From HSNW: Extreme Heat Will Cost the U.S. $1 Billion in Health Care Costs — This Summer Alone

New CRS Report on Building Resilience: FEMA’s Building Codes
Policies and Considerations for Congress. (40 pp).

From the WashPost: Pressure builds for FEMA to declare deadly heat events as disasters. Proponents say a federal disaster designation could save lives by providing vital services and reimbursing states for being proactive

Interesting take on how media cover disasters: From Politico: The Cold-Blooded Reality of Disaster Coverage.

From CNN: Thousands of Americans are leaving homes in flood-risk areas. But where are they moving to?

“For more than four decades, the US government has been paying cities and states to move homeowners away from areas that are at high risk of severe flooding.

When a hurricane or major flooding event devastates an area, a neighborhood can send a request for the local or state government to buy the impacted land and give residents money to start over someplace else.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s buyout program is a form of so-called “managed retreat” – a long process that relocates people, businesses, homes and infrastructure to an area that’s safer from the impacts of climate change-fueled weather events. But until recently, little was known about where people ultimately moved and whether their new location actually reduced their flood risk.”

From HSNW: Why Insurance Companies Are Pulling Out of California and Florida, and How to Fix Some of the Underlying Problems. Author is Prof. Melanie Gall of ASU.

Recently developed Code of Ethics and Professional Standards of Conduct for Emergency Managers, developed by a team of academics and practioners in 2023. (The document is 20 pages.)

New report from the Congressional Research Service: Congressional Primer on Responding to and Recovering from Major Disasters and Emergencies (28 pp).

From HSDL: Building Stronger Supply Chains: Two Years Later

“Global supply chains play a crucial role in the seamless functioning of economies, impacting both industries and consumers. During his first month in office, President Biden implemented a comprehensive 100-day review of supply chains. The White House recently released a report on the findings of this review. Two Years of Building Stronger Supply Chains and a More Resilient Economy presents U.S. economic and national security vulnerabilities, and the changes needed to strengthen them.

The economic crisis as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the disruptions of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine exposed major weaknesses and created a surge in input costs and inflation. This caused months of empty shelves at stores, longer delivery times, and higher prices at the register. The report highlights the Biden Administration’s efforts to address shortages and bottlenecks throughout the economy that contributed to this crisis.”

From the NYTimes: Will Wildfires Like These Become the New Normal?

Canada’s devastating fires and toxic smoke might not recur every year, but the heat from climate change increases the risks of a wide range of disasters.