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Glossary

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International Glossary for Resilience

Clear communication is essential, yet we all have had experiences in which the same terms are used to describe different situations. For example, which term do you use to describe a fire? Is it an emergency, an incident, an event, a disaster, or all of the above? Sometimes the discrepancies are subtle, sometimes not. In everyday situations, ambiguity can be comical, confusing, or at worst, annoying. In a crisis, unclear definitions can be dangerous.

As the oldest and largest nonprofit organization of its kind, DRI International is the industry thought leader and service is our mission. Our Certified Professionals and the greater resilience community look to us for guidance. When we were asked to offer a DRI glossary, we accepted the challenge. The question we posed was quite simple: What can we create to best serve the profession? We soon realized that the industry already has many glossaries and terms. These various documents offer much insight and are already widely used in various parts of the world. Rather than add to the abundant number of existing glossaries, we felt that DRI should act as an arbiter of existing definitions. For this reason, the DRI glossary does not create new definitions. Instead, we select and present the best-in-class definitions already in use in the English language.

In keeping with the makeup of our Certified Professionals, the process had to be international, inclusive, and apolitical, so we established a volunteer committee of industry leaders to review and vote on the terms and definitions that would ultimately appear in this document. The initial version was the result of nearly two years of effort to build a standard set of terms. We always expected that this would be a living document, subject to revisions and changes. There have been numerous additions and edits over the years as well as the introduction of versions in Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, and Spanish, but this is the first major revision. We are eager for your feedback, as well as the participation of representatives from each of the source documents.

The objectives of maintaining a comprehensive glossary are:

  • to promote a common set of universal terms
  • to reduce confusion and remove inconsistencies between parties
  • to facilitate coordination
  • to provide a standard translation of technical terms specific to the profession.

The International Glossary for Resilience and its translations are maintained by their respective committees

Glossary Committee

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Dean Gallup
MBCP, Committee Chair

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Kathy Acevedo
ABCP, Coordinator

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Jerry Bedwell
MBCP

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Lyndon Bird

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Mary Crea
MBCP

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Chloe Demrovsky
CBCV

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John Franchy
CBCP

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Jim Kinsman
MBCP

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Peter McEvoy

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James Price
MBCP, CBCV

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Gary Villeneuve
MBCP, CBCLA, CPSCP, ARMP, CBCV

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Bobby Williams
MBCP

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Mark Wilson
MBCP

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Rob Zegarra
MBCP, CCRP

Chinese Glossary Committee

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Gary Liu
MBCP

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Song Bing Zhang
CBCP

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Yue Song
CBCP

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Li Li
CBCP

Arabic Glossary Committee

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Waleed Aldakheel
CBCP

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Waleed Al Dakheel
CBCP

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Nabil Al Ofi
CBCP

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Ahmed Riad Ali
CBCP

Spanish Glossary Committee

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Norman Ramírez
MBCP, CRMP, CCRP, Presidente

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Ana Terrada
CBCP

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Mariana Quiros
CBCP

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Hector Miguel Opazo
CBCP

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Agustín López
DRI Spain

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Mauricio Carvajal
MBCP

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Juan Carlos Torres
MBCP

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Karol Cordero
CBCP