3 ways state and local governments can prepare for natural disasters

The current disaster threat environment is challenging. Extreme weather events pose significant risks to communities, businesses, and governments. Hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and tornadoes have become more frequent and severe and can cause widespread damage, disrupt essential services, and lead to significant economic losses. Being prepared for these events not only saves lives and reduces suffering, but it builds the resilient communities that can withstand, and recover, from these events.

While the start of hurricane season is a good time to be prepared for hurricanes, it is a great time for everyone – individuals, communities, and state and local officials – to take some steps to be prepared for their greatest threats and hazards. Good preparedness is about being ready for all the hazards that we face.

We’ve listed three actions below that state and local governments can take to be prepared. These actions are threat agnostic, they will work for a hurricane, wildfire, or any other extreme weather event.

1. Review your Emergency Operations Plan.

First, revisit your plan to make sure that it has been adjusted to all the changes since the last update. That may be the changes to population of your communities, it may be to reflect new infrastructure or business, or it may to account for recovery from a previous storm or the changes within the Federal disaster operations. The past few years have been very active for the emergency management community – between fires, floods, hurricanes, tornados, and more – it’s critical to learn the lessons from these incidents and adjust your plans accordingly.

It's also smart to engage the community in your review. Whether it is the business community or local charities and non-profits, response and recovery will take everyone’s participation. Review capabilities of these organizations, review the expected needs, and incorporate those needs into the plan.

Additionally, you should look to confirm and validate Emergency Operations Center (EOC) staffing. With various changes at federal agencies, it’s a good idea to confirm those capabilities and capacities, like ESF 2, 6, 10, and 12. Make sure that all the local agencies that will be needed for support have a staffing plan – and make sure it’s a plan for 24-hour support over a few days.

2. Make sure that your communications plan is comprehensive.

Validate your communication plan. Effective communication is the backbone of any emergency response, and the communications plan needs to meet operational requirements and public engagement requirements. The plan needs to ensure that the right people can talk and get situational awareness, provide operational guidance and direction, and ensure that the public receives the right information.

Set up, test, and exercise operational communications to include alternate and contingency systems. In addition to checking equipment, reviews procedures so that everyone knows what to communicate, and where to communicate. Especially in the initial hours and days of an incident, gaining and maintaining situational awareness is critical to successful lifesaving and life sustaining operations.

You should also review how you will communicate with the public. Timely and accurate information not only saves lives, but also gives people the information that they need to make the right safety decisions for themselves and their families. A public communications strategy needs to ensure that critical information reaches as many people as possible through traditional media, social media, emergency alert systems, and community hotlines. It’s critically important to make sure that the person communicating to the public is a trusted voice. There is going to be lots of information, some of it incorrect information and some of it perishable. Keeping the public informed about evacuation orders, shelter locations, safety measures, and conditions in a clear and consistent way helps build trust and encourages the public to follow instructions—ultimately enhancing the overall effectiveness of the emergency response.

3. Think about recovery now.

Effective recovery doesn’t begin when response ends; it starts alongside it. A well-executed response sets the foundation for swift recovery. By embedding recovery actions into the immediate response phase, essential services can be restored faster, critical resources to community members can be delivered, and recovery timelines can be shortened.

The people that are critical to recovery may not be on the EOC rosters. Look to partners—housing, economic development, budget and finance—that may not be in the EOC and find them seats before the incident. Build the operational synergy with them so that concurrent operations—response and recovery—are ready to be implemented.

Develop public-private partnerships. This includes private sector entities that manage critical infrastructure, as well as the community organizations and charities that play a vital role in closing assistance gaps. Incorporate the support of local businesses to work towards economic recovery and community stability. Engaging these partnerships early—before the incident—can help restore essential services faster, reduce long-term disruptions, and build resilience against future disasters.