UK emergency preparedness - prepared for what?

We live in a world of increasing risk. Social and global processes continually construct new kinds of risk. Managing risk is an increasingly important function of government and in the UK has risen up the political agenda in recent years. There is evidence that the recent reform of the UK system of civil protection has been strongly influenced by the terrorist threat. Similar patterns can be seen in Europe and North America. The broader agenda of societal resilience and preparedness has been overshadowed by a security agenda. There is a danger that too great a focus on one form of threat can divert attention from the broader range of threats that we face in the future. This paper posits that preparedness should not be confined to institutional capacity but should include the wider public. There is a danger that neglecting the public will only serve to widen the gulf between state and citizen and weaken resilience

National Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change Impacts: A Case Study of Mozambique

human development, climate change

Ready or Not? Protecting the Public's Health From Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism, 2011

Highlights examples of preparedness programs and capacities at risk of federal budget cuts or elimination, examines state and local public health budget cuts, reviews ten years of progress and shortfalls, and outlines policy issues and recommendations

Applied Research Exemplars

The Center for Homeland Defense and Security’s unique academic environment brings together mid- and senior-level government officials with world-renowned faculty and experts in the diverse disciplines that comprise homeland security. The CHDS classroom is a place where participants think critically about homeland security issues and work collaboratively to develop strategic solutions. Master’s degree participants research and write course papers along with a final thesis. These original works concentrate on proposing creative policies, strategies and approaches to the public safety challenges facing their agencies and the broader homeland security community

Center for Homeland Defense and Security Education Report

In January 2003, CHDS began offering the Master of Arts in Security Studies to a class of 14 students. Since that time, more than 460 of the nation’s most talented homeland security officials have participated in the master’s degree program*. These alumni, in turn, share the concepts learned during their course of study with their home agencies, their colleagues and the emerging discipline of homeland security

Public health preparedness : mobilizing state by state

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) works to support public health preparedness for all hazards, including natural, biological, chemical, radiological, and nuclear events. This work falls under one of the agency's overarching health protection goals: "People prepared for emerging health threats - people in all communities will be protected from infectious, occupational, environmental, and terrorist threats." CDC's inaugural report on public health emergency preparedness highlights the progress that has been made in state and local preparedness and response, identifies preparedness challenges that public health departments face and outlines CDC's efforts to address those challenges. Designed to increase transparency and accountability regarding the country's investment in preparedness activities, the report presents aggregate data as well as state-specific snapshots for all 50 states and four directly funded localities: Washington, DC; Chicago; Los Angeles County; and New York City.Executive summary -- Background -- Methods -- Section 1: Public health preparedness in the states and DC -- -- Section 2: Snapshots of public health preparedness in states and directly funded localities -- -- Appendix 1: Cooperative agreement funding -- Appendix 2: DHS national preparedness guidelines and priorities -- Appendix 3: Overview of CDC preparedness activities -- Appendix 4: Overview of ASPR preparedness activities -- Appendix 5: Data sources and methods -- Appendix 6: Category A and B biological agents"February 2008"This report was developed by the Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Project team: Diane Caves ... [et al.]Special thanks to Association of Schools of Public Health, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, Association of Public Health Laboratories, Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, National Association of County and City Health Officials.Presented Feb. 20, 2008 at the Public Health Preparedness Summit held Feb. 19-22 in Atlanta, GA.Mode of access: Internet. (Arobat .pdf file: 12.55 MB, 164 p.)

Linking climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction: reconceptualizing flood risk governance in Mumbai

Climate-related hazards, urban development and changing vulnerability patterns compel cities across the world to deal with new and emerging forms of risk. Academic literature and recent international policy documents suggest potentials of conceptually and practically linking the fields of climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) and emphasize the need to mitigate climate-related risks at local level. However, there is limited knowledge on how this link is established at local levels and the role of ground-level actors and practices therein. Using the case of recurrent and disastrous floods, this paper discusses the significance of linking DRR and CCA in Mumbai. It analyses policies, plans, institutions and interventions related to DRR and CCA and uses interviews and a field study to assess flood risk governance at the level of municipal wards and neighbourhoods. The findings suggest that although flood risk governance has been significantly strengthened, three gaps exist: First, a lack of a comprehensive plan for Mumbai that anticipates future risks and vulnerabilities and integrates CCA and DRR down to local level. Second, a lack of an overarching and decentralized institutional framework across sectors and scales that recognizes the multiplicity of formal and informal actors. Third, the potential of civil society and informal actors for disaster risk management and adaptation planning has not been tapped into sufficiently. The paper argues that potential exists to reconceptualize flood risk governance in Mumbai by focusing on future risks and vulnerabilities and by recognizing the work of informal actors like emergent groups at local level

Disaster risk reduction as a professional competency. A review of related training and education provision for built environment practitioners in the UK and Australia

The UN’s Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 highlights the importance of engaging multiple stakeholders in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). However, questions remain about whether the increasingly broad range of people who are required to make more informed decisions about risk reduction actually have the professional competencies to do so. DRR in the UK is a part of the resilience agenda, which implies a proactive approach to managing disasters and reducing the risks. In Australia, DRR is integrated within national disaster management policy, shifting responsibility away from government towards a proactive private sector, community and individual. When analysed closely it becomes apparent that despite the presence of legislation that encourages integrating such considerations into built environment processes, many built environment practitioners have not received the training required for dealing with DRR. In addition, proactively dealing with disaster risk in both countries is primarily implemented by emergency managers that typically have not been trained to deal with the required range of DRR approaches. These observations suggest that if DRR considerations are going to become better integrated into the (re)development of increasingly urbanised world, then there is a need to better integrate DRR principles into the core professional training (or at least continued professional development) of some of these key built environment practitioners. Therefore with the aim of assessing the extent to which DRR is (or can be) a core professional competency, this paper a) presents a critical review of the current core competency requirements for members of professional institutions, and b) provides an overview of the training of built environment practitioners in the UK and Australia