Well, win some lose some. Just when I was feeling encouraged by previous post which features a report that talks about future threats/hazards/disasters, all of which require renewing and increasing efforts to deal with them, along comes a poll with some very discouraging news about the status of popular awareness and intelligence about threats and hazards and current preparedness efforts.
This news comes from a recent SUNYIT-Zogby Analytics Poll with the results reported on in Forbes. See: Americans Neither Worried Nor Prepared In Case of a Disaster. As someone who has spent decades trying to enlighten our citizenry and public officials, this report is terrible news. Here are some excerpts:
Only one in four Americans or less are concerned that an emergency situation like a terrorist attack, natural disaster, or health pandemic will affect their community, according to a new SUNYIT/Zogby Analytics Poll.
The poll of 1,000 adults nationwide was conducted online by Zogby Analytics on May 8-9 and has a margin of sampling error of +/-3.2 percentage points. A wide range of national security topics was covered.When asked of the likelihood if a series of emergency situations were to occur in their community, the following percentages said the emergency was “likely” or “very likely”: 26% a general emergency, 24% an industrial accident, 23% a natural disaster, 20% a mass shooting, 19% a terrorist attack, and 15% a health pandemic.
If such an emergency situation were to occur, the most likely locations cited were a shopping mall (46%), an airport or train station (43%), a stadium or arena (42%), on a bus/plane or train (38%), an outdoor sporting or community event (35%), a school (30%), a roadway (28% ) or office building (28%), a bridge (27%), a hospital (25%), or at home (22%).
While 55% of respondents said that they were “confident in (their) knowledge of proper safety procedures”, only 36% said that they presently “have an emergency plan in place” in case of a major emergency.In case of a neighborhood emergency, Americans expressed more confidence in their family’s preparedness (53%) over local government (44%), their airport (41%), local school (39%), or employer (31%). In case of a national emergency, Americans are most trusting in local law enforcement in case of a shooting (58%), the FBI in case of a terrorist attack (53%), the Centers for Disease Control in case of a pandemic (49%), and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration in case of a natural disaster (45%).
The results suggest to me that not only are people complacent or apathetic, they also are not making the correct assumptions about who and what organizations/institutions they could rely on. Has anyone been reading the research, books, or informed articles the emergency management community has produced????
Recovery Diva 
I love that 45% of Americans trust the “Federal Emergency Relief Administration.” A new Federal agency? Have the “FEMITES” become “FERALS,” like the cats?
Leo Bosner
Retired (but not yet feral) FEMITE
Very funny. I will have to check with the pollsters about who created that organization name.
I’m hoping that was a typo, since FERA was dissolved in 1935. I know a lot of folks have issues with FEMA, but if they’re trusting to an agency that hasn’t existed in 80 years to help them out after a disaster they’re REALLY going to be unhappy.
Joel
(current FEMITE)
Mr. Zogby said the error was his and he will fix it right away.
“Has anyone been reading the research, books, or informed articles the emergency management community has produced????”
Has the EM community been distilling the research, books, and informed articles into things that everyone else is reading, seeing, absorbing? Failure to communicate goes both ways. Further, while these polls may or may not be [dis]heartening (personally, I’m surprised the percentages are so high), they leave open the questions around “why not?” Once we have answers to those, we might even make it to 50% with a plan in place!
Lots of questions here, Claire. First, it was an online survey, meaning only those with Internes access could participate. How would the numbers change if the general population were polled? It is interesting that those responding placed faith more in local than in national plans or response. We must strengthen local emergency response. Basic fact: all emergencies are local. Speaking of local, Zogby and SUNYIT are in my county.
Actually, I just had an email exchange with John Zogby, since I wanted to see the full study and details about their method. They did not yet release anything more than the article reports, but have additional products coming; I will post any future items they send me that may be of interest to readers.