That role focuses on strengthening societal resilience and developing an agile crisis organization that can effectively respond to diverse threats and prolonged disruptions. What drives him above all are the people. "A security region is a club with very passionate people, emergency workers, people who work with a mission. I get to support them in that work, and that makes me proud." That mission takes place in a world that Donker says is challenging with large numbers of more complex crises.
Changing threat picture
According to Donker, therefore, the crises that regions are facing now are different than in the past. "Yes, we really see the world changing. For example, the chance of a prolonged power outage is real. We also see uncontrollable wildfires, major floods or combinations of those. Not to mention cyber attacks or geopolitical threats around the world. There is just a lot and more at play than before." Where, according to Donker, security regions used to be mainly set up to prevent fires, put out fires and short "flash crises," we now see long-term and interwoven crises. "Multiple crises can happen simultaneously. That requires something different from us. We really need to invest in the craft of crisis management. Fortunately, we are also very good at that, in cooperation with our partners. That really requires that we can also keep it up longer together." So that cooperation must be firmly established. Crisis management is thus not a script in a drawer, but a continuous development process.
Crisis capable through cooperation
Crisis management only functions well if you do it together. "Nobody can do it alone. What happens today, you often cannot imagine in advance. That means we have to be agile and respond to unexpected risks." That agility starts with relationships. Partners need to know each other, practice with each other and speak each other's language. "When it comes down to it, you have to be able to reach each other directly." So where do things sometimes go wrong? According to Donker, mostly on the front end. "If you don't invest in the cold phase - in getting to know each other and practicing together - then you notice it in the warm phase. Then you don't speak each other's language, or you don't know what phase of the crisis you're in." In other words, crisis management means investing in both the inner circle of permanent partners and the broader outer circle of organizations and companies that play a role in a crisis.
"Joint responsibility to increase risk awareness"
Investing in information management
A crisis is characterized by uncertainty. Information is often incomplete, situations change quickly. How do you deal with this? "100 percent certainty does not exist," says Donker. "Sometimes you steer a little bit in the fog." Still, that's no reason to wait and see. The VRU is investing heavily in information management and information-driven operations. "Information is crucial to make good choices. We always try to get out in front of the crisis. The better your information position, the more focused you can act." This applies both to operational deployment - for example, firefighters already gaining insight about an incident in the car - and to administrative decision-making during large-scale crises. Donker: "We invest a lot of time to gather as much information as possible in order to act as safely as possible. But systems are always supportive. The expertise lies with the people in the field. We lean mainly on our experienced professionals. Systems should support them, not the other way around." At the same time, information sharing also has bottlenecks. Privacy, confidentiality and data protection play a major role, which sometimes compare poorly with what is needed in disaster response. That's why the VRU is investing a lot of time and brainpower in safe, effective and efficient information-driven operations. To this end, a program of 18 improvement projects was recently approved.
Learning from crises helps with future crises
After every crisis, learning begins in a positive way. For Donker, this is not a separate step after the fact, but an integral and extremely important part of professional work. "Our people go to places where others go away, so in unsafe situations. We try to do everything we can to learn from what happens. So that next time we can go to such a place more safely or prevent or manage a crisis faster." After an incident, time is carefully set aside for aftercare and reflection. "How are our people doing? So the person behind the person. We look at what we have seen, and what could be better and safer? This is appreciative inquiry. Yes, we spend a lot of time on this. We share these lessons within the region, and also nationally."
Resilience and resilience inextricably linked
Donker understands social resilience to mean two terms. "Resilience and resilience. Resilience is about how we design our society to be shock resistant. Resilience is about how we recover and cope with the situation if something does go wrong." According to him, resilience does not happen by itself. It requires joint effort by government, businesses and residents. "It’s a team effort. We need to be resilient as one. We ask residents and businesses to take care of themselves and their loved ones first, including your vulnerable neighbor. Then emergency services have room to help where even more vulnerable people live." The pressure on resilience is increasing because of the potential for long-term disruption. "We in the Netherlands are used to everything always working. In a crisis that is not so. Together we have to get used to that a bit again." 100% safety does not exist, but putting our shoulders to the wheel together does, according to Donker.
"Give our people space. Give them a round of applause. We need them desperately."
Unacceptable aggression
One worrisome development is aggression against emergency workers. "That is unacceptable to us. Our people go to places where others leave. They give everything to help others." The VRU stands firmly behind its employees. At the same time, Jaap Donker asks for social support. "Give our people space. Give them a round of applause. We need them desperately," he expresses clearly.
From reunion toinspiration at eRIC
At eRIC, Donker shares his views on social resilience and crisis leadership. "My message there is that we need to invest in regional and homeland security. Defense faces a mega task to contribute to international security. As the VRU, we want to work with all partners to see what is needed regionally and nationally." He hopes to inspire visitors with practical examples to work with at home. eRIC, he says, is indispensable and feels like a kind of reunion even. "In that meeting, even informally, you make precisely the connections that you will also desperately need later in a real crisis."
Goosebumps and pride
After years in the crisis domain and disaster response, his motivation is unchanged. "What drives me in this beautiful work is that we can make a difference. That we get to contribute to crisis management and disaster relief gives me goose bumps. I still feel supported by our wonderful people. I am enormously proud of all those people, who are ready day and night. I will gladly continue to work for them," concludes Jaap Donker.
Want to know more? Visit the lecture 'Samenredzaam: de kracht van een weerbare samenleving' by Jaap Donker during eRIC on April 22 at 13.30, lecture room 2.
