In a series of meetings in Washington last week (hot and humid and not very many people in town other than tourists), I began to see just how much traction the concept of resilience is gaining. Perhaps as some would suggest, it is just the newest buzzword that will run its course in time. I don’t think so. Those that I spoke with both in government and in the private sector are all very serious about the idea of making a more resilient America and have invested a significant amount of their time and energy thinking about this important subject. They really want to see it succeed.
At the national level this is going to take time. If the goal is to have national resilience as a national priority, Homeland Security Presidential Directives will have to be rewritten. An interagency that focuses on resilience across the departments may have to be created. Speeches and public announcements will have to be coordinated. This is a serious and important issue and will have to be treated as such. Additionally, resilience must compete with other challenges facing the national government that seem much more urgent in the short term – H1N1, national health care policy, energy policy and climate change.
The question for us at the Community and Regional Resilience Institute is whether creating a way for communities to work toward resilience in a systematic, meaningful way must – or can afford to – wait on the national process. Can we work simultaneously and in parallel with the national effort? Of course, I think we can. We need to start this year while there is significant momentum to convene the nation-wide forum necessary to find our way to a common framework for community disaster resilience. As the national policy work matures the two processes can inform each other. Communities will provide their input to help shape national policy and national policy will provide appropriate federal guidance and strong support to the community efforts.
That’s the way it should work.
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Mr. Edwards as usual another interesting post and question. As I mentioned before I believe Mitigation = Successful Preparedness, Resiliency and Recovery. I believe Mitigation should be included as a component of any Sustainable and Resilient Nation. Mitigation should be the foundation on which to base all other efforts.
ReplyDelete- Mitigation: the action of lessening in severity or intensity.
There are many hazards, some are man-made and some are natural. I will touch on the subject of a natural and recurring hazard, Hurricanes. Hurricanes are recurring events that cause massive destruction. The negative impact on energy, environment, economy, physical and mental health and many other areas after such events are tremendous and deeply far reaching.
- Energy is expended to manufacture and transport goods, to provide medical care, food supplies, emergency power, personnel and many other things. If you take the time to consider all the immediate efforts and the prolonged efforts, which may be required for many months, to recover from such a disaster you will begin to understand the true depth of the negative impact hurricanes can have on our energy production and consumption, this includes energy produced at home and imported.
- Environmentally, hurricanes cause significant damage across large areas (even far inland) which result in enormous clean up efforts and tons of material being deposited in our landfills, not to mention the resulting contamination of our waterways, drinking water, soil and other important environmental concerns. Additionally our natural resource and imported resource use is increased significantly. Just consider all the resources needed and the length of time required to recover from such events and you will realize that the extent of the negative environmental impact, including its contribution to “climate change” is very significant.
- Economy is impacted on an enormous scale. According to a report by the NOAA:
(Rita - approximately $16.0 (17.1) billion in damage/costs)
(Katrina - approximately $125 (133.8) billion in damage/costs)
It has been estimated that the United States averages approximately $18 billion dollars a year in economic loss due specifically to hurricanes. (This is probably a conservative estimate)
- Health issues that are both physical and mental can arise in the aftermath of such events. The failure of structures and contamination of the environment can result in short term or prolonged medical problems and even death. The mental impact of being dispersed from your home, your job, your community and even your state combined with economic loss, family loss and many other losses and/or factors can cause significant strain on a victim’s mental state and cause enormous stress.
Mitigation reduces the negative energy impact, negative environmental impact, the economic loss, the negative mental and physical health issues and other underlying issues in the aftermath of a hazard or threat. It also reduces the Physical, Natural and Man-Made resources, energy expenditures, economic expenditures, medical resources and the many other underlying requirements needed to recover from a hazard or threat. In turn we are more prepared for, more resilient and able to adjust to and more easily and rapidly able to recover from these disasters or hazardous events.
Mitigation, Preparedness, Resiliency and Recovery should be of equal importance to our Nation, since they directly RELATE to all our other efforts in economy, environment, energy, health, infrastructure, climate change and elsewhere.
If we do not advance Mitigation, Preparedness, Resiliency and Recovery in unison with other goals, we risk prolonging all our other goals, we risk reducing their effectiveness and we risk being able to successfully reach the ultimate goal of providing a Nation that ensures a wondrous future for the generations that follow in our footsteps.