The American Preparedness Project: Where the US Public Stands in 2007 on Terrorism, Security, and Disaster Preparedness

Since 2002, the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and The Children’s Health Fund (CHF), have conducted annual surveys of public attitudes and personal preparedness in the aftermath of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Produced in collaboration with the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion (MIPO), each is a random-dial telephone survey of a representative random sample of the US population (selected consistent with demographic characteristics of the most recent available update of the 2000 census). Each survey, including the current, has included a set of questions repeated every year, which generate trend data, as well as questions specific to events current to each study period. Repeated questions ask about confidence in government; willingness and ability to evacuate; extent of personal and family preparedness; and perceptions of community preparedness. All questions are compared across a variety of demographic characteristics including race, age, gender, income, and region, size of community, political affiliation, and education. Further, the responses to select questions, such as awareness of community preparedness plans, are compared across certain groups of respondents (e.g. those having personal and family preparedness plans vs. those who do not). The surveys are developed by NCDP and CHF investigators in conjunction with MIPO, who administers the survey, codes the data, and produces the frequency tables.