Disaster Resilience A National Imperative (2012) / Chapter Skim
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6 The Landscape of Resilience PolicyResilience from the Top Down
6 The Landscape of Resilience PolicyResilience from the Top Down
Pages 159-196
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From page 159... ...
A key role of policies designed to improve national resilience is to take the long-term view of community resilience and to help avoid short-term expediencies that can diminish resilience. Policies to improve community and national resilience may be designed and promulgated specifically to address issues of resilience, or they may be policies designed for another reason that acknowledge the importance and process of building resilience.
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From page 160... ...
The subsequent sections provide context for considering policy options across the full range of stakeholders and authorities that constitute the landscape of resilience, and describes several current practices at federal, state, and local levels that support resilience, as well as policies that unintentionally undermine resilience. Identification of specific roles and responsibilities of government in building resilience flows naturally from discussion in Chapter 5 of the complementary roles and actions that communities can embrace as part of a systemic national effort to increase resilience.
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From page 161... ...
. The Directive also recognizes resilience as a characteristic of an individual, community, or nation and that resilience is enhanced through improved preparedness as noted below: The Secretary of Homeland Security shall coordinate a comprehensive campaign to build and sustain national preparedness, including public outreach and community-based and private-sector programs to enhance national resilience, the provision of Federal financial assistance, preparedness efforts by the Federal Government, and national research and development efforts.
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From page 162... ...
. BOX 6.1 Homeland Security Presidential Directives Relevant to National Resilience HSPD-1: Organization and Operation of the Homeland Security Council.
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From page 163... ...
The issuance of PPD-8 was a significant advance in increasing and improving the federal role in national resilience, and its goals were amplified by the report of the Homeland Security Advisory Council's Community Resilience Task Force (CRTF, 2011)
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From page 164... ...
The recommendations are directed specifically to DHS and call for clarification of responsibilities, building knowledge and public awareness to enhance individual and societal resilience, and providing long-term targets to support urban planning and the built environment. BOX 6.2 Recommendations of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, Community Resilience Task Force (CRTF)
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From page 165... ...
Source: Homeland Security Advisory Council, Community Resilience Task Force (http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/hsac-community-resilience-task-force-recommendations072011.pdf)
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From page 166... ...
…These are not targets for any single jurisdiction or agency; achieving these targets will require a national effort involving the whole community." Source: Department of Homeland Security, National Preparedness Goal, 1st Edition, September, 2011, http://www.fema.gov/pdf/prepared/npg.pdf. The conduct of federal activities in partnership with state, local, and private partners may also be the goal of other Presidential directives.
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From page 167... ...
encourage risk management strategies to protect against and mitigate the effects of attacks against critical infrastructure and key resources." Source: Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7: Critical Infrastructure Identification, Prioritization, and Protection, December 17, 2003. Other types of federal policies may also strongly affect resilience in very broad ways.
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From page 168... ...
of disasters. Coordination of Executive Branch Federal Agencies In addition to the Executive Branch policies issued through Presidential Directives and Executive Orders, agency policies may be initiated by individual federal agencies through the rulemaking process, and may include such things as management practices for federal lands or other resources, or rules and policies that outline roles and responsibilities of various federal agencies in managing federal assets, including those directing or supporting the activities that foster community resilience.
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From page 169... ...
Army Corps of Engineers play crucial roles in providing scientific understanding and real-time assessments of weather-related issues, fires, earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, and other natural hazards, relevant both for short- and long-term monitoring and planning before disasters occur and during actual events. The Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Resources Conservation Service, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission manage or provide oversight for levees and other structures and therefore play a critical role in flood reduction and management, water supply, and energy generation.
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From page 170... ...
(USGS, 2009) Despite the intent behind written statements such as the examples above, coordination of federal agencies' efforts to promote and build national resilience will be difficult owing to the independence of federal agencies, each with its own mission and budget and each emphasizing disaster planning, homeland security, or resilience to different degrees.
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U.S. Forest Service National Roadmap for Responding to Climate Change, (1)
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access to information important for coastal silience.html resilience. A guide to coastal community resilience outlines (3)
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From page 173... ...
: DOD role HSPD-7: Defense (DOD) described in the overarching document Homeland Security http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/laws/editorial_ Presidential Directive 7 0607.shtm (in addition to the U.S.
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(Link 2) e/156/emergency-response.aspx Emergency response (includes disaster response, flood control and coastal emergencies, emergency support: Responds in several ways as part of federal government's unified national response to disasters; activities include providing engineering expertise to local and state governments, providing essential resources such as drinking water, auxiliary power, temporary housing and roofing, making repairs to critical infrastructure.
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From page 175... ...
Prevention chemical and radiation emergencies, disease outbreaks, and cdc.gov/ medical emergencies arising from natural disasters. CDC's Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response leads the agency's preparedness and response activities by providing strategic direction, support, and coordination for activities across CDC as well as with local, state, tribal, national, territorial, and international public health partners.
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The agency provides http://www.dhs.gov/building-resilientHomeland Security the coordinated federal response to events such as terrorist nation (DHS) attacks, natural disasters or other large-scale emergencies.
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As part of the agency's purview over processes http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2011/3008/ operating in the Earth science system, it includes a specific focus on monitoring and assessing natural hazards and helping to develop strategies for resilience. Independent Agencies and Corporations: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Applied Sciences The program uses Earth science data derived from NASA http://www.coastal.ssc.nasa.gov/
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From page 178... ...
The CARRI mission aims to help (ORNL) /Communit develop and share information and guidance that y and Regional communities may use to prepare for, respond to, and Resilience Institute rapidly recover from human-made or natural disasters with (CARRI)
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From page 179... ...
Two foundational laws are the Stafford Act4 and the Homeland Security Act of 20025. These statutes provide most of the organizational and functional framework for mitigating, responding to, and recovering from natural disasters and acts of terrorism.
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From page 180... ...
. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 was passed in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001, and created DHS, merging the structure and missions of 22 separate federal agencies.
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suggest that resources of DHS beyond FEMA are now expected to be brought to bear on the enhancement of national resilience. Numerous policies to address specific components of community resilience have been introduced in Congress but have not been implemented; these bills nevertheless demonstrate cognizance of the need to strengthen specific aspects of resilience policy.
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From page 182... ...
As discussed in the previous chapter, the federal government has little or no jurisdiction over the local planning process, over zoning laws or building codes, or over numerous other critical aspects of local community resilience. The state and local authorities, the private sector, and individual citizens have key responsibilities and opportunities to improve resilience.
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From page 183... ...
BOX 6.5 Coordination of Resilience at the State Level Following the Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley's service as chair of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Advisory Council's Community Resilience Task Force and experiences gained during Hurricane Irene, which cut a swath across the state, he established the Office of Resilience within the Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA)
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From page 184... ...
Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to bring together multiple state, federal, and local agencies (and where appropriate, tribes)
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From page 185... ...
In Iowa, the Silver Jackets Team brings together the efforts of USACE's Rock Island and Omaha Districts, the National Weather Service, FEMA, USGS, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Iowa Departments of Natural Resources, Emergency Management and Homeland Security, Agriculture and Land Stewardship, the Iowa Economic Development Authority, the Iowa Flood Center, the Iowa Utilities Board, and the Iowa Floodplain and Stormwater Management Association, an NGO. The team is currently dealing with issues in the Iowa-Cedar River watershed, including efforts to deal with the flood challenges of Cedar Rapids.
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From page 186... ...
Therefore, it is critical that individuals and community leaders understand their roles and responsibilities relative to state and federal responsibilities, and that they consciously seek to improve the resilience of their community through their decisions and governing processes. An example of building community resilience with specific local policies is through the implementation of resource planning policies by states and regional authorities that recognize threats from natural hazards also contribute to community resilience.
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From page 187... ...
In other words, the absence of a specific beneficial policy is, in itself, a policy. We present here a few examples of policies where unintended consequences have effectively reduced community resilience.
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From page 188... ...
Iowa farmers had maintained about 50 percent sod crop, but with passage of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 row crops began to dominate, with dramatic implications for flood resilience (Jackson, 2002)
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From page 189... ...
population lives within 50 miles of a coastline and this proportion is expected to increase in the future.21 Economic development, including residential, commercial, recreational, and industrial development in the coastal zone has greatly increased the exposure to storm surge, coastal erosion, and sea-level rise. Federal policy for coastal zones has been to encourage and support coastal states in the proper development and management of their coastal areas, but some states have placed short-term economic development above long-term safety and community resilience.
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From page 190... ...
. A 2012 Report by the National Research Council on dam and levee safety and community resilience similarly concluded that Those subject to the direct or indirect impacts of dam or levee failure are also those with the opportunity to reduce the consequences of failure through physical and social changes in the community, community growth planning, safe housing construction, financial planning (including bonds and
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From page 191... ...
, investment and operational decisions by corporations that own critical infrastructure may be made without full security awareness because information that has been classified by the Department of Homeland Security is sometimes not available to the corporate executives making the decisions. Because an increase in community resilience requires coordination and cooperation among all key players within the community, including the private-sector owners of infrastructure, it is vitally important that communities be aware of prescribed rules and methods of sharing restricted information in a secure way among all partners, including the vital private-sector partners, as detailed in Executive Orders 12829,22 12958,23 and 13292.24 Some types of data may be sensitive, but giving local partners the opportunity to work with state and federal stakeholders on equal footing is important to build long-term resilience.
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From page 192... ...
and even greater costs will result over the long-term. RESILIENCE POLICY GAPS AND NEEDS Recognizing that community resilience is advanced by a variety of policies at the federal, state, and local levels, combined with corporate policies and practices, it is important to ask what policies might improve resilience.
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From page 193... ...
SUMMARY, FINDINGS, AND RECOMMENDATION Leaders at the local, state, and federal level are increasingly aware of community resilience and how it might be advanced through a variety of decisions and processes. Although many of those critical decisions and processes to improve resilience occur at the state and local levels, the federal government plays a central role in providing guidance for policy and program development to assist local communities in their pursuit of greater resilience.
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From page 194... ...
Recent work on homeland security and disaster reduction are good beginnings, but the current suite of policies, practices, and decisions affecting resilience are conducted on an ad hoc basis with little formal communication, coordination, or collaboration. In fact, some policies, decisions, and practices actually erode resilience.
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From page 195... ...
pageID=eoeeaterminal&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Air%2C+Water+% 26+Climate+Change&L2=Climate+Change&sid=Eoeea&b=terminalcontent&f=eea_ener gy_cca-report&csid=Eoeea. CRTF (Community Resilience Task Force, Homeland Security Advisory Council)
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From page 196... ...
2012. Dam and Levee Safety and Community Resilience: A Vision for Future Practice.
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