National strategy recommendations: future disaster preparedness

This report provides FEMA’s recommendations for the development of a national strategy for reducing costs, loss of life, and injuries associated with extreme disaster events in vulnerable areas of the United States. It presents the development of a national strategy as an opportunity to engage all sectors of society in a national dialogue and to set the stage for both short-term and long-term actions to measurably enhance national resilience.

The report aims to contribute to the creation of a road map for future investments in order to build a safer, more resilient nation and to lessen disaster response and recovery costs, injury, and loss of life. It proposes the following recommendations to be considered in the development of a national strategy: (i) engage in a whole community dialogue and build upon public-private partnerships; (ii) enhance data-driven decisions; (iii) align incentives promoting disaster cost reduction and resilience; (iv) enable resilient recovery; and (v) support disaster risk reduction nationally.

The document was compiled in response to language in Section 1111 of the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013 (P.L. 113-2; SRIA).