State Policy Report - Disaster Resilience: 2023 Session Recap This report identifies trends in state disaster resilience policy among legislation enacted in 2023. Legislative trends are presented by state and region and by 12 categories: Funding, Energy, Communications, Transportation, Safety and Security, Health and Medical, Food and Water, Housing, Hazardous Materials, Land Use, Governance, and Equity. The report discusses and contextualizes findings in greater … Continue reading “State Policy Report – Disaster Resilience: 2023 Session Recap” Learn More
Preparing for compounding crises: Staff shortages and cyber-attack vulnerability in the era of COVID-19 In 2020, while the USA was experiencing successive waves of COVID-19, Universal Health Services experienced a major cyber attack that crippled electronic systems in over 200 hospitals, including a major academic medical centre that was playing a key regional role in COVID-19 care and clinical trials. This paper discusses the impact of the attack on … Continue reading “Preparing for compounding crises: Staff shortages and cyber-attack vulnerability in the era of COVID-19” Learn More
Remote work and climate change: Considerations for grid resilience in the 21st century This paper explores how the unprecedented dependence on remote work since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the demand for electricity. The paper discusses how the increased dependence on information and communication technologies has driven a shift in the daytime demand for power, from the commercial sector to the residential sector, prompting changes … Continue reading “Remote work and climate change: Considerations for grid resilience in the 21st century” Learn More
Informes Temáticos RCRC: Porqué los Niños Deben Ser la Prioridad #1 en Desastres Los Informes Temáticos RCRC, en este documento, están diseñados para ser utilizados por las comunidades de la iniciativa RCRC y todas las otras comunidades que buscan elevar la resiliencia de los niños ante desastres a la atención de legisladores locales, estatales y federales u otros responsables de la toma de decisiones. Estos informes también pueden … Continue reading “Informes Temáticos RCRC: Porqué los Niños Deben Ser la Prioridad #1 en Desastres” Learn More
Integrating Data Variability Into Contemporary COVID-19 Decision Support In April of 2020, the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) at Columbia University’s Earth Institute partnered with Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) to examine the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and support relevant decision-making to facilitate workforce safety and continuity of utility operations in an environment where initial data were scant and variable. Due to the … Continue reading “Integrating Data Variability Into Contemporary COVID-19 Decision Support” Learn More
Establishing a Foundation for Performance Measurement for Local Public Health Preparedness The development of performance measures is not a new concept in the disaster preparedness space. For over a decade, goals have been developed and tied to federal preparedness grant programs. However, these measures have been heavily criticized for their inability to truly measure preparedness. There is also growing frustration at the local level that these … Continue reading “Establishing a Foundation for Performance Measurement for Local Public Health Preparedness” Learn More
RCRC Issue Briefs: Why Children Should Be the #1 Disaster Priority The Resilient Children/Resilient Communities Initiative (RCRC) Issue Briefs, in this document, are designed to be used by the RCRC communities and all other communities who are seeking to elevate children’s disaster resilience to the attention of local, state, and federal legislators or other decision-makers. These reports can also be used by legislators and decision–makers at … Continue reading “RCRC Issue Briefs: Why Children Should Be the #1 Disaster Priority” Learn More
Using analytics to support a utility's initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic amid an uncertain evidence base Energy utilities play a critical role in fostering disaster resilience. Much of the world is increasingly dependent on the availability and reliability of safe and efficient energy. In addition to its importance for industrial, commercial and household functionality, energy provision is increasingly significant in determining health and equity outcomes during a disaster. Amid the COVID-19 … Continue reading “Using analytics to support a utility’s initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic amid an uncertain evidence base” Learn More
America Is on Track for a Million Coronavirus Cases a Day, and at Least 800,000 Deaths, by the End of 2020 Learn More
Current Data Gaps in Modeling Essential Worker Absenteeism Due to COVID-19 With the uncertain physical and mental health implications of COVID-19 infection, companies have taken a myriad of actions that aim to reduce the risk of employees contracting the virus, with most grounded in reducing or eliminating in-person interactions. Our preliminary analysis indicates that while there is some data to support modelling absenteeism, there are gaps … Continue reading “Current Data Gaps in Modeling Essential Worker Absenteeism Due to COVID-19” Learn More
Initial Coronavirus Disease–2019 Closure Strategies Adopted by a Convenience Sample of US School Districts: Directions for Future Research School closures are an important strategy to mitigate the impacts of a pandemic. But an optimal approach to transitioning from in-person to distance learning approaches is lacking. We analyzed a convenience sample of public K-12 schools in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. This initial snapshot provides some insights to … Continue reading “Initial Coronavirus Disease–2019 Closure Strategies Adopted by a Convenience Sample of US School Districts: Directions for Future Research” Learn More
A Philanthropic Approach to Supporting Emergent Disaster Response and Recovery In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey struck the US Gulf Coast and caused more than US $125 billion in damages in Texas. The loss of lives and the economic damages resulted in an outpouring of support for the recovery efforts in the form of federal assistance and private donations. The latter has supported more creative approaches … Continue reading “A Philanthropic Approach to Supporting Emergent Disaster Response and Recovery” Learn More
Chronic Disease After Natural Disasters: Public Health, Policy, and Provider Perspectives Individuals with chronic conditions require special attention in the planning, response, and recovery phases of disasters, given their unique needs for medication, medical equipment, continued medical care, and the potential for exacerbation of their conditions that require resource-intensive management. In addition to exacerbating existing disease, disasters also contribute to the development of new chronic illnesses. … Continue reading “Chronic Disease After Natural Disasters: Public Health, Policy, and Provider Perspectives” Learn More
Creating Resilient Communities for Children Through the Resilient Children/Resilient Communities Initiative (RCRC), coalitions in Arkansas and New York are working to meet the unique needs of children in a disaster. See how these coalitions are engaging the community leaders, institutions and families to make a lasting impact locally while spreading their passion to others across the country. Visit the project … Continue reading “Creating Resilient Communities for Children” Learn More
The SHOREline Project: Youth Empowerment through Project-Based Learning Join us as we learn more about the SHOREline Project from Dr. David Abramson of NYU’s College of Global Public Health and Director of the program on Population Impact, Recovery, and Resiliency (PiR2). The Resilient Children / Resilient Communities Initiative welcomed Dr. Abramson to share how other communities who may be interested in tapping into … Continue reading “The SHOREline Project: Youth Empowerment through Project-Based Learning” Learn More
Regions Respond to Catastrophes In large-scale disasters that include but are not limited to detonation of an improvised nuclear device, a major earthquake, or another large hurricane striking a major US city, we will simultaneously lose health care system capacity with damage to facilities while needing to care for a surge of injured and ill people seeking care. This … Continue reading “Regions Respond to Catastrophes” Learn More
AECA 2016 Keynote | Children in a Changing Climate: The Importance of Childcare Providers in Disasters Dr. Lori Peek delivers the keynote address to the Arkansas Early Childhood Association (AECA) annual conference in Little Rock, AR. Resilient Children/Resilient Children Initiative (RCRC) project director and NCDP Deputy Director Jeff Schlegelmilch sets the stage by introducing the RCRC Initiative. In her talk, Dr. Peek focuses on the critical role childcare providers may play … Continue reading “AECA 2016 Keynote | Children in a Changing Climate: The Importance of Childcare Providers in Disasters” Learn More
Evolutions in Emergency Management: Maximizing resources through the RCRC Initiative (Part 3 of 3) This emergency management and childcare provider video series highlights 1) the importance of planning for children’s specific and unique needs in an emergency and how those plans build a more resilient community, 2) addresses how this planning gap evolved, and helps us understand the critical nature of bringing emergency management and child-serving institutions to the … Continue reading “Evolutions in Emergency Management: Maximizing resources through the RCRC Initiative (Part 3 of 3)” Learn More
Evolutions in Emergency Management: Partners in Resilience (Part 2 of 3) This emergency management and childcare provider video series highlights 1) the importance of planning for children’s specific and unique needs in an emergency and how those plans build a more resilient community, 2) addresses how this planning gap evolved, and helps us understand the critical nature of bringing emergency management and child-serving institutions to the … Continue reading “Evolutions in Emergency Management: Partners in Resilience (Part 2 of 3)” Learn More
Evolutions in Emergency Management: Prioritizing children on the planning agenda (Part 1 of 3) This emergency management and childcare provider video series highlights 1) the importance of planning for children’s specific and unique needs in an emergency and how those plans build a more resilient community, 2) addresses how this planning gap evolved, and helps us understand the critical nature of bringing emergency management and child-serving institutions to the … Continue reading “Evolutions in Emergency Management: Prioritizing children on the planning agenda (Part 1 of 3)” Learn More
National Opinion Survey Data Release Webinar: Resilient Children/Resilient Communities Initiative As part of the Resilient Children/Resilient Communities Initiative, the National Center for Disaster Preparedness designed and deployed a national survey modeled on prior work through the American Preparedness Project, which collected national data on attitudes and opinions on preparedness. This webinar event recorded on February 9 2016 released the data focused on children in disasters, … Continue reading “National Opinion Survey Data Release Webinar: Resilient Children/Resilient Communities Initiative” Learn More
Schools and Terrorism: Global Trends, Impacts, and Lessons for Resilience This study characterizes trends in the frequency and characteristics of terrorist attacks in child-serving educational institutions around the world, examining the specific vulnerabilies of children and schools with regard to terrorist violence, as well as the various impacts that violence has on children, communities, and societies. Following the analysis of available data on terrorist attacks … Continue reading “Schools and Terrorism: Global Trends, Impacts, and Lessons for Resilience” Learn More
The American Preparedness Project: Where the US Public Stands in 2015 The American Preparedness Project was launched by the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) in 2002, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in order to survey public perceptions and opinions on disaster preparedness and to acknowledge that a comprehensive understanding of the concerns of individuals and families is critical to emergency planning efforts on … Continue reading “The American Preparedness Project: Where the US Public Stands in 2015” Learn More
Anger Versus Fear: Perceptions of Terrorism Among the American Public With recent terrorist attacks in Brussels, Belgium; Paris, France; San Bernardino, California and elsewhere, the rhetoric for addressing the issue of terrorism has grown more polarized. In particular we have seen increasingly aggressive statements demanding limits to immigration, increasing vigilance against Muslim communities, and calling for more direct military action against terrorist organizations.The tone of … Continue reading “Anger Versus Fear: Perceptions of Terrorism Among the American Public” Learn More
Children in Disasters: Do Americans Feel Prepared? A National Survey This study was led by the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) at Columbia University’s Earth Institute on behalf of the Resilient Children/Resilient Communities (RCRC) Initiative, in partnership with Save the Children with funding from GSK.The purpose of the study was to learn more about people’s opinions and attitudes toward disaster preparedness with a focus … Continue reading “Children in Disasters: Do Americans Feel Prepared? A National Survey” Learn More
Acts of terrorism and mass violence targeting schools : Analysis and implications for preparedness in the USA To enhance the preparedness of US schools to acts of terrorism and mass violence, the landscape of threats against schools must first be understood. This includes exploring the global trends of acts of terrorism against schools, as well as looking specifically at the history of terrorism and acts of mass violence against schools domestically. This … Continue reading “Acts of terrorism and mass violence targeting schools : Analysis and implications for preparedness in the USA” Learn More
Crisis Decision-Making During Hurricane Sandy: An Analysis of Established and Emergent Disaster Response Behaviors in the New York Metro Area Objective This collective case study examined how and why specific organizational decision-making processes transpired at 2 large suburban county health departments in lower New York State during their response to Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The study also examined the relationships that the agencies developed with other emerging and established organizations within their respective health systems. … Continue reading “Crisis Decision-Making During Hurricane Sandy: An Analysis of Established and Emergent Disaster Response Behaviors in the New York Metro Area” Learn More
Superstorm Sandy: Lessons for Optimizing Limited Training Resources for Local Impact Professional training development, whether for a classroom, work environment, or other setting, typically follows a validated instructional design model that includes an assessment of learner needs before the development of a training. This foundational principle is integrated into federal guidance documents for emergency preparedness training. That said, local preparedness resources are sometimes in misalignment with … Continue reading “Superstorm Sandy: Lessons for Optimizing Limited Training Resources for Local Impact” Learn More
Growing Up in an Era of Extreme Events 2015-2016 Sustainable Development Seminar Series, “Growing Up in an Era of Extreme Events.” October 7th, 2015 1:00PM-4:00PM EDT As we look back at the last 10 years of extreme events, the response and recovery to Hurricane Katrina, Superstorm Sandy and the Ebola Crisis are a few of the many that have tested our disaster preparedness. … Continue reading “Growing Up in an Era of Extreme Events” Learn More
Ebola and the Politics of Pandemic The Earth Institute presented the first 2014-2015 Sustainable Development Seminar Series, Ebola and the Politics of Pandemic, on November 6th. Beyond urgent medical and humanitarian consequences and response demands, the growing Ebola crisis has serious implications for governments, the private sector, and public messengers. This session will explore how money, power, and media affect — … Continue reading “Ebola and the Politics of Pandemic” Learn More
Disaster Prepared: How Federal Funding in the United States Supports Health System and Public Health Readiness Federal funding for health and medical preparedness in the United States has created an important foundation for preparing the health and medical systems to respond to a wide range of hazards. A declining trend in funding for these preparedness activities threatens to undo the progress that has been made over the last decade, and reduce … Continue reading “Disaster Prepared: How Federal Funding in the United States Supports Health System and Public Health Readiness” Learn More
The Ebola Crisis: What it Means for West Africa & the World The National Center for Disaster Preparedness, in collaboration with the Earth Institute, brought together experts and stakeholders for a timely and educational conference on the Ebola outbreak on October 27th, 2014. This conference facilitated a multi-disciplinary dialogue which will focus on how best to curb the epidemic, understand its impacts—particularly in terms of bioethical and … Continue reading “The Ebola Crisis: What it Means for West Africa & the World” Learn More
