Getting ready

I’ve been interested in disaster preparedness for a long time, and unlike journalism, the career I've had and loved for twenty years, it feels like a growth industry. So last year, I started a Masters of Science in Emergency Management at John Jay College. And now, I’m finally launching this newsletter, to share my thinking, reading and ideas around preparedness. 

Because you will have noticed, things are not great.  The actual and political climate are in serious trouble. The water is rising. But if I stare those realities in the face, the grief and fear and rage overwhelm me. I know I'm not alone in that.

That feeling is why emergency managers learn how to communicate during a disaster. To avoid overwhelm and paralysis, you have to give detailed, specific messages. You need clarity around who the message is for, and what action that person should take. 

You don’t just say a flood is coming. You say if you live between Main and Broad, a ten foot high wall of water is coming towards you and will hit in ten minutes. Seek high ground immediately. 

If the emergency manager only shares information on the threat, without information on action, that can cause panic. Or it can cause “milling,” where people bumble around trying to figure out what to do first. 

Right now, many of us are caught between milling and panic. We get so much information about the dangers. Which are very real. And so little information about what we should do. 

There are things we can do. Practical ways that we can take care of each other, and build our capacity to withstand the storms. 

Disaster preparedness doesn’t have to look like guns and bunkers. It can look like community care. 

In this newsletter, I’m going to offer practical guidance on what you can do to equip yourself and your household for things like storms and low-level emergencies. Guidance on how to talk to neighbors, to help them too. How we can build capacity to weather bigger threats. Things I’m learning in school, and how we can apply them. What's happening at FEMA and what it means for our communities. Places I am finding inspiration and wisdom around preparedness and community care. And probably some thoughts on why this matters so much, right now.

My goal is to make preparedness feel accessible, concrete, and connected to a vision of collective survival. 

I don't have all the answers. I'm still learning. But I'll share what I know, and share what I come to know, and share my questions.

You can sign up here to get this newsletter, about once every two weeks. Please share this with someone you think would be interested. And please, let me know what you’d find useful. I'll do my best to be clear and specific.

xx

Kat

LINKS:

• Anya Kamenetz on the feeling of overwhelm, the desire to click away, and how to overcome it without becoming immobilized by grief (via Ann Friedman)
• Today (the day I'm posting this, September 17th) is National Get Ready Day, organized every third Thursday of September by the American Public Health Association. The campaign, in its 19th year, seeks to help people prepare for "all hazards, including infectious disease outbreaks, natural disasters and other emergencies." The website has tip sheets on things I don't see everywhere, including mental health in disasters and infectious disease prevention tip sheets.