Risk Wise

• Recommend actions that can prevent or reduce adverse effects

of hazards on human and ecosystem health

• Integrate new information about known and emerging human

and ecosystem health hazards.

Mid-term actions:

• Use interdisciplinary knowledge from recurring and emerging

health and ecological threats to provide the foundation for

national and local preparedness and mitigation strategies

• Implement a comprehensive prevention and reduction strategy

for known and emerging human and ecosystem health threats

• Develop and improve human and environmental decontamina-

tion gear, capabilities, plans and protocols for chemical,

biological, radiological, and other hazardous substances

• Accurately model the outcomes of natural and

technological hazards in specific geographic areas and the

outcomes of various management decisions, scenarios,

and land-use strategies on the environment.

Long-term efforts:

• Reduce human and ecosystem susceptibility to future hazards

by rapidly restoring human and ecosystem health following a

hazard

• Integrate new research about the potential human and ecosys-

tem health impacts of climate change into mitigation strategies

• Sustain local capabilities to effectively mitigate the adverse

impacts of human and ecosystem health hazards.

Grand Challenge 4: Reduce the vulnerability of infrastructure

Short-term actions:

• Assure that access to critical care facilities, emergency response

and emergency management services is maintained following

disasters

• Assess infrastructures in harm’s way during any detrimental

event and the associated potential risk to human or ecosystem

health

• Properly repair critical infrastructure immediately following a

disaster.

Grand Challenge 5: Assess disaster resilience

Short-term actions:

• Strengthen programmes for community training in emergency

medicine and environmental preventive and corrective actions

• Assess availability of rapid response capabilities to quickly

detect, diagnose and treat human and/or ecosystem injuries,

disease and detrimental conditions (e.g. invasive species,

climate change)

• Assess the capabilities available to prevent and control chronic

human and ecosystem health conditions and other long-term

adverse effects.

Mid-term actions:

• Restore human and ecosystem health from post-disaster

conditions to pre-disaster states by instituting recovery

programmes such as injury rehabilitation, mental recovery,

suicide and domestic violence prevention, water system

integrity evaluation, food and water safety and vector control

(monitoring and surveillance), ecosystem and natural popula-

tion restoration

• Develop pilot projects for recovery and restoration

techniques (e.g. replanting of multiple species in

areas decimated by diseases or parasitic invasion,

restoration of coastal marshes, diagnostic tools for

mental health)

• Evaluate the effectiveness, appropriateness and

timeliness of responses to a hazard-related event

• Provide risk assessments to determine the likeli-

hood and potential impacts of hazard-related events

and to identify at-risk communities or areas.

Long-term efforts:

• Develop a database of lessons learned from past

disaster events with human and ecological health

impacts.

Grand Challenge 6: Promote risk-wise behaviour

Short-term actions:

• Create educational products and effectively commu-

nicate recommendations for protective action and

preventive behaviour.

Mid-term actions:

• Develop protocols to evaluate the scientific basis and

reach interagency agreement on best practices for

individual actions before, during and after an event

• Communicate clear messages that can be under-

stood by all in harm’s way about the risks associated

with an impending hazard.

Long-term efforts:

• Develop early warning systems that:

– Incorporate research findings from the social

sciences

– Leverage the latest innovations in dissemination

technologies

– Provide actionable information in real time, based

on solid scientific information and on state-of-

the-art models to protect critical facilities,

infrastructure, vulnerable populations and

ecosystems.

Expected benefits and future steps

Expected benefits from these actions are the creation and

enhancement of a more disaster-resilient America.

Specifically, relevant hazards will be recognized and

understood, communities at risk will know when an

event is imminent, individuals at risk will be safe from

hazards, and disaster-resilient communities will experi-

ence minimum disruption to life and economy after an

event has occurred. Both the Grand Challenges and the

accompanying Implementation Plans were endorsed by

participating SDR Federal Agencies, the President’s Offices

of Science and Technology Policy and Management and

Budget, and are expected to be shared with the Congress.

On the basis of these plans, SDR member agencies are

preparing future budget requests to allow them to under-

take the necessary activities that will assist communities

and the nation in achieving disaster resilience.

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