Planning and Warning as Capacity in Island Communities

Abstract

Warning systems enable timely communication of risk during disasters. This study examines the relationship between planning and warning, as well as their effect on capacity in island communities. The study establishes planning as a form of warning and uses empirical evidence from a natural experiment, Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico (2017), to describe how planning functions as a warning process before, during, and after a disaster. Qualitative interview and participant observation data were gathered before and after the storm event. The study finds that planning, like warning, translates knowledge of risks into appropriate courses of protective action to reduce human suffering. Island communities, which tend to be under-resourced before, during, and after disasters, can benefit from operationalizing planning as a form of warning to build capacity and resilience.