If you have not read anything on this topic yet, this might be a good introduction for what might be possible, Structured AI decision-making in disaster management

Countries that are friendly to one another should establish agreements to help one another when disaster strikes. See this announcement, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea strengthen emergency management cooperation

I picked this item of information up in an email someone sent me, “ FEMA has extended its hiring freeze through the end of 2025, raising alarms as the busiest part of hurricane season approaches. With leadership shakeups and staff departures, experts worry the agency may not be prepared for large-scale disasters.”

I expect most states and local jurisdictions that exist in a hurricane zone have done some type of warning and evacuation planning. When I listen to residents in those zones who chose not to evacuate, it is generally based on their past experiences in surviving a hurricane. Prior survival is not a good predictor of future survival, given changing climate patterns with more intense hurricanes and huge rainfall totals that exacerbate flooding in areas that are far from any storm surge, e.g. Hurricane Helen and North Carolina’s experience in the mountains

NPR had a rather good article, It was the costliest hurricane in U.S. history: Have we forgotten Katrina's lessons?

There was this announcement on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) website, Secretary Noem Terminates Inept FEMA Employees After Uncovering Massive Cyber Failures, Demands Accountability

I’ve written so much about the topic of screwed up alerting of the public by emergency managers—what more is there to say?nsible. This is about us!

Jim Mullen, former Seattle Emergency Management Director has written a recurring column on topics of interest to the emergency management community.  This one rang true for me and I recommend it for your reading.

I found this statement on Cameron Hamilton’s LinkedIn page very interesting. If you remember, he was the first “Acting FEMA Administrator” appointed by the current Trump Administration. He was fired right after testifying before Congress that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) should not be eliminated, but reformed. This ran directly opposite of what President Trump and Secretary of Homeland Security Noam had been espousing.

Perhaps it has been recent and very public warning failures, or perhaps this has been in the works for a while. See this story, FEMA Announces $40M Funding to States and Tribal Nations to Help Notify the Public During Emergencies, https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/emergency-preparedness/fema-announces-40m-funding-to-states-and-tribal-nations-to-help-notify-the-public-during-emergencies/

I’ve written about heat emergencies before. There have been several significant heat events here in the United States. Chicago was hit hard back in 1992 and a book was written about those events and the actions taken to try and save lives, see Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago  Even in the relatively cool Pacific Northwest where I live, a heat dome caused many deaths in Seattle and Portland, a few years ago—in June!

Climate change will impact the world. There won’t be one area of the world that escapes its impacts, on sea, in the air and on land.

The is the most recent Disaster Zone Podcast: Using Aerial Tech for Estimating Damages

These are brave men and women who signed a letter decrying all the changes being made at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). See this Washington Post article, FEMA staff warn Trump officials’ actions risk a Katrina-level disaster

Climate induced flooding is becoming more prevalent throughout the world. See this BBC story, More than 200 missing in flood-hit district in Pakistan, official says

It was predicted to be an active hurricane season. The first “biggie storm” in the Atlantic is Erin and it looks to be one where we’ll dodge a Category 4 bullet.

It might sound farfetched, but very likely to happen before the end of this decade. See this Washington Post article, These nuclear reactors fit on a flatbed truck. How safe are they?

There was a recent article in Climate Wire with the headline, “FEMA says in court filing it “has not ended disaster grant program.”  The program they are talking about is the Building Resilient Infrastructure Communities (BRIC) that was announced as being cancelled back in April by the then acting FEMA Administrator

As we look at all the wildfires burning in North America right now, I don’t know if we’ll beat the record for 2024 or not. For more information on the 2024 wildfire season see this National Interagency Coordination Center Wildland Fire Summary and Statistics Annual Report 2024  The 2024 fire season recorded 8,924,884 acres burned.

It is always helpful to look backward at incidents to determine the root causes for disaster impacts. It is routinely done for aircraft crashes, and we could do more of this for natural disasters.