COMMENTARY ARCHIVES
It Is Time to Adopt & Implement Resilient Building Codes
Dominic Sims, Pete Gaynor and Craig Fugate
October 20, 2021
As a result of the changing climate, natural hazards like hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires are expected to continue to increase in both intensity and frequency. Therefore, it is critical that communities around the globe prioritize increasing their overall resiliency.
Domestic Preparedness – Prepared for What?
Rob Schnepp
September 22, 2021
Publisher note: Rob Schnepp was one of DomPrep’s first writers and has provided council and guidance to me over the past two decades. I asked him to provide his personal account of the 9/11 attacks as well as the subsequent anthrax attacks. They serve as a reminder of how many
Never Forget: Focusing Events & Opportunity for Change
Nim Kidd
September 22, 2021
Devastating events can open windows of opportunity. In emergency management, focusing events like 9/11 create opportunities for change. Tragedies like 9/11 or devastating hurricanes create a flurry of activity in the short period that follows. This activity typically involves conversations about how to make things better or make change. However,
Lest We Forget
Martin D. Masiuk
September 10, 2021
Lest We Forget! The nation continues to confront questions presented by the 9/11 Commission Report. The report’s preface states, “September 11, 2001, was a day of unprecedented shock and suffering in the history of the United States. The nation was unprepared. How did this happen, and how can we avoid such
Different Sides of Disaster Support
Catherine L. Feinman
August 25, 2021
Disaster support often conjures the image of boots-on-the-ground responders providing aid to survivors on scene. However, disaster support involves so much more that is accomplished at each phase of the disaster management cycle. These efforts include creating codes and standards, building a workforce, providing financial aid, and offering psychological support.
Bringing Back the Preparedness Mindset
Catherine L. Feinman
July 28, 2021
Since 1998, DomPrep authors and readers have touted the need to prepare for disasters. There is a consensus among preparedness, response, and resilience professionals that forethought is the key to community resilience following a disaster. The desire to prepare is demonstrated through action: innumerable studies and best practices have been
Connecting: Benefits & Risks
Catherine L. Feinman
June 23, 2021
To take a multidisciplinary, multijurisdictional approach to disaster preparedness and response, agencies and organizations must connect both in person and virtually. Mutual aid agreements enable agencies to share resources and develop a collaborative strategy for addressing emerging threats. Although predicted by experts, the threats that presented over the past year
What Are Preparedness Professionals Doing?
Catherine L. Feinman
May 26, 2021
With all the thought, planning, and training that go into disaster preparedness efforts, communities theoretically should be ready for any threat and hazard that they face regularly – severe storms, wildfires, hurricanes, power outages, earthquakes, droughts, mudslides, etc. However, that is not always true. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Information – Keep It Flowing
Catherine L. Feinman
April 28, 2021
Information flow is the process of efficiently moving information within and between jurisdictions and systems for the purpose of communicating, making decisions, and establishing policies and procedures. Whether preparing for, responding to, or recovering from a disaster, information flow is a determining factor in the success of any of these
Search for Opportunities
Catherine L. Feinman
March 31, 2021
For more than 20 years, DomPrep has promoted the lessons learned and best practices of agencies and organizations that have managed various disasters. There is so much valuable advice that can be gleaned from such reviews. For example, reviewing past events is critical for learning how to avoid previous preparedness
Tips & Tricks for Effective Disaster Planning
Robert J. (Bob) Roller
March 24, 2021
One of the most critical yet least understood core emergency management capabilities is planning, which reduces the chaos present during a disaster. However, the emergency management community is awash in various planning systems, various types of plans, and confusing terminology that complicates the work. This often causes problems when emergency
Survey: Pandemic Planning 2021
Domestic Preparedness
March 10, 2021
In 2020-2021, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that a public health emergency is not solely a public health problem. A multi-discipline, multi-jurisdictional effort is needed to overcome the numerous challenges that communities face. It is not good enough to create lessons learned and best practices if no subsequent actions are
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