01/19/2022
FEMA releases 2021 National Preparedness Report
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released the 2021 National Preparedness Report (NPR) last month. Mandated under Presidential Policy Directive 8 (PPD- 8), this annual report documents the progress made in the previous year toward implementing the National Preparedness Goal’s 32 core capabilities for preventing, responding to, and recovering from disasters. The report offers practical insights to support decisions at all levels of government.
The 2021 NPR reports on the events of 2020 to draw broader conclusions about national risks and capabilities and to identify management opportunities to build on those capabilities and reduce risk. This year’s report is the product of rigorous open-source research, analysis, and input from stakeholders at the state, local, Tribal, territorial (SLTT) and federal levels.
In the first section on “Risks”, the report provides an overview of the nation’s changing risk environment, emphasizing vulnerabilities driven by climate change, technology, social inequalities which limit response and recovery, supply chain vulnerabilities, and aging infrastructure.
In the section on “Capabilities”, the 2021 NPR found that, overall, the nation is closer to achieving its preparedness goals identified through the Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA); however, affected communities may not be fully prepared to respond to nationally catastrophic incidents. To reduce the burden on communities during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic response, FEMA limited the number of required capability targets that communities needed to assess in 2020 to 15. The 15 required targets were those focused on pandemic-related capabilities and targets measuring progress in meeting the Secretary of Homeland Security’s priorities (captured in Table 1 of the report). More than half of communities reported achieving at least 70% of their target for 14 of the 15 capability targets.
The widespread nature of the response to COVID-19 provided an opportunity for FEMA and the federal interagency to review and analyze community and federal capabilities and better understand the strengths and challenges that emergency managers at all levels of government may face in responding to a wide variety of threats and hazards.
In the new section on “Management Opportunities,” added in 2021, the NPR outlines steps that community leaders can take to address capability gaps. These include a justification for a preparedness investment strategy to help close capability gaps and improve capabilities, an explanation of what all levels of government are doing or can do to manage climate change, and opportunities to strengthen processes within and better connect areas of the National Preparedness System.
Emergency managers and whole community partners across the nation can look to this year's report to help support decisions about program priorities, resource allocations, and community actions.
You can access the 2021 National Preparedness Report and the Executive Summary from FEMA’s website.
(Source: FEMA)
