Summary of Rethinking Readiness
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Qualities
- Applicable
- Overview
- Concrete Examples
Recommendation
Disaster-preparedness expert Jeff Schlegelmilch offers an introduction to disaster preparedness for those in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Following a foreword by Irwin Redlener, whom the author says inspired the book, Schlegelmilch outlines five major 21st-century threats – climate change, cyberattacks, infrastructure failure, nuclear weapons and infectious disease (writing before the COVID-19 pandemic) – and describes best practices for reducing community and national vulnerability and for disaster response. He illustrates how the emerging field of disaster science helps societies cultivate what the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) calls a “culture of preparedness.”
About the Authors
Jeff Schlegelmilch is deputy director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. Irwin Redlener is director and founder of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness.