Guiding Principles

The goal of NCDP’s policy agenda is to use research and evidence-based insights to help guide disaster preparedness, planning and response. An academic entity such as NCDP can effectively assist policymakers by identifying issues that warrant attention and resources, offering broad outlines of problems and potential solutions, and proposing innovative ways to approach disaster policy.

Georgia House Rules Committee Member, Rep. Carolyn Hugley, D-Columbus, looks over a bill during a hearing at the State Capitol, Tuesday, March 26, 2013, in Atlanta. Georgia lawmakers are facing big differences on legislation about firearms and lobbying rules as the General Assembly is two days away from ending its annual session. By law, any bills that do not pass by Thursday automatically fail for the year. A six-member negotiating team was expected to meet this week in an attempt to resolve differences over how Georgia regulates lobbyists. (AP Photo/David Goldman)NCDP’s key policy principles are:

  • Disaster preparedness policy should be guided by evidence to the maximum possible extent;
  • Effective implementation of evidence-influenced policies is only possible if there is sufficient coordination among relevant agencies;
  • Policies should be continuously monitored, evaluated, and weighed against real-time experiences in an effort to improve effectiveness.

Policy research and analysis is needed to:

  • Improve emergency response capacity and effectiveness;
  • Develop optimal ways to train responders and planners;
  • Improve coordination among entities responsible for disaster response;
  • Better understand barriers to citizen readiness, so as to increase readiness;
  • Increase understanding of how social, economic and other disparities affect the impact of disasters and how to address such disparities in disaster planning;
  • Explain how climate change and infrastructure fragility affect disaster frequency or severity; and
  • Find new strategies to maximize and expedite recovery from large-scale disasters.

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