AMS PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP FORUM 2009 NAS/NRC hazards work – a sampling William H. Hooke AMS Policy Program.

AMS PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP FORUM 2009

NAS/NRC hazards work – a sampling

William H. Hooke

AMS Policy Program

The Disasters Roundtable's mission is to facilitate and enhance communication and the exchange of ideas among scientists, practitioners, and policymakers in order to identify urgent and important issues related to the understanding and mitigation of natural disasters, technological disasters, and other disasters.

• Upcoming Workshops

• 25: Children, Youth and DisastersThursday, June 25, 2009 Washington, DC

Past Workshop Agendas and Presentations

• 24: Cascading Disasters: How Disasters Unfold - Irvine, CA

• 23: Making the World Safer from Disasters: The U.S. Role • 22: Disaster Risk Management in an Age of Climate Chan

ge

• 21: Disaster Recovery • 20: Creating and Using Multi-Hazards Knowledge and Str

ategies

• 19: Protecting Lives and Property at our Coastlines • 18: Citizen Engagement in Emergency Planning for a Flu

Pandemic

• 17: Rebuilding for Health, Sustainability, and Disaster Preparedness in the Gulf Coast Region

• 16: Community Disaster Resilience • 15: Law, Science, and Disaster • 14: The Indian Ocean Tsunami Disaster: Implications for

U.S. and Global Disaster Reduction and Preparedness

• 13: Lessons Learned Between Hurricanes: From Hugo to Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jean

•

•

• 12: Creating a Disaster Resilient America: Grand Challenges in Science and Technology

• 11: Public Health Risks of Disasters: Building Capacity to Respond

• 10: Reducing Future Flood Losses: The Role of Human Actions

• 9: Hazards Watch: Reducing Disaster Losses Through Improved Earth Observations

• 8: The Emergency Manager of the Future • 7: The National Earthquake Hazards

Reduction Program at Twenty-Five Years: Accomplishments and Challenges

• 6: Alerting America: Effective Risk Communication

• 5: From Climate to Weather: Impacts on Society and Economy

• 4: Countering Terrorism: Lessons Learned from Natural and Technological Disasters

• 3: Sea Level Rise and Coastal Disasters • 2: Natural Disasters and Energy Policy • 1: Urban/Wildland Fire Interface

ICSU-IRDR

Why, despite the fact we know so much more about the natural and social causes of disasters, do losses continue to mount?

Why, despite the fact we know so much more about the natural and social causes of disasters, do losses continue to mount?

The answer…

• Population increase

• Migration to more hazardous areas

• Growth in wealth over time

(Pielke, Jr., R. A., Gratz, J., Landsea, C. W., Collins, D., Saunders, M., and Musulin, R., 2008. Normalized Hurricane Damages in the United States: 1900-2005. Natural Hazards Review, Volume 9, Issue 1, pp. 29-42.)

White, Kates, and Burton 2001*

• we haven't learned as much as we think• knowledge is available but unused• knowledge is used ineffectively, and/or • growth in costs may reflect a time lag

between the acquisition of new understanding and when it can be put into practice.

*White, GF, et al. (2001), ‘Knowing better and losing even more: the use of knowledge in hazards management,’ Environmental Hazards, (3). 81-92.

…learning from experience… continued

Case studies-demonstration projects

• independent investigation• trained staff• broad scope• full stakeholder participation• recommendations, not regulations• public findings, broadly

disseminated

ICSU-IRDR• Characterization of hazards,

vulnerability, and risk• Understanding decision-making

in complex and changing risk contexts

• Reducing risks and curbing losses through knowledge-based actions

_________________

• Capacity-building• Case studies and

demonstration projects• Assessment, data management,

and monitoring

NAS-NRC Committee on private-public sector collaboration to enhance community disaster

resilience

Private sector role?

• Outlooks, forecasts, warnings• Victim• Vector• Critical infrastructure provider• Insurer • Emergency responder• Recovery• Strategic planning partner?• Marketer?

An aside…on the potential for a larger DoC role

• NOAA• NIST• EDA• ESA• Census…

So, summing up, we can reduce losses due to natural disasters, if

we will only…

• improve communication

• learn from experience,

• engage the private sector,

(…and get the associated policy bits right…)