Ignorer la navigation
Rethinking Readiness
Book

Rethinking Readiness

A Brief Guide to Twenty-First-Century Megadisasters

Columbia UP, 2020 plus...


Editorial Rating

9

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.”

Take-Aways

  • Most of the world lacks disaster preparedness. 
  • The danger of infectious disease is growing.
  • The consequences of climate change will threaten health, infrastructure and national security.

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.