As part of NOAA’s comprehensive efforts to build a Climate Ready Nation, DPP and CRRC are forming a working group to investigate the economic value of disaster preparedness programs and activities. This working group will serve as a forum for ongoing dialogue (via webinars) among diverse experts in economics and emergency management, and working group insights will inform future preparedness research and practice.
About the Working Group
Preparedness, as defined in this context, is a continuous cycle of planning, organizing, training, equipping, exercising, evaluating, and continuous improvement in order to be better prepared for the next event. Preparedness includes constantly identifying areas of weakness and addressing these weaknesses. Preparedness improvement includes fully understanding the threat itself locally, potential short- and long-term consequences, agency authorities and responsibilities, and what specific products and services are available to assist in planning, response, decision-making, and recovery.
It is on these activities that the working group will focus. Specifically, the working group’s primary objectives are:
- Develop a framework (e.g., methodologies, datasets, metrics) that can be used to assess the value of NOAA preparedness for response to coastal disasters,
- Explore estimation of the current value of NOAA disaster preparedness considering costs and benefits to:
- Internal NOAA operations (e.g., exercises, training) and
- Coastal communities/economy (e.g. consumers of NOAA services)
Outcomes for the Working Group
- Framework(s) that estimate costs and benefits of preparedness in order to:
- Validate/provide evidence that investment in preparedness is qualitatively and quantitatively beneficial
- Guide decision-making to optimize investment in preparedness
- Literature reviews and presentations or papers collected that may provide theoretical foundations and/or existing datasets etc. for an empirical path forward
- Publication(s)/report(s) on the path forward i.e., datasets, data sources, methodologies, analysis and case studies implementing the framework and methods from above to derive specific estimates of the value of preparedness
Webinars
Webinar #1
Thursday, March 2
2 - 3 pm ET
Agenda here>>
Presentations:
- Overview of Disaster Preparedness Program, Kate Wheelock, NOAA Disaster Preparedness Program
- Economist Perspective, Jason Murray, NOAA Assessment and Restoration Division
- Estimating the Loss Reduction Effects of Disaster Preparedness: An Empirical Study of U.S. Coastal States, Qing Miao, Rochester Institute of Technology and Mari Davlasheridze, Texas A&M University of Galveston
Webinar #2
Tuesday, April 18
2 - 3 pm ET
Agenda Here>>
Presentations:
- Public Investment in Hazard Mitigation: Effectiveness and the Role of Community Diversity, Ivan Petkov, Northeastern University
-
Full Recording of Meeting HERE>> (this is an MP4 file)
Webinar #3
Tuesday, June 13
2 - 3 pm ET
Presentations:
- Extreme Heat Initiatives Overview, Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina, Janice Barnes, Climate Adaptation Partners and Kirstin Dow, University of South Carolina, Dept of Geography
- Full Recording of Meeting HERE>> (this is an MP4 file)
- Water AND Heat: Intervening in Adaptation Hazard Bias, Janice Barnes and Kirstin Dow, Frontiers in Climate, June 2022
Resources
- Publications are being collected on this topic. Please share and peruse here >> Value of Preparedness_Manuscripts and Abstracts
- Value of Preparedness, Resources for OR&R's Disaster Preparedness Program, Will Neuenswander (2019)
- Definitions of Preparedness, Kate Wheelock, NOAA OR&R Disaster Preparedness Program
- Estimating the Loss Reduction Effects of Disaster Preparedness: An Empirical Study of U.S. Coastal States, Dr Qing Miao and Dr. Meri Davlasheridze, February, 2022
Steering Committee Members
- Kate Wheelock, NOAA Disaster Preparedness Program
- Autumn Lotze, NOAA Disaster Preparedness Program
- Nancy Kinner, Coastal Response Research Center
- Jason Murray, NOAA Assessment and Restoration Division, Economist
- Charlie Henry, NOAA Gulf of Mexico Disaster Response Center
- Cameron Duff, NOAA Assessment and Restoration Division, Environmental & Natural Resource, Economist
Questions? Please contact Kathy Mandsager
