Disaster Mitigation and the Unfinished Agenda

The Christian Science Monitor has an editorial today by Paul C. Light, a New York University political science professor about preparing Americans for disaster, pointing out one place where we’re really getting it wrong – media coverage (he’s got other comments too):

Despite unrelenting coverage of the chaos that followed the storm, Katrina had virtually no effect on the public's preparedness for disaster.

Of course, it hasn’t been too long following the disaster, but he’s probably right. There likely isn’t going to be some epiphany that promotes a flurry of first aid class taking, fire extinguisher buying, home emergency planning, town meeting, etc. sometime down the road. However, we fail to pay attention to this stuff at our risk:

Such complacency can only breed the kind of chaos seen on the streets of New Orleans after Katrina. Asked what they would do if a suicide bombing or biological attack occurred in their own communities, Americans said they would go every which way but loose. Some said they would flee, others would volunteer, and still others would contact their friends and family, try to learn more about the event, gather supplies, pray, or lock and load. Americans have never been more dependent on local governments, businesses, and charitable institutions to guide them after disaster strikes.

Dr. Light’s editorial comes on the heels of the 9-11 Public Discourse Project’s Unfinished Agenda report, which recently gave some pretty poor grades to the federal government on homeland security and emergency preparedness and response. I don’t know if state and/or local governments would do any better, though. Returning to Dr. Light for a moment:

Unfortunately, according to a second New York University survey conducted in mid-October, Katrina eroded public confidence in the very institutions that they depend upon. Barely a third said their fire departments and charitable organizations were very well prepared to help people in need, less than a fifth said the same about their local police, and barely a tenth said the same about local businesses and governments.

Katrina also created serious doubts about how well the federal government would respond to specific disasters such as terrorist bombings and a flu epidemic. Although the number of Americans who said they know what to expect from a potential disaster almost doubled in the weeks before and after Katrina, many appear to expect government failure. Only 11 percent of Americans said that the federal government was very well prepared for a flu epidemic, for example.

As the 9-11 Commission’s earlier report on the terrorism response says, the system is blinking red on this one.

Afterword: perversely, some of our news institutions, such as Fox, are actively undermining efforts to raise concerns and take action on these issues. Over the weekend at the gym, I was on the elliptical across from the TV broadcasting Fox morning business shows. Despite my best efforts not to pay attention (cardio can be a bit boring until the endorphin buzz starts kicking in), I watched the Fox commentators bloviate about the market “proving the 9-11 Commission wrong” that we’re not prepared for another disaster. I had a similar response as James Wolcott here – a smarmy cold-hearted bunch, all of them. Who are the real Americans, here?