From HSToday: Rethinking Disaster Readiness Before a Potentially Active Summer

From the NYTimes: Facing Hurricane and Wildfire Seasons, FEMA Is Already Worn Out. Multiple missions, combined with years of record disasters, have strained the agency — and scientists predict an unusually severe disaster season ahead.

The Diva notes that if this writer is correct, the news comes at the start of hurricane season and relatively early in the calendar year. We all will have to be better prepared for disasters in 2021.

From Scientific American: Climate Change Added $8 Billion to Hurricane Sandy’s Damage. New research shows how much warming is costing society by exacerbating disasters

From HSToday: FEMA Announces Operational Guidance for Disaster Response and Recovery in Pandemic Environment.

Update: From Forbes: New FEMA Guidelines Help Business Leaders Plan For Disasters And Other Emergencies

From HSToday:

From the WashPost: Ransomware is a national security threat and a big business — and it’s wreaking havoc. The attack that crippled Colonial Pipeline is just the tip of the iceberg/

From the NY Times: We’re Not Ready for the Next Big Climate Disasters. An excerpt:

Our study found that the federal government is spending about $46 billion per year on recovery from disasters, which is seven times the level of investment in resilience. (Depending on the accounting method, that ratio could be as high as 40 to 1.) That nobody really knows these numbers shows why the nation must take stock of its infrastructure and disaster spending with an eye to resilience. At the same time, the National Climate Assessment, mandated by Congress and prepared by climate scientists every four years to evaluate the nation’s climate vulnerabilities, needs to look beyond what the scary science says to assess how government policies and private investment are amplifying or dampening the potential consequences of global warming.

New GAO report: Superfund: EPA Should Take Additional Actions to Manage Risks from Climate Change Effects

From HSDL: Combating Ransomware: Key Recommendations from the Ransomware Task Force

Rethinking Disaster Recovery: Harvey Home Repair and Just Recovery. An 11 page perspective on the recovery process.