FEMA 2023 National Household Survey on Disaster Preparedness Statistics

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Main summary

FEMA recently released the 2023 National Preparedness Report, the twelfth report dedicated to disaster preparedness in the U.S. The overwhelming increase in the number and severity of disasters over the course of 2022 has resulted in the loss of $165 billion. of dollars with 47 major climate disasters. statements. According to the new report, there has also been a shift in the types of dangers that concern communities, with many ranking cyberattacks and pandemics in 2022 as “the two types of threats and dangers most stressful to their capabilities.”

The 2023 survey results indicate that just over half (51%) of Americans believe they are prepared for a disaster and 57% took three or more actions to prepare for a disaster in the past year. The most common actions people took to prepare for a disaster were gathering or updating disaster supplies (48%) and making a plan (37%); The least common actions were planning with neighbors (12%) and getting involved in their community (14%).

Key findings and opportunities from the 2023 survey

2023 saw big changes in how people prepared for disasters compared to the previous year.

There was a large increase in the percentage of people who assembled or updated supplies (from 33% in 2022 to 48% in 2023), but there was a large decrease in the percentage of people who signed up to receive alerts and warnings (from 46% in 2022 to 36% in 2023).

Emergency managers must remind people that preparedness involves much more than simply gathering supplies. When you meet with your community, help people sign up to receive instant alerts and warnings. Walk them through the sign-up process to receive local alerts while you have their direct attention, so they don’t have to remember to do it themselves later.

Only 50% of people believed that taking steps to prepare for a disaster would help them overcome it and were confident in their ability to take those steps to prepare.

To increase preparedness effectiveness, trusted local and community messengers should provide outcome testimonials to demonstrate the value of preparing for a disaster, especially for groups with lower rates of preparedness effectiveness.

There was a strong association between being aware of how to prepare for disasters and taking steps to prepare.

89% of people had read, seen or heard information in the past year about how to better prepare for a disaster. People who had received information about how to prepare were five times more likely to take at least three preparedness actions compared to people who had not received information about preparedness.

Emergency managers should focus their preparedness outreach efforts on communities with lower awareness of preparedness information because the payoff could be great. Provide tips and strategies to prepare based on a community’s specific needs, challenges, and environment.

There was a disconnect between the over-60 community’s perception of preparedness and their preparedness actions.

People ages 60 and older were about as likely as people ages 18 to 59 to feel prepared for a disaster (52% and 51%, respectively). However, people aged 60 and older were less likely to have taken many preparedness measures compared to people aged 18 to 59.

To increase the preparedness of the 60+ community, emergency managers must develop preparedness programs and materials that take into account the unique challenges older adults face and empower them to prepare.

Cost barriers can prevent socioeconomically disadvantaged people from taking important preparedness steps.

They were less likely than those not socioeconomically disadvantaged to have taken higher-cost preparedness measures, but were just as likely to have taken low- or no-cost preparedness measures.

Emergency managers must leverage community resources to help those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged overcome cost barriers to close the gap in adoption of higher-cost preparedness actions.

People living in areas with higher risk of flooding and wildfires had lower levels of risk perception for those hazards.

Only 43% of people reported that they were “likely” or “very likely” to be affected by river flooding, despite living in areas that are at higher risk of experiencing the impacts of river flooding. In areas most at risk for wildfires, only 49% perceived their risk of being affected by wildfires. However, hurricane risk perception (96%) was much higher for people most at risk for hurricane impacts.

Emergency managers must apply messaging tools and techniques that effectively communicate hurricane risk to create a similar culture of flood and wildfire risk perception in communities most at risk.

Help older adults prepare for disasters

On June 8, 2023, FEMA Director Criswell announced that the 2023 National Preparedness Month campaign would focus on preparing older adults for disasters. The 2023 National Household Survey on Disaster Preparedness provides preparedness data on older adults that emergency managers can use to strengthen their own community’s efforts to help older adults prepare.

The 2023 National Household Survey on Disaster Preparedness also includes similar preparedness data for many other groups, including:

• People with disabilities
• Non-primarily English-speaking households
• People who identify as LGBTQ+
• People with faith-based beliefs.
• Socioeconomically disadvantaged people
• People who live in rural areas.
• People of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin
• People of different racial identities.

He US FEMA National Preparedness Report 2023 provides an overview of the current state of national preparedness for all levels of government and identifies strengths and areas for improvement.

Citation:

Retrieved from fema.gov resources on December 29, 2023.

NOTE: FEMA and the Federal Government cannot guarantee the data or analyzes derived from this data after the data has been retrieved from the Agency’s website.

Attribution/Source(s):

This peer-reviewed article related to our Emergency Planning for People with Disabilities section was selected for publication by Disabled World editors because of its likely interest to our readers in the disability community. Although content may have been edited for style, clarity, or length, the article “FEMA 2023 National Household Survey on Disaster Preparedness Statistics” It was originally written by FEMA (United States): Federal Emergency Management Agency and published by Disabled-World.com on 12/29/2023. If you require further information or clarification, you may contact FEMA (United States): Federal Emergency Management Agency at fema.gov. Disabled World makes no warranties or representations in connection therewith.

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