NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS PLANNING: THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND CURRENT STATE OF THE U.S. PUBLIC'S READINESS, 1940-2005

It is important to distinguish between nationally led calls to prepare centered on international threats versus regional preparedness endeavors based on local natural or emergency weather events. The researchers present data from the 2005 annual national survey, and the follow-up survey after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, of the US public's views on terrorism, preparedness and other topics germane to emergency events. The findings from these surveys are compared with other national surveys conducted between 1940 and 2000. A comprehensive review of public preparedness surveys reveals little change in readiness behavior since 1940. In effect, during the past 65 years of US history, nothing seems to spur more than a relatively small minority of citizens to take basic actions to improve their chances of surviving a major disaster. Addressing the barriers to improving public preparedness is important. It is increasingly understood that citizen participation in disaster planning and response is an essential factor in determining actual readiness for major catastrophic events.