National Preparedness Planning: The Historical Context and Current State of the U.S. Public's Readiness, 1940-2005

Abstract

n the United States, national public preparedness efforts meant to ready individuals and families for disasters have been driven primarily by international threats, actual or anticipated. These include terrorism, war and the potential for global instability such as the millennium Y2K computer error. The national dialogue on public preparedness following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the fall of 2005 is a notable departure from the more typical focus of public preparedness, which is oriented toward terrorism and international threats. However, the response to the hurricanes was largely viewed as an unanticipated test of the public’s readiness for a disaster and the penetration of the public preparedness messages that have been actively promulgated since 11 September 2001. As such, we argue that the poor state of public readiness that was found in the U.S. Gulf Coast region after the hurricanes actually reflects a national state of unpreparedness for emergency events despite the postSeptember 11th calls from all levels of government for the U.S. public to be prepared.1 Since 11 September 2001, a renewed national focus on the U.S. public’s readiness for international aggression emerged. This focus was heightened by the anthrax mailings shortly after September 11th and the alleged threat of an Iraqi attack using unconventional weapons, specifically smallpox, on the U.S. homeland. The postSeptember 11th focus on national public preparedness came almost two years after calls had ended for the public to prepare for the millennium Y2K computer error and its potential to disrupt everything from alarm clocks to the power supply. Prior to the millennium, the national public had engaged in a preparedness dialogue born during the Second World War amid calls for the public to engage in air raid and naval watches that continued throughout the Cold War and its threat of nuclear attacks. The post-September 11th national public preparedness dialogue reignited a