living conditions without rebuilding the old risk.
- People living in poverty, children, older adults, people with disabilities and minorities suffer more and recover more slowly.
- Nurses also need to protect themselves: exposure to suffering, workload and separation from family cause stress.

## What it is

A disaster is a serious disruption of a community caused by hazards meeting people's exposure and vulnerability, with human, material and environmental losses. Colombia's Ley 1523 de 2012 adopts the national disaster risk management policy and creates the national system (SNGRD). It organises the work in three processes: knowing the risk, reducing it (mitigation of existing risk and prevention of new risk) and managing disasters (preparedness, response and recovery, that is, rehabilitation and reconstruction). Risk management is the responsibility of all authorities and of every inhabitant, who must act with precaution, solidarity and self-protection. The nurse takes part in every phase: education and planning before, triage, care, shelters and psychological support during, and follow-up of physical and mental health after.

## Key points

- Disasters result from hazard, exposure and vulnerability together, not from the hazard alone.
- The departmental, district and municipal disaster risk councils coordinate the three processes in each territory.
- Hospitals activate their emergency plans and expansion areas when an event exceeds their usual resources.
- Evaluating the response after each event feeds the next plan.

## Components

- Knowing the risk: scenarios, risk analysis, monitoring and communication.
- Reducing the risk: corrective and prospective intervention, and financial protection.
- Preparedness: plans, training, drills, supplies and early warning.
- Response: rescue, triage, care, health and sanitation, shelters, information.
- Recovery: rehabilitation, reconstruction and long-term follow-up of health and mental health.

## What it is for

- Before: help identify socially vulnerable people in the territory and educate the community on hazards and how to protect itself.
- Before: take part in staff training and know one's role in the hospital emergency plan.
- During: first aid, triage of needs, continuous assessment of physical and psychological needs, and directing people to resources.
- During, in shelters: help manage the shelter, health and basic sanitation, and keep families and children together.
- After: follow-up of injuries, chronic disease and mental health, including PTSD, substance use and suicide risk.

## In nursing practice

- When an outbreak is part of the emergency, nurses help with screening, testing, vaccine distribution and public education.
- Ongoing training in infection prevention, transmission precautions and personal protective equipment is part of preparedness.
- Socially vulnerable communities suffer more deaths and damage and recover more slowly: prioritise them in follow-up.
- Plan your own rest and support after hard shifts.

## Common mistakes

- Thinking that disaster care begins when the event happens.
- Leaving vulnerable people out of community emergency plans.
- Neglecting mental health once physical injuries are treated.
- Not evaluating the response, so the same failures repeat.

## Test yourself

Think of the answer, then tap the question to see it.

## What three processes make up disaster risk management under Ley 1523 de 2012?

Knowing the risk, reducing the risk and managing disasters.

## What two types of action make up risk reduction in Ley 1523?

Mitigation, which lowers existing risk, and prevention, which avoids creating new risk; financial protection is also part of it.

## What is the central purpose of recovery after a disaster?

To restore normal living conditions through rehabilitation and reconstruction without reproducing the risk conditions that existed before.

## Which groups are usually hit hardest by disasters?

People living in poverty, racial and ethnic minorities, children, older adults and people with disabilities; they also recover more slowly.

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## Elsewhere in DurgiPedia

- [Allocating scarce resources and triage](https://durgical.com/en/medical-ethics/allocating-scarce-resources-and-triage/)
- [Disaster victim identification](https://durgical.com/en/forensic-medicine/disaster-victim-identification/)

## Connections

## Related 3

- [Mass-casualty triage (START and JumpSTART) from the nursing side](https://durgical.com/en/nursing/mass-casualty-triage-from-the-nursing-side/)
- [Psychological first aid after disasters, violence and crises](https://durgical.com/en/nursing/psychological-first-aid-after-disasters-violence-and-crises/)
- [Outbreak response from the nursing side: notification, field tasks and control measures](https://durgical.com/en/nursing/outbreak-response-from-the-nursing-side-notification-field-tasks-and-control-mea/)

[← All of nursing](https://durgical.com/en/nursing/)

Educational content for students; it does not replace your institution's protocols, supervised clinical training or a prescriber's order. Dose-calculation examples use made-up numbers: they are educational, not a clinical order.

Sources: [Ley 1523 de 2012: política nacional de gestión del riesgo de desastres y Sistema Nacional de Gestión del Riesgo de Desastres](https://www.minambiente.gov.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/ley-1523-2012.pdf) (Congreso de Colombia (copia del Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible), 2012); [Nursing: Mental Health and Community Concepts, 18.3 Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery (Open RN, CC BY 4.0)](https://med.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Nursing/Nursing%3A_Mental_Health_and_Community_Concepts_(OpenRN)/18%3A_Environmental_Health_and_Emergency_Preparedness/18.03%3A_Emergency_Preparedness_Response_and_Recovery) (Open Resources for Nursing (Open RN) / LibreTexts, 2022); [Nursing: Mental Health and Community Concepts, 18.4 Nurses' Roles in Emergency Response (Open RN, CC BY 4.0)](https://med.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Nursing/Nursing%3A_Mental_Health_and_Community_Concepts_(OpenRN)/18%3A_Environmental_Health_and_Emergency_Preparedness/18.04%3A_Nurses_Roles_in_Emergency_Response) (Open Resources for Nursing (Open RN) / LibreTexts, 2022); [Guías básicas de atención médica prehospitalaria, 2.ª ed.: Clasificación de pacientes (triage)](https://www.minsalud.gov.co/Documentos%20y%20Publicaciones/Guias%20Medicas%20de%20Atencion%20Prehospitalaria.pdf) (Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social, Colombia, 2012).

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Representative model, for educational purposes only.

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Source: https://durgical.com/en/nursing/disasters-and-the-nurse-risk-reduction-preparedness-response-and-recovery/
License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Cite as: DurgiPedia (durgical.com), https://durgical.com/en/nursing/disasters-and-the-nurse-risk-reduction-preparedness-response-and-recovery/