Confronting social determinants of community emergency preparedness and resiliency through engagement of the “whole of community”

In December 2011, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released guidance for state and local officials describing principles and pathways for adopting a “Whole of Community” approach to emergency management. This represented an important shift in agency policy around promoting and encouraging more comprehensive private and non-profit sector as well as citizen participation in all-hazards emergency planning and preparedness. This theme was also central to Presidential Policy Directive-8 (PPD-8) often referred to as the National Preparedness Goal which was released in March 2011. PPD-8 codifies a strategic framework designed to strengthen and improve overall community capacity and capabilities necessary to achieve a successful and sustainable preparedness and resiliency. Traditional emergency management approaches are limited and often focus on immediate response activities such as determining population evacuation routes, identifying vulnerable communities and assuring protection of critical infrastructure. However, this perspective seldom takes into account a deeper and more comprehensive review of a community's unique economic, social and cultural facets. Activities such as; pre-event mapping of community core assets, leveraging of existing private sector networks and resources, assessment of population social capital and evaluation of cultural attributes. Insight and subsequent engagement of the broader community in these respects can potentially yield a clearer understanding and vision toward successful response and recovery. Recent events in the past decade including 2005 Hurricane Katrina, 2010 British Petroleum Gulf Oil Spill and the 2009 H1N1 pandemic all represent examples upon which closer examination of such social determinants may have improved preparedness planning and strengthened community resiliency.