GTSC's National Preparedness Month Symposium Keynote: FEMA’s Preparedness: A Leading, Agile, Focused Agency Presenter: David J. Kaufman, Associate Administrator, Policy, Program Analysis, and International Affairs, U.S. Department of Homeland Security/FEMA Description: FEMA’s Office of Policy & Program Analysis is tasked with shaping FEMA and strengthening its ability to fulfill its mission by becoming a more agile, results oriented organization. This keynote will describe the efforts to achieve that vision and how the Office is working to strengthen public private partnerships to incorporate best practices from the lessons learned from previous disasters.

1. David J. Kaufman
Associate Administrator,
Policy, Program Analysis, and International Affairs
Toward More Resilient Futures:
Adapting to New Realities
September 30, 2014

2. Worldwide, the number of disasters has increased along
with the magnitude of their effects
INCREASING HARM: ENVIRONMENT
Natural Disasters2 Man-made disasters1
Insured losses (in USD billions) have spiked
significantly in the past decade …
… As have the number of victims3 affected
Number of events have increased over time
1 Attributable to human actions, including but not limited to arms explosions, terrorist attacks, factory fires, aviation disasters, etc. (war is excluded)
2 Attributable to events caused by nature, including but not limited to tornados, earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts, wildfires, extreme weather, etc.
3 Dead or missing
SOURCE: Swiss Re
1970 20101990
Weather-related
Earthquake/tsunami
Man-made
10-year average
total insured losses
Hurricanes
Katrina, Rita, Wilma
Japan,1 NZ EQs,
Thailand flood
Indian Ocean EQ
& tsunami
Haiti
earthquake
140
120
100
80
60
40
20

3. 3
By 2050 the world’s urban
population is expected to
double

4. 4
Growth in populations of elderly and chronically ill are
shifting the needs for services in the wake of disasters
SOURCE: Pewsocialtrends.org; CDC; Health and economic burden of the projected obesity trends in the USA and UK, Claire Wang
MD, Department of Health Policy and Management, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, Aug 2011

5. 5
Globalization of supply chains has raised the likelihood of
2nd or 3rd order impacts that are hard or impossible to
predict

6. 6
The variability
and intensity
of extreme
weather events
is changing

7. The U.S. faces an aging infrastructure
1 out of every 9 bridges is structurally deficient
1 Estimate from Association of State Dam Safety Officials
2 Estimate from National Committee on Levee Safety
SOURCE: “2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure,” American Society of Civil Engineers, March 2013; FEMA analysis
An estimated investment of $21 billion is
required to retrofit existing dams1
U.S. levees barely passed the American Society
of Civil Engineers’ test, receiving a D-

8. We are increasingly vulnerable to extreme geomagnetic
storms that could cause widespread blackouts affecting
as many as 130 million in the United States alone

9. 9
Information flows are revolutionizing change cycles (politics,
opinion), as well as how we use our social networks

10. 10
The power and influence of non-state actors is growing
RETWEET

11. Deepwater Horizon
Oil Spill 2010
The technical capabilities
needed to respond to
disasters often exist outside
the public sector

12. Haiti Earthquake 2010
The democratization
of technology is
changing
relationships to
public space

13. Brisbane Floods
2010-2011
The impact of social movements in disasters is growing

14. Hurricane Sandy 2012
The means and methods
for delivering disaster
services are shifting

15. We Face…
• Increasing complexity and decreasing predictability
• Cascading events and interdependencies
• Unavoidable resource constraints
• Challenges from both acute and chronic issues

16. We Need…
• To change how we think about, assess and understand risk
• To recognize and empower survivors as active agents in their own
survival (public and private)
• To strengthen trust and engagement, among the government, private
industry, and the public
• To design frameworks that better enable cross-sector activity and
cooperation toward shared outcomes

17. A Whole Community Approach
to Emergency Management
Foster Innovation
& Learning
Strengthen FEMA’s
Organizational Foundation
PRIORITY 5
Enable Disaster Risk
Reduction Nationally
PRIORITY 4
Posture & Build Capability
for Catastrophic Disasters
PRIORITY 3
Become an Expeditionary
Organization
PRIORITY 2
Be Survivor-Centric in
Mission & Program Delivery
PRIORITY 1
5STRATEGICPRIORITIES
FEMA’s Focus and Priorities

18. david.kaufman@fema.dhs.gov
Thank You!