Damage assessment is a process to determine the severity and magnitude of a disaster or other emergency on the public and private sectors in your community. It helps provide information to the community about the extent of the damage. Before developing a plan for your community, consult any damage assessment plans or guidelines that your State or other governing bodies may have already developed.

Damage assessment response teams are dispatched throughout the community to efficiently and accurately quantify the damage and estimate repair costs and impact on the community with a focus on degree of damage in terms of habitability and property value, as well as the impact on critical infrastructure and key resources (CIKR).

Teams may have to go out more than once if an area is not accessible during the initial assessment or if the need for further assessment arises due to additional impacts to the area. The information collected during damage assessment is used to determine not only where to direct resources, but also to determine if local resources will be sufficient to respond to and recover from the event or if contracts and mutual aid agreements will need to be activated and/or if State or Federal assistance will be needed. Click this link to access the information presented on this page in a new window.