Disaster Exercise Outcomes for Professional Emergency Personnel and Citizen Volunteers

It has long been argued in the research literature that conducting disaster exercises produces a variety of benefits that promote effective emergency management. In spite of nearly universal acceptance of the claim, there are few empirical studies that have explored the effects of exercises on participants. This paper reviews the role of exercises in the creation of community disaster preparedness, while making explicit the links among planning, training and exercising. Using a quasi‐experimental design, the effects of disaster exercise participation on perceptions of response knowledge and teamwork are studied for police officers, fire‐fighters and civilian volunteers. The exercise studied involved an annual airport disaster drill required for continuing certification. It was found that participation enhanced the perceptions of response knowledge and teamwork for all three types of participants.