The resilience of households directly impacts the resilience of a community. The network diagram above shows, the needs of households drive the daily business operations of the community – they require and consume food, water, pharmaceuticals, medical goods, power, fuel and other services.
Community lifelines are the integrated network of assets, services, and capabilities that are used day-to-day to support the recurring needs of the community. These lifelines enables the continuous operation of critical government and business functions and is essential to human health and safety or economic security.
Deliberate partnership between the private and public elements of that network can help keep households resilient – which in turn increases the resilience of the community.
Community Lifelines
Why We Use Community Lifelines
- The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) created Community Lifelines to reframe incident information, understand and communicate incident impacts using plain language, and promote unity of effort across the whole community to prioritize efforts to stabilize the lifelines during incident response.
- A lifeline enables the continuous operation of critical government and business functions and is essential to human health and safety or economic security.
- Lifelines are the most fundamental services in the community that, when stabilized, enable all other aspects of society to function.
- FEMA has developed a construct for objectives-based response that prioritizes the rapid stabilization of Community Lifelines after a disaster.
- The integrated network of assets, services, and capabilities that provide lifeline services are used day-to-day to support the recurring needs of the community and enable all other aspects of society to function.
- When disrupted, decisive intervention (e.g., rapid re-establishment or employment of contingency response solutions) is required to stabilize the incident.
While lifelines were developed to support response planning and operations, the concept can be applied across the entire preparedness cycle. Efforts to protect lifelines, prevent and mitigate potential impacts to them, and building back stronger and smarter during recovery will drive overall resilience in our neighborhoods, communities and our nation.
Community Lifelines
Safety and Security
This lifeline covers responder and survivor safety and the continuity of government (including basic services, firefighting, law enforcement/security, Search and Rescue, and Community Safety).
Food, Water, Shelter
This lifeline covers not only traditional feeding and hydration services, which are routinely paired with sheltering (hence the grouping of components in this lifeline), but it also includes water and agricultural infrastructure that is closely tied.
Health and Medical
Energy (Power & Fuel)
This lifeline covers all aspects of medical services required during an incident, including survivor care, fatality management, public health, and the medical supply chain.
Energy (Power & Fuel)
Energy (Power & Fuel)
Energy (Power & Fuel)
This lifeline is focused on only electricity and fuel, which are both essential to a successful response operation.
Communications
Energy (Power & Fuel)
Communications
This lifeline covers all types of communications necessary to effectively respond to and help survivors, in addition to banking and electronic payment needs.
Transportation
Energy (Power & Fuel)
Communications
This lifeline covers all forms of transportation of people and resources to and from the incident.
Hazardous Materials
This lifeline covers the management (including containment and removal) of all hazardous materials.
Government Services
This lifeline covers government services for distribution support of life sustaining commodities and coordination of wrap around services for survivors during and after a disaster.