Since the Cold War, Americans have shifted from engaging in active self-rescue to passively waiting for help from a centralized, bureaucratic federal emergency response.
Members of the Maryland Air National Guard arrange medical supplies for shipment from the Strategic National Stockpile.
Master Sgt. Christopher Schepers/Maryland Air National Guard
Andrew Lakoff, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The paradox of the stockpile is that it's meant to protect against future threats, but is limited by today's imagination about what those threats might be.
A health-care worker prepares for the opening of the COVID-19 Assessment Centre in Ottawa, during a media tour on March 13, 2020.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)
We don't need to send in the army every time there's a natural disaster, or create a national fire fighting force. We need to think practically about working together in emergencies.
Is it possible to plan for the unforeseen? Some basic principles allow careful preparation to be reconciled with quickly shifting circumstances.
Aaron Rowe of the Architect of the Capitol’s office, which is not affected by the partial government shutdown, shovels snow left by a winter storm on the U.S. Capitol’s plaza.
REUTERS/Mike Theiler
While emergency drills may help schools feel safer, they contain underlying and often unintended moral messages about the nature of school and life itself.
Fires break out across San Francisco after the April 18, 1906 earthquake.
USGS
According to current forecasts, California has a 93 percent chance of an earthquake with magnitude 7 or greater occurring by 2045. Early warning systems, now in development, could limit casualties and damage.
Older people are most at risk during and after natural disasters like Hurricane Irma, which slammed into the coast of Florida last week.
AAP Image/NEWZULU/Julian Leek
Evacuating nursing home residents during a disaster can be even more dangerous than staying put.
Isiah Courtney carries his dog Bruce through flood waters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Beaumont Place, Houston, Texas, U.S., on August 28, 2017.
REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman
In the wake of natural disasters, pets are be stranded, lost or abandoned. There are simple guidelines that can help keep your whole family safe.
Naval Aircrewman (Helicopter) 2nd Class Jansen Schamp rescues two dogs after floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey reached the grounds of a shelter in Vidor, Texas, Aug. 31, 2017.
Christopher LIndahl/U.S. Navy
During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, some people died rather than evacuating without their pets. Now emergency managers are required to include animals in their response plans.
Libraries are a good place for kids to hole up during emergencies.
Daria Chichkareva/Shutterstock.com
With a little advance planning and creativity, librarians can help keep kids and teens busy and safe during emergencies.
Brenda Bradley, 72, and her husband Jimmie, 78, survey flooding from Hurricane Harvey in their neighborhood in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, August 28, 2017.
AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis
Evacuations and disruptions to health care during and after disasters like Hurricane Harvey are serious threats for older adults, who may need support well after relief operations end.
U.S. Army Spc. Pam Anderson applies first-aid medical attention to an elderly man during flood relief operations just outside of Winona, Minnesota, August 20, 2007.
Staff Sgt. Daniel Ewer, U.S. Army
New research shows that older people are especially at risk during and after natural disasters, and may need medical help or other support well after relief operations end.
In an emergency, responders’ telecommunications could get delayed by overloaded networks.
City of Hampton, Virginia
Irrespective of whether climate change contributed to the thunderstorm in Melbourne last week, we can be sure Australia’s climate projections herald new risks to health that cannot be ignored.
Why didn’t we learn the lessons from earlier thunderstorm asthma events?
from www.shutterstock.com
Melbourne's recent thunderstorm asthma event caught services by surprise. So, is it time for a national health protection agency to coordinate our public health response?
Post-Matthew flooding in eastern North Carolina.
U.S. Army National Guard/Flickr
Why do some people evacuate ahead of disasters while others stay put? The rising death toll from Hurricane Matthew shows that often the poor and vulnerable are least able to move.
Houses are destroyed by tsunami floods following the magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Japan on March 11, 2011.
Reuters/EPA
We can't predict or prevent tsunamis you can improve your chances of staying safe by understanding the risk, being prepared and acting quickly when disaster strikes.