To facilitate the assessment process the following areas are considered:

2.1 Basic country profile oriented to disaster situations
2.2 General overview of the health sector
2.3 Health disaster preparedness program

For each of these areas, the assessment team's approach to information gathering should include:

a) Objectives of the assessment
b) Checklist of basic indicators
c) Key issues to be raised
d) Appropriate sources of information
e) Summary of findings

The assessment of the basic country profile (2.1), and general overview of the health sector (2.2), should be made in general terms. The health disaster preparedness program (2.3) should be assessed in more depth. It is, therefore, more appropriate to separate the components, as presented below.

For the purpose of these guidelines, let us assume that the team members responsible for the assessment are familiar with the health field and with disaster management issues.