During National Preparedness Month 2024, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is focused on empowering Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities to better prepare for future risks. Hagerty Consulting supports these efforts through our collaboration with FEMA’s National Dam Safety Program (NDSP), the Resilience Analysis and Capacity Development Division, and Argonne National Laboratory. Our work enhances community resilience by delivering comprehensive preparedness strategies and tailored technical assistance.
Advancing Dam Safety Preparedness
Dam safety is a crucial yet often overlooked part of community resilience. For several years, Hagerty has played a key role in developing the Dam Safety Collaborative Technical Assistance (CTA) program, which strengthens preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation capabilities nationwide. This program addresses specific challenges like inundation modeling and integrates these efforts into broader resilience strategies tailored to each community’s needs.
Hagerty recently facilitated a Dam Safety CTA session in Kauai County, Hawaii, led by Kris Ledins. The session concentrated on evacuation and shelter-in-place strategies for dam emergencies. Participants reviewed industry standards and best practices, including FEMA’s Planning Considerations: Evacuation and Shelter-in-Place, to guide the discussions. Advanced modeling tools, such as DSS-Wise Lite and HEC-RAS, simulated potential dam failures, while the Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool (RAPT) were used to assess potential impacts, grounding the discussions in locally relevant scenarios amongst a broad cross section of community stakeholders. These scenarios served as a basis for refining evacuation strategies and decision-making processes, factoring in case studies from recent dam incidents. Through scenario-based discussions, stakeholders identified resources and coordination mechanisms to enhance community resilience.
Investing in Infrastructure Resilience Nationwide
The Dam Safety CTA highlights the importance of a systems-based approach to complex infrastructure challenges. This approach helps stakeholders understand the full scope of risks, from physical dangers to human and environmental consequences, emphasizing the need for multidisciplinary solutions that consider each community’s geographic and cultural contexts.
At Hagerty, we believe infrastructure preparedness goes beyond maintaining physical structures—it’s about safeguarding people and their communities. The Dam Safety CTA underscores the critical need to strengthen partnerships across sectors, ensuring jurisdictions across the United States (US) have the knowledge and resources to stay resilient against evolving threats. As we continue to support similar initiatives, Hagerty remains committed to advocating for solutions that empower communities to withstand and recover from disasters. Resilience is a collective responsibility requiring coordinated efforts across all sectors.
Actionable Steps to Enhance Infrastructure Preparedness
Communities play a crucial role in strengthening infrastructure resilience against emerging threats. By taking proactive steps and leveraging local resources, they can build a more resilient and equitable future. The following steps outline strategies of how to enhance infrastructure preparedness and foster stronger, more resilient communities.
- Leverage Interdisciplinary Expertise: Engage diverse expertise, including engineers, urban planners, environmental scientists, and social workers, to assess the potential impacts of emerging threats. By incorporating varied perspectives, communities can more accurately define the scope of impacts and develop preparedness strategies that address both physical infrastructure and human factors.
- Understand Whole Community Impacts: Conduct thorough impact assessments to understand how infrastructure failures could affect all segments of the community, especially vulnerable populations. This involves identifying the resources needed not only for immediate response but also for long-term recovery and mitigation efforts. Recognizing these needs ensures that preparedness efforts are inclusive and equitable.
- Build Public-Private Partnerships: Foster strong partnerships between public agencies and private sector entities, acknowledging shared responsibilities in infrastructure resilience. These collaborations can provide unique insights and resources, enabling communities to develop innovative solutions and share the burden of preparedness and recovery. Engaging the private sector also brings additional perspectives and resources to the table, ensuring comprehensive preparedness solutions.
- Develop Innovative and Sustainable Solutions: Invest in sustainable infrastructure solutions that are adaptable to changing conditions and capable of addressing the specific needs of your community. Innovation should be at the forefront of preparedness planning, with a focus on equitable progress that benefits all community members. This could include integrating green infrastructure, leveraging new technologies, or adopting practices that enhance both resilience and environmental sustainability.
- Empower Community-Based Leadership: Encourage local leaders and community organizations to take an active role in preparedness initiatives. By fostering a culture of leadership at the community level, residents become more engaged and proactive in resilience efforts. This local leadership is crucial for tailoring preparedness strategies to the unique needs and strengths of the community, ensuring a more resilient infrastructure.
These steps empower communities to enhance their infrastructure preparedness, ensuring they are better equipped to face future challenges while promoting resilience.
For more information on how Hagerty Consulting can support your community’s infrastructure preparedness efforts or to learn more about our work, please contact us at [email protected].
Kris Ledins, Hagerty’s Deputy Director of Preparedness, is an emergency management and public safety professional with over a decade of experience delivering preparedness and response solutions for federal, state, local, and private sector clients. His expertise spans all aspects of emergency preparedness, including assessments, strategic and operational planning, training and exercises, real-world response evaluations, and preparedness program management. Throughout his career, Kris has served both as a first responder, providing direct services to the community, and as an emergency management professional within Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs).