What comes first, remediation or mitigation?

What comes first, remediation or mitigation, depends on context, but generally mitigation comes first to lessen immediate harm, followed by remediation to fix root cause and restore conditions. In emergency management and environmental contexts, mitigation refers to actions taken to reduce severity or prevent worsening of a problem, such as containing a chemical spill, putting up barriers, or evacuating people, while remediation is the longer-term cleanup and restoration after the immediate threat is controlled, such as removing contaminated soil and restoring the site. In cybersecurity, mitigation might involve isolating affected systems to stop an attack from spreading, then remediation involves patching vulnerabilities and restoring secure operations. In risk management, mitigation reduces impact before or during an incident, remediation corrects after. However, in some educational contexts, remediation is the primary response to learning gaps without a distinct mitigation phase. So typically mitigation is the immediate response to limit damage, and remediation follows to fully correct and restore.