The Co-Directors of the Program on Emergency Preparedness, Crisis Management, and Disaster Recovery are Arnold M. Howitt, Executive Director, Roy and Lila Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation, and Herman B. “Dutch” Leonard, the George Baker Professor of Public Management at the Kennedy School of Government and Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Graduate School of Business. Hannah Riley Bowles and Guy Stuart are faculty affiliates. David Ahlers is an Ajunct Senior Fellow. David Giles is the Senior Research Assistant. Arrietta Chakos is the Project Director of the Acting in Time Recovery Project. Faaiza Rashid is a Doctoral Student.

Newspaper and television news bulletins prominently feature events such as 9/11, the SARS epidemic, the Asian tsunami, widespread flooding in China, the massive earthquake in Pakistan, megafires in Southern California, the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and a possible international epidemic of avian influenza.

Through its research and training activities, the Program on Emergency Preparedness, Crisis Management, and Disaster Recovery seeks to improve readiness and response to such major physical threats to society, including natural disasters (hurricanes, tsunamis, floods, forest fires, earthquakes, or volcanic eruptions), technology failures (airline and train crashes or industrial disasters), emergent infectious disease (West Nile virus or SARS), or catastrophe from human agency (terrorism).

No matter how they arise, these events pose life- or livelihood threatening crises for families, communities, businesses and other institutions, and, frequently, multiple layers of government in a single country or across many nations. Disasters and health crises create pressing challenges—for emergency response, public safety, evacuation, housing, health care, and social services—that even developed countries find difficult to manage. Such crises, moreover, often massively destroy property or ravage the natural landscape—impacts from which it takes years to recover.

Effective preparedness can mitigate or avert the impacts of some disasters; and sure-handed response can lessen the burdens and hardships for individuals, as well as the economic and social disruptions for communities or countries. But governments, companies, communities and individuals are frequently ill-prepared for such response.

To improve readiness for crisis, the Program on Emergency Preparedness, Crisis Management and Disaster Recovery sponsors or collaborates in:

Articles | Books | Case Studies | Executive Education | Executive Session on Domestic Preparedness

 

NEW PUBLICATION
Managing Crises: Responses to Large-Scale Emergencies
Arnold M. Howitt and Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard, Editors (CQ Press, 2009)

 

Featuring 15 Kennedy School cases on large-scale emergencies – from the 1992 LA riots to Hurricane Katrina – this new textbook helps students consider some of the fundamental questions of emergency management: How should governments organize and plan for significant emergencies? What accounts for governments' effective responses to unfolding disasters? And how can governments and partner organizations improve response capabilities? Managing Crises gives students a clear understanding of the different types of disaster governments confront -- and of the key challenges governments face in preparing for and responding to these events.

 

For Publication and Purchasing Details visit:

http://www.cqpress.com/product/Managing-Crises-Responses-to-Large.html