This week, FEMA released its 2018 National Preparedness Report. The report “provides an overview of key developments in national preparedness—incorporating findings and lessons learned from incidents in 2017 in combination with data and inputs from federal interagency and whole community partners.”
The release highlights five crucial preparedness areas. Here are some selected key findings from the report:
Operational Coordination
The Nation is advancing the implementation of a National Incident Management System (NIMS), but significant challenges remain in implementing the system during large-scale events.
Infrastructure Systems
Interdependencies between energy and other infrastructure systems present challenges in response and recovery; efforts to mitigate disruptions are growing. The whole community has taken steps to increase the resilience of infrastructure, but challenges remain.
Housing
The Nation continues to face challenges with delivering disaster housing. It is exploring innovative programs to address capability gaps.
Challenges remain with efforts to coordinate timely and efficient housing damage assessments for survivors after large-scale disasters.
Economic Recovery
Partners across the whole community have engaged in recent efforts to build business planning capabilities, though many small businesses lack business continuity plans.
While federal agencies have made efforts to streamline disaster recovery assistance, businesses continue to face challenges navigating post-disaster economic recovery programs.
Cybersecurity
Evolving cyber threats continue to outpace the development of protective practices; at the same time, technology users often fail to implement precautionary measures to safeguard their cyber systems.
Insufficient information sharing between the public and private sectors has hindered the Nation’s effectiveness in defending against cyber threats.
The Federal Government faces persistent challenges in the recruitment and retention of cybersecurity personnel, though it has taken steps to improve cybersecurity training for the Nation.
Read the full report here.
