The Path to Change Disaster Outcomes for Black Underserved
Communities
Background
Throughout the nation, continue to be affected by the impact of catastrophic natural and man caused
disasters such as Superstorm Sandy, the Moore Oklahoma Tornadoes, California wildfires, and the South
Carolina Church Massacre that devastated the families and friends of the victims.
Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, and many months after Superstorm Sandy, affected communities
continue to suffer from the financial and life-changing consequences of damage to their homes and
businesses, and disruption of their lives. More importantly, many residents remain frustrated, fearful, and
uncertain about their ability to cope with future disasters.
The prospect for future catastrophic events and local/regional emergencies will place further burdens
on the resources of emergency responders and disaster relief agencies. Additionally, public health and
human services agencies will continue to be overextended to meet the demands of the increased effects
of disasters and local emergencies on local populations.
Despite the best efforts of many organizations, statistics and outcomes continue to suggest underserved
communities are still unprepared for the next disaster.
A recently published Heritage Foundation report, After Hurricane Sandy: Time to Learn and Implement
the Lessons in Preparedness, Response, and Resilience (Steven P. Bucci, PhD., David Inserra, Jonathan
Lesser, Ph.D., Matt A. Mayer, Brian Slattery, Jack Spencer and Katie Tubb), summarizes the need for
underserved preparedness as follows:
“Do no harm”—a simple concept. When it comes to preparing for disasters like Superstorm Sandy, it takes
on profound importance. Whether it is the individual, family, community organizations, or the private
sector, the primary role is to do no harm. What does this statement mean exactly?
It means that the system cannot erode the ability of people to first take care of themselves, so that
first responders can focus on those who are endangered, injured, and cannot care for themselves.”
The loss of life and property is especially hard felt in black communities with large populations of people
below poverty, the elderly, disabled, homeless, limited English speaking, transportation challenged, and
those with limited access to communications, computers, and preparedness resources. For these
underserved populations, disasters and every day emergencies threaten their very survival as many
struggle to cope with the challenges of daily existence.
Preparedness Challenges
1. Underserved populations lack basic preparedness skills, knowledge, and capabilities to cope with local
emergencies or widespread disasters.
2. Current programs have had no measurable impact on overall preparedness of underserved
populations, resulting in increased response and recovery costs for human services, and
overextending resources at all levels following a disaster.
3. Public safety agencies have experienced manpower and funding shortages in recent years,
lengthening response and recovery times for critical resources.
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The Path to Change Disaster Outcomes for Black Underserved
Communities
4. Past and current disaster preparedness efforts have provided only nominal outreach, broad messages,
and few actionable programs that provide clear actions to make underserved residents true partners in
the preparedness process rather than simply recovery victims.
5. These factors perpetuate a cycle of hopelessness among vulnerable populations, and the failure to
effectively engage underserved populations in their own survival creates a preparedness gap that
continues to widen.
The following factors also contributed to the 1,836 deaths in Katrina:
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55 percent of residents did not possess a car or way to evacuate
68 percent had no money in the bank or useable credit card
57 percent had household incomes of less than $20,000
76 percent had children under age 18 with them in the shelter
77 percent had a high school education or less
93 percent were African-American
Nearly 40 percent of those who died were elderly
Could a tragedy of this magnitude happen again? Yes, absolutely. It is not only possible but highly likely
given the lack of preparedness in the community as a whole, and especially the black community. If you
have the means to cope, financial stability, credit, employment, insurance, or family and community
infrastructure, a disaster may turn out to be a mere inconvenience. But for many in the black
community, the lack of viable support systems and resources can turn a simple house fire into a
devastating, life-changing tragedy. The financial, emotional and psychological impact of an event such as
Katrina is still being felt today by thousands who have not and maybe never will recover. Below are just
a few examples to support this belief.
Example: Nursing Home Unpreparedness
An Associated Press report released on April 16, 2012 reveals that during tornado, hurricane or flood,
nursing homes are woefully unprepared to protect frail residents in a natural disaster, government
investigators say. The report states emergency plans required by the government often lack specific
steps such as coordinating with local authorities, notifying relatives or even pinning name tags and
medication lists to residents in an evacuation, according to the findings. That means the plans may not
be worth the paper they're written on.
Ten years after Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans exposed the vulnerability of nursing
homes, serious shortcomings persist.
"We identified many of the same gaps in nursing home preparedness and response," investigators from
the inspector general's office of the Health and Human Services Department wrote in the report being
released Monday. "Emergency plans lacked relevant information. ... Nursing homes faced challenges
with unreliable transportation contracts, lack of collaboration with local emergency management, and
residents who developed health problems."
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The Path to Change Disaster Outcomes for Black Underserved
Communities
On the surface, things appeared to be in good shape. Ninety-two percent of the nation's 16,000 nursing
homes met federal regulations for emergency planning, while 72 percent met the standards for
emergency training.
A different story emerged when inspectors showed up at 24 selected nursing homes and started pulling
files and interviewing staff.
The specific facilities in California, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, and
Texas were not identified in the report. All had been affected by disasters; 14 had evacuated and the
remainder sheltered in place.
A detailed, well-rehearsed emergency plan is a basic requirement for disaster preparedness. But at one
home, the emergency plan was in several boxes. At another one, it was on a legal pad.
Of the 24 emergency plans, 23 did not describe how to handle a resident's illness or death during an
evacuation. Also, 15 had no information about specific medical needs of patients, such as feeding tubes
and breathing equipment. Seven plans were silent on how to identify residents in an evacuation, such as
by attaching wristbands or name tags. Inspectors said 15 made no provision for including medication
lists.
None of the nursing homes met a government recommendation for a seven-day supply of drinking
water if residents had to shelter in place and their regular source of water was unsafe or unavailable.
Twenty-two homes had no backup plans to replace staff members unable to report for work during a
disaster.
Example: Children are Vulnerable
Each year millions of children are disproportionately impacted by disasters disrupting their lives,
families, schools and communities; from simple house fires--to the levels of devastation witnessed in the
2004 Tsunami or the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disasters, yet insufficient attention has been given to
preparing this population. Parents and children face new challenges that require preparedness and
action!
 The average parent spent 5 hours organizing back to school supplies this summer versus 1 hour on
emergency preparedness over the past year.
 69 million children are separated from their parents every workday for an average of 9 hours and an
average 18 minute trip away.
 1 in 5 parents say their child's school or child care doesn't have their current contact info.
 42% of parents don't know where to reunite with their child if their school or childcare center is
evacuated.
 67% of parents don't know if their child's school or child care practices emergency drills frequently.
 49% of parents don't feel very prepared to protect their kids from disasters.
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The Path to Change Disaster Outcomes for Black Underserved
Communities
Example: Disabled Blind and Low Vision
According to a recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO) 285 million people are estimated
to be visually impaired worldwide: 39 million are blind and 246 have low vision.
It is important for individuals who are blind or who have low vision to have a plan in place before
disasters strike. This is advised to ensure that a disaster, emergency or hazardous incident does not
impact their day to day care. When making an individual or family disaster plan one should think about
their daily activities and how one of these types of events would and can impact their life. Also when
making the plan give thought to what can be done independently and where one may need assistance.
Also please keep in mind that regular sources of information may not be available after a disasters,
emergency or hazardous incident, which requires an action plan beforehand on how the individual will
meet their needs.
Opportunities
To address the challenges of preparing underserved communities, black leadership at all levels must
undertake a bold and unique approach to equip underserved communities to better care for themselves
in the immediate aftermath of any emergency.
Government efforts have failed to result in viable, sustainable programs that reach underserved
populations. Most efforts have focused on the generic messages of “get a kit”, without practical solutions
for what one must do to survive a major catastrophe.
In the book, Lost and Turned Out – A Guide to Preparing Underserved Communities for Disasters (Amazon
2012), the author outlines a practicum of innovative methods for reaching and engaging underserved
populations as true partners in their own survival. The goal is to provide measurable, sustainable program
constructs to create a culture of preparedness in highly vulnerable communities.
To effectively address the issue, we must provide actionable activities that will deliver measurable
outcomes in the number of people trained, number of faith-community, small business, and communitybased organizations with emergency and continuity plans, and number of people participating in
disaster drills, family emergency planning, and community led exercises.
Further, the black community must focus on meeting the preparedness needs of the underserved
themselves, as determined by local risks and hazards, creating a culture of empowerment essential to
meaningful behavior and attitude changes among those in greatest peril.
Stakeholder Roles
Community Based Organizations – formation and mobilization of community emergency preparedness
teams on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis. Many such groups already exist, however, they are
underfunded, overwhelmed by the volume of issues (gang violence, natural disasters, every day
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The Path to Change Disaster Outcomes for Black Underserved
Communities
emergencies) and many lack the core training and expertise required to effectively sustain their
programs
Individuals and Households
Black community Can and should actively engage in discussions around preparedness. Much in the same
way urban parents and children have discussions around community violence, preparing for fires, floods,
and other events. Using existing resources, families should make it a priority to understand the risks and
mitigate those risks to the extent possible.
Schools
K-12 schools play a key role in preparedness because they have mandates to address preparedness in at
least 32 states, although little if anything has been accomplished due mostly to funding. A Recent FBI
study reports "ACTIVE SHOOTER" incidents have tripled in recent years--with 29% of these attacks
occurring at schools. Schools can and must provide a focused effort on teaching children how to
respond in an emergency before the threat occurs.
The Faith Community
The black church is the anchor and voice of the black community and has the greatest influence when it
comes to addressing social needs. Unfortunately, most black churches have done little to prepare their
own facilities or members, and most have not even had so much as a simple fire drill. Despite this, the
black faith community is poised to become the catalyst for change in preparedness behavior because of
its ability to organize, influence, raise money and mobilize. The recent South Carolina church massacre,
and more than 20 church related shootings over the past five years, further underscores the need for
places of worship to be better trained to recognize and respond to threats and emergencies.
Small Businesses
Resilience is vitally important to the survival of communities in disaster. Statistics show 40-60 percent of
small businesses go out of business following a disaster.
Small Businesses and community organizations such as childcare centers, social services agencies and
places of worship are particularly hard hit, especially in communities with large underserved
populations. These organizations and businesses, the life blood of many communities, are often unable
to recover after a major disaster event. When businesses fail, the revitalization of communities is
threatened. Loss of jobs, tax revenues and economic decline are difficult for any community to
overcome. Communities and businesses that make the effort to prepare before an emergency, during
“blue sky” situations are much more likely to survive any emergency.
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The Path to Change Disaster Outcomes for Black Underserved
Communities
Corporate & Philanthropy
Corporate partners and foundations have long contributed to community resilience through goodneighbor initiatives. More must be done in the area of preparedness and their financial support should
focus first on programs benefitting the Underserved. Statistics show that for every dollar spent on
preparedness, $6-9 on the cost of response. Further, businesses could easily reduce the cost of disaster
relief support if more people, especially the most vulnerable, were better prepared
Government Agencies
Government efforts have failed to result in viable, sustainable programs that reach underserved
populations. Most efforts have focused on the generic messages of “get a kit”, without practical
solutions for what one must do to survive a major catastrophe. Over $14 million dollars was spent on
the Regional Catastrophic disaster plan for the Chicagoland area since 2008, yet few people are aware of
the plan and black communities were largely ignored in the planning process.
Conclusion
Although the contributing social factors that are related to lack of underserved preparedness are many,
the solutions are fairly straightforward. First and foremost, the black community must take ownership of
disaster preparedness as a priority for survival. Government, however well intentioned, cannot solve the
problem for us.
At the cultural core of preparedness is an attitude that survival is a personal matter, while delivery of
services after a disaster is an entirely separate issue. For the underserved, lack of basic preparedness is
not a matter of the degree to which they will be “inconvenienced”, but rather a matter of their very
survival. We must therefore take steps to “demystify” the disaster system by providing underserved
with accurate information about their risks, options, and practical steps they must take to assure their
survival.
Embracing the goal of self-empowerment and dispelling the notion that preparedness is a government
responsibility are the two fundamental essentials to breaking the cycle of catastrophic, needless
suffering for the underserved in disaster. The alternative is a repeat of the terrible tragedy of Katrina.
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