USA: Climate change: Communities hold the key to disaster preparedness

By Nicolette Louissaint, Ph.D., executive director of Healthcare Ready

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Far too often, we've witnessed the lingering effects of disasters and the impact that has on communities for years after an event. In fact, many communities across the U.S. are still in some stage of recovery from large-scale events that happened years ago. The lack of disaster planning and training has resulted in communities playing catch-up, while simultaneously trying to prepare for an upcoming disaster. Most communities, especially those in disaster-prone areas, are not resourced to respond while still recovering. We've seen this in areas of Texas, Louisiana, Puerto Rico and even New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy. And it's not just hurricanes. Look at parts of California, where residents are still struggling to rebuild from the wild fires. The same can be said for Nebraska, as it grapples to recover from historic flooding with more expected to come.

All efforts to improve community resilience should start by assessing the needs and challenges of a community during a calm period. This will enable us to plan ahead so that we can address those needs at a moment's notice once disaster strikes.

For example, we know that more and more people are relying on their communities in the face of disaster. In fact, 31 percent of Americans feel their state and local government are well-resourced and prepared to support them during an emergency. While nearly 38 percent say the same of their local community organizations. Since this may not always be true, and all disasters are local, we must develop tailored, local preparedness efforts and find ways to build local community capacity in disaster planning.

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