Awakening Self-Reliance
Hazards Education
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) anticipates that “no municipality, from the smallest town to the most populated city, has the resources or personnel to come to the aid of every citizen [in the event of a disaster].” Therefore, individuals and their communities are encouraged to accept a more active role in their own preparedness and depend less on the government. Preparing for self-reliance during a disaster can improve the ability of households and communities to cope with a crisis as well as reduce the dependency on overburdened public emergency response resources.
For some, the requirement for self-reliance during a natural or man-made disaster is not intuitive. According to Stephen Flynn, President of the Center for National Policy and member of the National Security Preparedness Group, incorporating private citizens into homeland security activities is an uphill battle. He surmises that “two generations of Americans had grown accustomed to sitting on the sidelines” as a result of the centralized government characteristics of coping with the Cold War and decades of perpetuation of this philosophy as government told citizens to “proceed with their daily routines because the government is hard at work protecting them.” Simply put, many individuals have developed an expectation that emergency responders and government services will always be available when called.
Overcoming this unrealistic expectation requires educating the public in an effective manner that leads to a behavioral shift toward a culture of self-reliance. Hazards education is defined by preparedness guru, Dennis Mileti, as a form of social marketing that attempts to increase protective actions by people, households, and groups through the presentation of information about a hazard and the risk it poses. Individuals and communities will more effectively receive hazards education when engaged at the local level vice a centralized push from the federal government. By sourcing hazards education at the local level, the message can be tailored to address the specific threats to the area as well as to the specific needs of in-groups.
A localized approach to hazards education provides citizens awareness of the risks that they may face in their own environment.
A 2009 study of personal preparedness in America conducted by the Citizen Corps revealed low levels of perceived susceptibility to different types of disasters, yet a 2006 Time magazine article asserts that “91% of Americans live in places that face a moderate to high risk of natural disasters or terrorism.” The delta may be explained by analysis by Deirdre Guidon, Debra Scammon, and Aberdeen Borders suggesting that “perception of risk is related to various individual characteristics including race, socioeconomic status, experience with prior disasters, personal relevance of the risk, and perceived self-efficacy.” When developing (and delivering) hazards education that effectively motivates people to action, all the preceding factors must be considered; and they cannot be adequately addressed by a one-size-fits-all, centralized preparedness strategy. Locally-based educational programs are better suited to provide communities (neighborhoods, workplaces, faith-based groups, etc.) an awareness of specific hazards that could potentially impact their lives and the lives of their loved-ones.
The effectiveness of hazards education to improve individual and household emergency preparedness and awaken a culture of self-reliance would benefit from the delivery of a tailored message disseminated through an interactive community network that engages and empowers participants. Hazards education is a broad though essential topic that serves as a foundation to the delivery of specific action-oriented topics that will be covered in future posts in order to offer you the critical tools and knowledge required to increase your chances that you will be ready to take care of yourself and your family when the unexpected happens.
