Rethinking Readiness: A Brief Guide to Twenty-First-Century Megadisasters

by Jeffrey Schlegelmilch, Irwin Redlener (Foreword)

As human society continues to develop, we have increased the risk of large-scale disasters. From health care to infrastructure to national security, systems designed to keep us safe have also heightened the potential for catastrophe. The constant pressure of climate change, geopolitical conflict, and our tendency to ignore what is hard to grasp exacerbates potential dangers. How can we prepare for and prevent the twenty-first-century disasters on the horizon?

Rethinking Readiness offers an expert introduction to human-made threats and vulnerabilities, with a focus on opportunities to reimagine how we approach disaster preparedness. Jeff Schlegelmilch identifies and explores the most critical threats facing the world today, detailing the dangers of pandemics, climate change, infrastructure collapse, cyberattacks, and nuclear conflict. Drawing on the latest research from leading experts, he provides an accessible overview of the causes and potential effects of these looming megadisasters. The book highlights the potential for building resilient, adaptable, and sustainable systems so that we can be better prepared to respond to and recover from future crises. Thoroughly grounded in scientific and policy expertise, Rethinking Readiness is an essential guide to this century’s biggest challenges in disaster management.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference

200 pages, Paperback

First published July 14, 2020

Reviews

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rethinking Readiness gives an overview of possible megadisasters - disasters on such a scale that recovery after the event isn't enough, there needs to be a more comprehensive preparedness.

The megadisasters discussed are biothreats (extreme weather, earthquakes, diseases), climate change, critical infrastructure failure (bridges collapsing, but also a failing power grid), cyberthreats, nuclear conflict and crosscutting between various disasters.

Each chapter first defines the type of disaster, and the subtypes that invariably exist, using previous disasters to illustrate. Then follows a discussion of what is currently in place (in the U.S.) to prevent these disasters, but more importantly what should be in place.

The best chapter is the last one, and the conclusion that follows. Here the real problems for disaster prevention in the U.S. come to the fore - politicians who only think in the short term, because voters also generally think in the short term. And disaster preparedness might not actually be useful until decades later. So politicians who clean up a disaster after the fact are lauded, instead of being asked why the disaster wasn't prevented.

The writing has a matter of fact tone, and it should be no problem for a layman to get to grips with. That said, it remains just an overview, and I do find myself wondering who this book is for. The previously mentioned layman can't do a lot to help in this preparedness (the idea of a survival kit is up for discussion too - there is no real evidence these kits actually helped in previous disasters). Perhaps the book is useful for professionals, or for students, but then the book doesn't seem to go deep enough.

I have seen some reviewers mention that the book misses a couple of steps by not including the current Covid-19 pandemic, but I don't agree. The part of the book on pandemics pretty much indicates what actually happened (I also think it's too early to properly analyse Covid-19, as we're still in the middle of it), and it pinpoints what should've been done to be better prepared.

I'll leave you with the opening paragraph of the chapter on nuclear conflict, which put a (nervous) smile on my face:

"If you happen to be in relatively close proximity to a nuclear weapon detonation and need to rapidly evaluate what to do next, the good news is that you are not dead!"

That's the spirit.

(Kindly received an ARC from Columbia University Press through NetGalley)

[Bam cooks the books · Rating 3 out of 5]

STOP THE PRESSES! This nonfiction book has a publishing date of July 14, 2020, and has already become outdated in the light of the current worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. I would urge the publisher to postpone publishing this book 'as is' if at all possible until the crisis has ended, giving the author time to include it in this important and timely guide to preparing for megadisasters: to discuss what worked and what systems crumbled during the crisis, and what we could possibly do differently in the future to better prepare ourselves. Now THAT would be a terrific book!

Topics covered:
Biothreats
Climate Change
Critical Infrastructure Failure
Cyberthreats
Nuclear Conflict

and Conclusions:
Investing in Today, Investing in Tomorrow

I received an arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my review.

[Emily D · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who has focused her studies & work on disasters brought about by natural hazards, I appreciated how Jeff Schlegelmilch’s “Rethinking Readiness” helped me take a step back and look at the variety of threats that society could face at any given time. His book provides a good overview of biothreats, climate change, critical infrastructure failure, cyberthreats, nuclear conflict, and finally looks into crosscutting threats and vulnerabilities.

He calls attention to the fact that the young field of disaster science still has much to uncover and that, from a political perspective, we are largely still reactionary. As he describes it, “We reward politicians for disaster relief rather than holding them accountable for poor disaster preparedness, we cut funding for preparedness and rely increasingly on emergency supplemental funding, and we focus too much on managing disasters based on past experience rather than developing more inclusive and adaptable emergency management agencies that are better prepared to face the next catastrophe.”

He provides many actionable recommendations for how we can rethink readiness and where we can make investments today. Of course, when pursuing these investments, we run into the age-old challenge that many preparedness and risk reduction professionals before us have faced: How do we articulate the importance of these activities in terms of economic value?

I was particularly happy to see Schlegelmilch’s call for disaster professionals to learn how to speak to audiences outside our own field -- that we should all develop a strong understanding of economics, business, sociology, etc. If we are truly convinced that disaster risk reduction and readiness needs a whole-of-society approach, then we must put in the effort to learn how to speak the language of our stakeholders and communicate the value of this work in terms that are meaningful to them.

[penny shima glanz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a unique and unexpectedly timely coincidence for me to be reviewing a book that looks into twenty-first century megadisasters in the midst of a global pandemic. Rethinking Readiness takes a brief look into the history and current direction of disaster prepardness planning, and is due to be published in the summer; months after the world coming to grips with the chaos and fear of this current health crisis. The book provides an overview of biothreats, climate change, critical infrastructure, cyberthreats, nuclear conflict, and cross-cutting threats.

Will it fix the immediate crisis? No.

Is it still worthwhile to read? Yes.

Will it help to provide context for the current chaos? Yes, and I do wish this wasn't a brief guide but a deep comprehensive review. But that's not the goal of this slim volume. Schlegelmilch, in Rethinking Readiness, provides an approachable and understandable history to help us begin to reframe and strategize. Disaster science is still in its infancy and globalisation has completely changed the world we know. Covid-19 has implications that will be more far reaching than we can comprehend today. This book will help us begin to reframe our views.

An addendum: Schlegelmilch stated via Twitter on 03 April 2020 that he drafted a new preface to discuss the implications of Covid-19 & why its impacts will reach far beyond pandemics. I look forward to reading it when available.

I received an eARC of this title from NetGalley in exchange for a review. The FTC wants you to know.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

With Rethinking Readiness, Jeffrey Schlegelmilch offers a succinct presentation of the major existential threats facing humanity in 2020. Although the strategies that he recommends are more impressionistic than concrete, Schlegelmilch seems to have a firm grasp on the scope of each issue.

The central idea running through each chapter is simple enough to fathom, yet tremendously difficult to put into practice. Namely, Schlegelmilch argues - I think correctly - that disaster planning tends to be more reactive than proactive. We spend a ridiculous amount of money and manpower on the provision of relief, when the same level of effort could be directed toward education, planning, and contingency training with better results.

As the title suggests, this book is a call for a "rethinking" of how we view interconnection, globalization, and preparedness. To that end, I think this is a useful and informative tool, albeit a basic one.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book brought up really good questions that don't come up a lot when reading brief news coverage of disasters.

Where is the money coming from and going to? How are relief organizations coordinating, if at all? Why aren't we investing in preparedness ahead of time versus just throwing money at the aftermath?

It makes me want to research this topic more. I always thought of Emergency Mgmt, or Disaster Mgmt as a potential field of study and this just made me even more interested.

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Framing the Problem

The book does a good job outlining the threat. I was hoping for more on how to prepare. The last chapter does have some lofty suggestions about resiliency and the next generation, but what should an interagency task force look like and what capabilities are needed? Impressive bibliography.

[Paiman Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wake up call, as being proven by the pandemic. It takes all communities to work together to tacke the collective problems.

[Amit Verma · Rating 4 out of 5]

There would be no better time than present to read such book which focuses on disasters.
As world tries to survive covid-19, this book is very timely description of various megadisasters which are quite possible in coming decades.
It discusses bio threats, superbugs, Infrastructure failures and climate change.

There are very interesting and recent examples of disasters and their impact.
There is also discussion about what can be done to survive these.
Book is short, Interesting and very informative.
It provides many things that can be learnt and leveraged upon in ever unstable ecological balance.
Thanks netgalley and publisher for review copy.