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While headlines often dwell on the destructive power of <keyword id="6362774" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="earthquake" source="Orion">earthquake</keyword>s, their true human cost can be elusive. A recent study offers a fresh perspective through a new metric: the earthquake fatality load, or <keyword id="20689239" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="eqfl" source="keywords">EQFL</keyword>. This metric compares earthquake fatalities to a country's population, revealing how some nations bear a disproportionate burden of earthquake deaths. Surprisingly, smaller countries like Ecuador, <keyword id="19935844" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="lebanon" source="keywords">Lebanon</keyword>, and <keyword id="19959300" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="haiti" source="keywords">Haiti</keyword> topped the EQFL list, despite experiencing fewer earthquakes than larger, more earthquake-prone nations like <keyword id="19904740" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="japan" source="keywords">Japan</keyword> or China. The researchers suggest this disparity might be due to how even minor earthquakes can significantly impact smaller, unprepared populations. Additionally, such losses represent a larger portion of their population, making them more devastating for smaller nations. Apart from these, countries on major tectonic plate boundaries also rank high due to the occurrence of intense earthquakes in these regions. This explains Afghanistan's high EQFL ranking, as it lies in a zone where the Indian and Eurasian plates meet. Encouragingly, the study also found a global decline in EQFL over time, suggesting that advancements in building codes, disaster preparedness, and rescue efforts are mitigating the human cost of earthquakes. The global trend of urbanisation, with its typically more earthquake-resistant construction and faster emergency response in cities, could further contribute to this decline. However, challenges remain in countries like <keyword id="19894993" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="italy" source="keywords">Italy</keyword>, where older, vulnerable buildings are still in use. The EQFL serves as a valuable tool for understanding and addressing the human cost of earthquakes. By identifying the most vulnerable countries, it can guide targeted disaster risk reduction efforts and resource allocation.

Which countries are most affected by severe seismic activity? New earthquake metric provides fresh perspective

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Japan is still coping with the aftermath of a powerful earthquake earlier this month.</li><li>With its history of natural disasters, Japan is one of the countries best prepared for emergencies.</li></ul>Japan's Noto Peninsula is reeling from its most powerful earthquake in a century, but the death toll is remarkably low.The 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck the peninsula in central Japan on January 1, violently rattling buildings, triggering landslides, starting fires, and even forcing land upward to create new beaches on the coast.Such quakes can be incomprehensibly deadly. When a pair of tremors of similar magnitude <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/turkey-syria-earthquake-death-toll-disaster-of-the-century-2023-2">hit Turkey and Syria</a> last year, the disaster resulted in at least 56,000 deaths. In 2010 in Haiti, a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-haiti-gets-earthquakes-tectonic-plates-2021-8">7.0 earthquake</a> and its aftershocks killed up to 300,000 people. In 2005, a 7.6 quake killed at least 79,000 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/massive-earthquake-strikes-afghanistan-2015-10">in Pakistan</a>.As of Friday, however, the death toll from Japan's latest temblor was 94 people, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-accept-earthquake-relief-us-only-nikkei-2024-01-05/">Reuters</a> reported.It's no coincidence. Just look at the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-show-damage-of-japans-2011-disaster-2016-3">mega-disaster Japan experienced</a> in 2011, much bigger than this latest quake. That March, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-special-report-tsunami-evacuees-caught-in-30-billion-money-trap-2014-10">triggered a tsunami</a> and a nuclear power-plant meltdown.While over 18,000 people died, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2021/03/11/learning-from-megadisasters-a-decade-of-lessons-from-the-great-east-japan-earthquake-drmhubtokyo">World Bank</a> noted that Japan's history of preparedness helped many evacuate and likely saved lives.The situation on the Noto Peninsula is dire, to be sure. The January 1 quake may have been the strongest one felt in the region in over 100 years, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=78c307dc166559a9feb42cd4ed0c915313e37c21a03e940f84ae266fbd02e1d3&amp;postID=6597228fa62cdd3ed8f380bd&amp;postSlug=japan-earthquake-safety-disaster-preparedness-2024-1&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fd41586-024-00010-1">Nature</a>. Over 200 people are unaccounted for and 30 villages remain inaccessible, while the rubble-ridden Wajima city is short of food and water for roughly 11,000 evacuees sheltering there, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-quake-death-toll-rises-73-search-survivors-enters-fourth-day-2024-01-04/">Reuters reported</a>.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/earthquake-osaka-japan-2018-6">Japan's quake resilience</a> isn't perfect, but experts say the nation is doing some things right: investing in infrastructure, enforcing strict building codes, and training its citizenry."Japan has lessons that they can give to everyone," Daniel Aldrich, a professor of political science and public policy at Northeastern University who studies disasters and civil society, told Business Insider.<h2>Japan invests in its buildings</h2>Japan sits on four tectonic plates, making it an extremely <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-magnitude-66-earthquake-hits-northern-japan-near-major-city-2018-9">seismically active country</a>. The plates' constant grinding can cause 1,500 earthquakes a year. As a result, Japan has been honing its earthquake preparedness for many decades.After a series of natural disasters following World War II, Japan enacted the Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act in 1961, which increased its investment and planning around earthquakes and floods.Japan now has some of the strictest building codes of any country in the world, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/12/world/asia/12codes.html">The New York Times</a> reported after the 2011 earthquake. Through decades of studying how the country's temblors affect its buildings, Japanese engineers have homed in on quake-resilient construction.Japan designs new buildings to rock side to side with an earthquake's movement, rather than staying still and letting that movement stress the structure.In tall buildings, giant pads made of rubber and steel help absorb some of the shaking from earthquakes, as do hydraulic shock absorbers. Many older structures were retrofitted to withstand disasters better.However, sometimes surviving the quake itself isn't enough. For example, BBC News reported that many older wooden structures in Wajima went up in flames after a fire broke out following the 2024 earthquake.Of course, Japan's wealth gives it an advantage over other quake-stricken countries. However, some of its seismic safety is more about mindset than money.<h2>Japan maintains a culture of emergency preparedness</h2>September 1 is Disaster Prevention Day in Japan. Officials designated the day in 1960 to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/disneyland-tokyo-eeyore-performer-stays-character-during-earthquake-warning-2024-1">prepare citizens for emergencies</a>.When he lived in Japan, Aldrich said he and his neighbors ran comprehensive drills for the day each year, practicing tourniquets, slings for broken arms, and how to spray house fires with a hose."Wherever you are in Japan, everyone has those drills," including children, Aldrich said. The government constantly communicates their importance," Aldrich said, adding, "Are you ready? What have you done? Do you know your neighbors? Can you help in a disaster? What skills can you bring?"<div type="image" title="Visitors crouch under a pink structure as an earthquake hit the region at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka in 2024" height="1500" width="2181" msid="106584886" hostid="261" sizebytes="449920"></div>Students participate in earthquake drills, and the government conducts simulations to test its readiness. The government also recommends people keep an emergency kit ready at all times.That's crucial to survival because affected regions can be cut off from emergency services for days after a disaster, just as much of the Noto Peninsula is now.In those cases, Aldrich said, your neighbors are your first responders. In over a decade of researching disasters, he's found that social relationships are a major predictor of survival. He said that community earthquake drills teach people what to do and help them trust their neighbors.In 2007, the Japan Meteorological Society launched its "Earthquake Early Warning System" (EEWS). The J-Alert system can also broadcast to TVs, radios, and cellphones.Tokyo even has a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/02/japan-vending-machines-to-automatically-offer-free-food-if-earthquake-hits">radio-equipped vending machine</a> that sounds an alarm to park-goers.<div type="image" title="Workers stand on a road where a car is stuck on a broken road after an earthquake in Japan" height="1500" width="2000" msid="106584887" hostid="261" sizebytes="286896"></div>Warnings come through a few seconds to a few minutes before the quake hits, giving people some time to get to a safer location. They're also crucial for rail travel. Japan Railways trains automatically halt when the earthquake detection system kicks in.In 2022, a bullet train derailed after a 7.4-magnitude quake, but none of the 78 passengers and crew were seriously injured, <a target="_blank" href="https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2022/03/f2bf62a8bb81-quake-hit-bullet-train-services-to-fully-resume-around-april-20.html">Kyodo News</a> reported. The train slowed significantly from its typical speed of up to 186 miles per hour, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/03/18/national/tohoku-train-derailment-shinkansen/">The Japan Times</a>.<h2>Japan installs resilient infrastructure</h2>Much like its buildings, Japan has the experience and the money to fortify its infrastructure against earthquakes.During that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japanese-economic-disaster-impact-2011-3">2011 disaster</a>, rapid response teams were able to quickly repair roads to help move supplies and assistance to affected areas. In one case, a torn-apart road took only six days to fix, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/24/japan-disaster-reconstruction-road-recovery">The Guardian</a> reported.<div type="image" title="Japan earthquake" height="1286" width="1715" msid="106584890" hostid="261" sizebytes="133282"></div>A 2021 World Bank report said the country learned several lessons from the 2011 disasters, from improving water supply infrastructure to fortifying backups to the undersea cables that power the internet.Aldrich said the biggest lesson was in revamping nuclear plant safety regulations.After the 2011 Fukushima meltdown, Japan was slow to restart using nuclear power. The Japan Times reported that 10 of its 33 reactors are in operation after being shut down over a decade ago.Experts are also concerned about the possibility of a very large "megaquake" occurring sometime in the next four decades, per <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/02/japan-vending-machines-to-automatically-offer-free-food-if-earthquake-hits">The Guardian</a>. In 2020 a Japanese government panel <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thesun.ie/news/5352026/japan-predicts-mega-earthquake-100ft-tsunami-obliterate-fukushima-plant/">warned</a> that another large tsunami could inundate the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-release-fukushima-nuclear-disaster-radioactive-wastewater-treated-safe-2023-8">Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant</a> at any time.<h2>The double disaster of a tsunami</h2><div type="image" title="A massive tsunami wave rushing over trees and houses in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Japan in 2011" height="1500" width="2351" msid="106584891" hostid="261" sizebytes="643428"></div>One of the reasons an earthquake in Japan can be so dangerous is the possibility of tsunamis.During the 1980s and '90s, Japan constructed seawalls to hold back gigantic waves. But in 2011, a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.npr.org/2011/07/05/137611026/what-went-wrong-in-fukushima-the-human-factor">40-foot tsunami</a> rushed over the 19-foot seawall at the Fukushima plant. The plant suffered a meltdown as a result.Despite a long history of disasters, the country wasn't fully prepared for the tsunami that developed following the 2011 earthquake, according to a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212420912000027">2012 report</a>.In some areas, buoys outfitted with sensors monitor for tsunamis. As with earthquake alerts, the Japan Meteorological Agency uses TV, radio, and mobile phones to distribute the warnings. Sirens also sound, often giving people several minutes of warning that a wave may strike.In contrast, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami hit a number of islands with no formal warning system and resulted in over 200,000 deaths, per <a target="_blank" href="https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/2004tsu_max">NOAA</a>.According to the World Bank, historical knowledge may have helped save lives during Japan's 2011 tsunami. Some survivors knew how far waters could encroach due to stone markers residents had placed after earlier tsunamis. Some of the monuments are hundreds of years old.

Japan takes earthquake safety seriously. Here's how its culture of preparedness keeps so many people alive.

New Delhi, Jul 15 () Twitter India on Wednesday launched a dedicated search prompt to help people stay updated with the latest information from authoritative sources around disaster relief and preparedness efforts. Twitter has partnered with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in India to expand its efforts towards handling disaster situations, according to a statement. The search prompt will be available on iOS, Android, and on www.mobile.twitter.com in India, in both English and Hindi languages, it added. "Every time someone searches for certain keywords associated with disaster relief, a prompt will direct them to the relevant information and sources of help available on Twitter. This is an expansion of Twitter's #ThereIsHelp prompt, which was specifically put in place for the public to find clear, credible information focusing on disaster preparedness and emergencies," it said. The search prompt will also generate a list of government agencies working towards disaster response and relief in India, so people looking for support can easily identify and establish contact with credible authorities, it added. Twitter India and South Asia Director (Public Policy) Mahima Kaul said, "With the launch of this initiative, we are furthering our commitment to partner the citizens, civil society as well as the government." Kaul said the dedicated search prompt will ensure there is an uninterrupted access to relevant and authoritative information, such as important updates on critical transit and utility outages, efforts to oversee crowd management, and establish direct access between the affected areas and the rescue teams. NDRF Director General S N Pradhan said, "While disasters, both natural and manmade, can undoubtedly cause widespread humanitarian havoc, open internet and social media can immensely benefit the ecosystem by enabling people to connect with each other and with government agencies." Timely and reliable updates through Twitter can support the government in communicating to the people on rescue and relief services available to them and what they can do to receive it, he added. "Through the launch of this search prompt and our collaboration with Twitter, we are optimistic about bringing authentic and credible information to the fore to promote open public communication, in times when it is needed the most," he said. SR HRS

Twitter launches dedicated search prompt to provide info on disaster preparedness efforts

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Jeremy Prout is a retired marine and director of security solutions at International SOS.</li><li>He helps expats in over 1,000 locations across 90 countries deal with sudden wars and crises.</li></ul>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jeremy Prout, a retired marine and the director of security solutions at International SOS, a health and security risk management company that works with expatriates and their employers.As director of security solutions at International SOS, I'm often deployed abroad to help our teams across 90 countries with extraordinary crises.When war broke out in Ukraine, for example, my colleagues and I traveled there to facilitate more than 50 land evacuation missions <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeremy-prout-cpp-78957375_writing-this-at-the-end-of-a-very-long-day-activity-6902652598206156800-uEpJ?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop">involving two to nine expat clients at a time</a>.We also offer support like air ambulances and medical escorts, but a key part of our business is helping expats understand risks in the part of the world they're staying in.Here are five key steps I think any expat should take for their safety while staying abroad:<h2>1. Research the local region's biggest threats — and best solutions.</h2>Being well-informed about the local context is the first step toward effective crisis preparedness.While you may not know when a crisis will occur, you should be aware of potential threats and how they could impact you and your family.Make an effort to learn about the potential risks and vulnerabilities specific to the region you live in, such as natural disasters, political instability, or health concerns. Research local emergency services, evacuation procedures, and healthcare facilities.<h2>2. Get to know someone who understands the local system.</h2>When a major escalation occurs, everyone is heading for the same door, or in this case, for the same resources.Knowing someone in emergency services, community organizations, or with the local authorities can make a difference. In times of crisis, these connections can provide critical support, information, and resources.They can also help you understand the cultural nuances and specific challenges that may arise during a crisis in the region, which is very important.<h2>3. Build your emergency plan, and make sure everyone knows what it is.</h2>Develop a detailed emergency plan that addresses various potential crises. This plan should include evacuation routes, emergency contact information, medical protocols, and a communication strategy.It should also include a list of local resources, such as a nearby hospital, medical facility, and local shelters if you need to evacuate. Include a local meeting spot that everyone knows too; this will become helpful if you are separated from your group.You should share this plan with family members and ensure everyone understands their roles and responsibilities.Regularly review and update the emergency plan to account for changes in your organization and local conditions. Planning proactively can help to reduce stress when a crisis hits too significantly.One of the most important parts of an emergency plan is a means of communication. Some people create a chat group on WhatsApp or another platform so everyone can update their whereabouts. Try to keep communication consistent when possible.It's also helpful to create a chat with friends and family at home so they know you are safe should a crisis ensue.<h2>4. Maintain essential documents and prepare a go-bag.</h2>Keep important documents, such as passports, visas, medical records, and insurance information, in a secure and easily accessible location.Create digital copies and store them in a cloud-based platform to ensure access from anywhere, and make sure these documents are valid and be aware of the expiration dates.Additionally, maintain a supply of essential resources, including non-perishable food, water, medications, and basic first aid supplies.You should also ensure your insurance policy gives you access to emergency rescue services for evacuation. Ensure you know what level of support you have available at all times, even before a potential crisis.<h2>5. Stay informed and flexible.</h2>Keep up with local news, government advisories, and global developments that may impact your location, because a proactive approach to information will help you make informed decisions in uncertain times.A great way to do this is to sign up for alerts and notifications from the authorities if there are any.But in times of crisis, flexibility is key. Be prepared to adapt your plans based on the evolving situation. Stay calm and focused, and encourage open communication within your support network.I believe this adage holds true: Those who prepare today can confidently face whatever challenges tomorrow may bring.

I'm a retired marine who helps expats survive sudden conflicts and natural disasters. Here are 5 proactive steps you should take for your safety if you live abroad.

Can Silicon Valley stop the next COVID?Mariana Matus was working on a Ph.D. in sewage. A grad student at MIT, she was sifting through wastewater — from a building, a neighborhood, a city — for bits of viruses. The data could then be used to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biobot-mit-covid19-sewers-testing-2020-3">analyze the health</a> of everyone who'd flushed. Pretty relevant information in 2020, right?Matus thought so, too. Even before she had her degree, she went hunting for investors to turn the idea into a company. The pitch was that her team could help fight the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/risk-of-icu-dramatically-higher-without-covid-booster-2022-7">COVID-19 pandemic</a> by using wastewater surveillance, giving public health officials, or even you and me, a bottoms-down heads-up on whether people were sick.The venture capitalists she approached were perplexed. Why was a student in public health — an academic, service-oriented discipline that strives to help people as a social good — asking Silicon Valley for money? "One of the key questions from investors was if we meant to create a nonprofit," Matus says. "They'd say: 'Are you sure? Did you mean to create a C-corp and a high-growth startup?' They didn't understand that there's this space of public health, that there are people whose job is to look at data and use it to create a program or intervention."But that's exactly what Matus was pitching: a venture-backed startup explicitly aimed at responding to the next pandemic — and, in the process, delivering an impressive return on investment. "We are population health monitoring as a service," she says. "It's ongoing. There's a recurring, sustainable aspect to the revenue." In October 2021, Matus and her partner got $20 million in Series A funding to launch Biobot; today the company has 130 employees, a $125 million valuation, and a contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Broadly speaking, the US response to COVID-19 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-report-agency-too-slow-not-diverse-public-health-advice-2022-8">sucked</a> — not the thankless, unceasing labor of first responders and healthcare workers, but the chaotic and often contradictory efforts of the nation's public-health machine. Even after decades of warning and preparation, over a million Americans died, businesses failed, and schools shut down. Everybody felt the hit in one way or another. If the past three years represent the best the government can do, then pandemic response is precisely the kind of activity that venture capitalists like to describe as "ripe for disruption."Private capital has been eyeing public health for years. But after COVID hit, the money rushed in for real. In 2019, venture deals with a pandemic preparedness component totaled $4.8 billion, according to the research group PitchBook. In 2021, they soared to $13.8 billion. This time, Silicon Valley is confident that the profit motive will supercharge public health. All they need is the right business model — and some government handouts. But the bigger question is: Can tech startups do a better job than the government of safeguarding us against the next global outbreak? And even if they can, what price will we pay for their invention?<h2>The panic-neglect cycle</h2>Back in 2006, after a global outbreak of avian flu, the famed venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins decided to get into the pandemic business. It devoted $200 million to a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/2006/02/16/kleiner-perkins-biodefense-cz_kd_0216kleinerperkins.html?sh=5e1f52c76edb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pandemic and Bio Defense Fund</a>, designed to invest in small, innovative tech companies that could save the world from deadly disease outbreaks. The firm brought on Thomas Monath, a former head of virology at the CDC, and invested in companies working on swine flu, influenza, Ebola, and home testing kits. The operating theory, Monath tells me, was that "there were plenty of dual-use applications that could contribute to pandemic preparedness but also commercial success, and you could leverage funding from public sources to help build the platforms that lead to products."Translation: You could make money off of tools designed to fight pandemics, and the government would help you do it.It was a good idea on paper, but <a href="https://fortune.com/2014/11/17/silicon-valleys-earlier-effort-to-stop-pandemics-like-ebola/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">it didn't work</a>. The fund tried to find companies whose products could turn a profit in the "off years" between big outbreaks, but it mostly ended up with single-use drugs whose only real customers were likely to be governments facing a full-blown public-health crisis. "Some of the investments made in the heat of battle weren't really likely to be big commercial successes," Monath tells me. "It just imploded by its own weight and lack of return." The bets Kleiner made, as he elegantly phrases it, "didn't result in lucrative liquidity events."Several founders and investors told me that the failure of Kleiner's fund made Silicon Valley wary of investing in pandemic preparedness. "I don't see a lot of interest on the part of investors in pure pandemic plays," Monath says. "There are a few kind of more socially-impactful-minded folks out there, but even the richest of them all still wants to make more money." Venture capital fell into the same trap that plagues the government's approach to pandemics: a robust response when a respiratory disease sweeps the planet, followed by years of indifference once the crisis has passed. It even has a name: the panic-neglect cycle.But the Kleiner fund did have one major outcome. The partners who led it, Brook Byers and Beth Seidenberg, lobbied the feds to create an agency to hand out grants to early-stage biotech innovations. Coming up with drugs and other therapies to fight pandemics is really expensive, so Kleiner helped persuade the government to use taxpayer money to underwrite the costs of the kind of work that the firm wanted to invest in. The result was BARDA, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, modeled on the famed mad-science agency DARPA.Venture investors love that kind of thing. Government money — a carrot-type reward for entering a market they otherwise wouldn't — is known as "de-risking." And unlike private capital, government money doesn't buy equity in the company. It is, in the language of the game, nondilutive. Investors "like the idea that companies they might invest in can access nondilutive revenue as ancillary support for their program," Monath says. "The growth in the ability to get those kind of funds, I think, has incentivized some venture-capital folks." This is a pretty standard way for the feds to get the technologies they need to support their policies. In-Q-Tel, a government-backed venture firm, does it all the time for stuff deployed by intelligence agencies. But funders like BARDA aren't long-term customers — they're designed to support companies in the early stages of development. Nevertheless, with the government assuming a big share of the risk in return for none of the profits, VCs were more likely to place bets on pandemic preparedness.<h2>Public health and private industry</h2>When COVID hit, Charity Dean was the assistant director of the California Department of Public Health. Amid all the failures and craziness that surrounded COVID testing before vaccines became available, Dean — a lead character in Michael Lewis' pandemic book, "The Premonition" — helped set up and run California's testing task force, which became a national model.The problem, as she saw it back then, wasn't limited to getting tests approved and pushed out to people. It was how the results of those tests would get analyzed and turned into action. "We need the PCR tests to have real-time data on the rate of spread in communities," she told me when I spoke with her in April 2020. "Quite frankly, we are building plans assuming there will be widespread serological testing, even though it isn't here yet."<div type="image" title="A line of cars near a light-up traffic warning-type sign reading &quot;COVID testing,&quot; surrounded by orange construction cones" height="2796" width="4500" msid="98582729" hostid="261" sizebytes="850394"></div>Two months later, Dean decided to do it herself. She quit her government job and debuted a venture-backed startup, The Public Health Company, to "protect enterprise assets through biorisk software." PHC sells a dashboard designed to integrate more than 580 datasets, including social media, search trends, wastewater surveillance, pathogen genomics, and "human behavior indicators." After a career in public health, Dean was now in business selling pandemic-oriented software. It's still health — but it's not exactly public."I was surprised when I engaged with the venture-capital community. I was surprised to learn the alignment," Dean tells me when I talk to her again, in February 2023. "I had thought I would be a public servant all my life."It turned out, she says, that the things VCs wanted were what she was hoping to build, too — they just used different language to describe them. "In 2019 I would have described it as public health, protecting the community, being accountable to taxpayers," Dean says. "Today I would describe it as asset protection for business continuity, where economic security is tightly linked with health security."Startups like the ones launched by Dean and Matus are seeking to apply what Silicon Valley does best to the threat of pandemics: compiling and analyzing massive datasets to make better predictions about an outbreak. It's the promise and potential of Big Tech versus the perils of Big Germ. But from a VC standpoint, the question is: What's the business model? Pandemics may not be rare, but they are unpredictable — which means so are returns. City and state health departments have checkbooks too small and budgets too squishy to be reliable customers. Medicines and protective equipment can molder in a warehouse for years without being needed. And the work itself is time-consuming and costly, with no guarantee of a payoff. So how do you make money between pandemics?Robert Nelsen, a managing director at ARCH Venture Partners pursuing pandemic investments, is bullish on the potential for big revenue over the long term. The key, he says, is "to make things better, faster, and cheaper" than the government or academic labs can. Stuff like vaccines that last longer, or that are delivered via transdermal patches rather than injections, or that work on lots of diseases instead of just the pandemic of the moment. "A universal pill that kills viruses would be a big deal," Nelsen says. "If you cure a lot of people, you're going to make money. If you have a different way of making something, different science, different delivery, then you can think about different business models. Maybe it can be more equitable, maybe it can be more easily distributed, maybe it can be lower cost. So we're interested in those kinds of things."Some pandemic-related startups, like Biobot, are content to target government as their primary customer. When I suggest to Matus that big universities might want to use her wastewater data to identify which dorms were starting to pop with meningitis or norovirus, she smiles and nods in a way that suggests people smarter and richer than me have already run that notion by her. "There's definitely applications for our data and platform outside government, and we want to go there, but in its time," she says. "And we will only partner with investors that believe that the government business is a massive one."But many startups are looking beyond government to generate an even larger and steadier stream of revenue. At The Public Health Company, Dean wants to use data to enable businesses to protect their assets from all kinds of health and climate risks. That could certainly create a reliable and potentially lucrative customer base. But would giving that forecasting capability to transnational corporations actually save lives? Or would it only protect profits?Back in 2019, Charity Dean was a hotshot public-health official trying desperately to get anyone to care about pandemic planning. So I ask her what that person would think of the VC-driven Charity Dean of 2023.Past-Charity, she assures me, would be fine with present-Charity. "I've been dreaming about this for a decade," she says. "I just assumed someone else was building it. But here's where I was naive. If Charity Dean-2019 walked into my office today, she would not understand that the chief security officers at enterprise are the local health officer. They own all the risk and no one's coming to save them. I didn't know that — and they didn't know that, either."That's what it takes to believe that commerce can fix the panic-neglect cycle: faith that governments will pay top dollar for your product during the panic peaks and businesses will be customers during the neglect valleys. "If it doesn't, in the end, become a massive network delivering high value for all players, then it has failed," Dean says. "That's very much aligned with the incentive of our investors. The Charity Dean of 2019 would not have understood that in the way I do today."<h2>The market failure</h2>Public health officials and researchers acknowledge that venture capital, if well regulated, is capable of producing innovations that could help prevent or respond to a pandemic. "I'm quite positive about this, at least in concept," says Sandro Galea, the dean of Boston University's School of Public Health. "What's made the public-private partnership for vaccines effective, frankly, is that it capitalized on the mechanisms of the private sector, but they were funded by the public purse."Sometimes it works. Moderna, maker of one of the mRNA-based vaccines against COVID, got <a href="https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-merkley-and-jayapal-lead-colleagues-in-urging-the-biden-administration-to-review-moderna-hhs-contract-and-expand-global-covid-19-vaccine-access" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$10 billion of taxpayer money</a>. Palantir, a pedigreed Silicon Valley company that has contracted with the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon, provided analytics services to the CDC throughout the pandemic. Last year, the firm got a <a href="https://fedscoop.com/cdc-palantir-common-operating-picture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$443 million contract</a> for five more years.<div type="image" title="A curving glass building, maybe 10 stories, in an office park, with a sign reading &quot;US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention&quot;" height="5464" width="8192" msid="98582731" hostid="261" sizebytes="2168476"></div>But the fact is, many old hands in public health are leery of private enterprise. They remember getting burned during the Obama years by software companies that promised to create shareable <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/va-vista-medical-records-flaw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">electronic medical records</a> and easy healthcare signups. And they believe that public health is about more than gadgets and software. The kinds of things that earn a profit often cater to an elite clientele, while the kinds of things that improve the health of the public aren't for sale. "In political-science jargon, you have concentrated losers and distributed winners," says Thomas Frieden, who directed the CDC for almost a decade. In other words, it's a classic market failure. "That's one of the reasons we need public health in the first place," he says.Frieden recalls how, after the influenza outbreak of 2009, CDC identified a huge need to combat any respiratory pandemic: more ventilators. So the agency contracted with a company to design and build a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/business/coronavirus-us-ventilator-shortage.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new, robust ventilator</a>, cheap enough to go into rotation in hospitals nationwide."It worked," Frieden tells me. "I vividly remember, they brought it into my conference room, adjacent to my office."So if it worked a decade ago, why was there such a life-threatening shortage of ventilators in 2020? "One of the big ventilator companies buys it and kills it," Frieden says. "They didn't want it to undercut their market."That's the real risk of relying on the marketplace to protect public health. Market priorities aren't health priorities. For every well-meaning former public health official like Dean who is trying to make things better through the venture ecosystem, there are more tech types advocating nonsense like <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/hydroxychloroquine-covid-19-strange-twisted-tale/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hydroxychloroquine</a>. And Silicon Valley isn't exactly rushing to take on thorny stuff like school ventilation. While he was working on getting new ventilators, Frieden also begged the private sector to make a durable, reusable mask for healthcare workers, but no one stepped up. No market in it.As Frieden tells it, the most critical failures in the government's response to the coronavirus weren't anything that venture investments could actually help with. They were things like communication breakdowns, a creaky system for safely testing and approving new drugs, and a lack of consensus around societal priorities. Venture-funded innovations don't solve those problems. They just treat the underfunded, malfunctioning public-health system as damaged and attempt to route around it.In the end, almost every pandemic-related product created by Silicon Valley will ultimately require the government as a primary customer. Say a VC funds an innovation that costs only $1,000 a person and needs replacing only every five years. "Unless you have government procurement, it's not going to get bought," Frieden says. "That's $300 billion to cover the US. You don't have that money. The market isn't there." And if the government loses interest in funding pandemic preparedness, as it has so often in the past, VCs will lose access to the taxpayer money they're counting on to de-risk their investments.Three years after the pandemic devastated the world, we're already losing interest in preparing ourselves for the next one. Last month the vaccine maker Moderna reported a loss for 2023, and a falling demand for its shots. As emergency funding for COVID dries up, pandemic-related startups are in a race against time. In aiming to disrupt the panic-neglect cycle, venture capitalists hope to cash in on the panic. But they may find themselves unable to monetize the neglect.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/adam-rogers">Adam Rogers</a> is a senior correspondent at Insider.

The CDC’s response to COVID was a disaster. Can Silicon Valley get it right?

<ul class="summary-list"><li>President <keyword id="99719" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="joe-biden" source="Orion">Joe Biden</keyword> expanded federal programs for climate resiliency and developing offshore wind.</li><li>The actions fell short of a climate emergency declaration that Senate Democrats are demanding.</li></ul>President Joe Biden said he views climate change as an emergency but stopped short of officially declaring it one on Wednesday. That move could come in the days ahead when Biden said he would unveil more executive actions to combat the crisis.For now, the president took <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/07/20/fact-sheetpresident-bidens-executive-actions-on-climate-to-address-extreme-heat-and-boost-offshore-wind/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">more limited steps</a> including spending $2.3 billion on climate-resiliency grants to help states and tribes prepare for natural disasters, making it easier for low-income families to purchase air conditioners, and paving the way for offshore wind development in the Gulf of Mexico. Senate Democrats and climate activists want Biden to go further by declaring a national climate emergency. It's one of the few options his administration has left to tackle the crisis after Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia last week <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wapo-manchin-wont-support-new-climate-spending-tax-hikes-2022-7" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">dashed hopes that Congress would pass more than $300 billion in clean-energy tax breaks</a> and other climate spending before November's midterm elections.Manchin's vote is critical in an evenly divided Senate, where Democrats are trying to push through Biden's economic agenda by using a budget maneuver that skirts a Republican filibuster.The blow <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/supreme-court-ruling-west-virginia-v-epa-biden-climate-change-2022-6" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">followed the Supreme Court's decision earlier this month</a> to limit the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants. The agency is expected to draft narrower rules, but without new legislation, it's all but guaranteed the US won't slash planet-warming pollution in half this decade — a promise it made under the Paris climate agreement. Current policies put the US on track to reduce emissions by between 24 and 35% below 2005 levels by 2030, <a href="https://rhg.com/research/taking-stock-2022/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">according to an analysis by the Rhodium Group</a>.By declaring the climate crisis a national emergency, Biden could redirect government funding to renewable-energy projects in places like military bases and to the electric-vehicle industry. It also could empower Biden to reinstate a ban on crude-oil exports and provide some legal cover to stop offshore oil and gas drilling, though such moves are unlikely against the backdrop of high gas prices and inflation.Biden has already invoked the Defense Production Act <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/06/fact-sheet-president-biden-takes-bold-executive-action-to-spur-domestic-clean-energy-manufacturing/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">to boost manufacturing of solar parts</a>, energy-efficient heat pumps, and equipment to make clean fuels <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/02/22/fact-sheet-securing-a-made-in-america-supply-chain-for-critical-minerals/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">and use critical minerals.</a> The list could be expanded to more EV technology.For years, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon has been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/21/jeff-merkley-biden-climate-crisis-executive-action/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">urging Biden to declare a climate emergency</a>. A staff member for Merkley told Insider that the administration was still considering the move but acknowledged that it wasn't a panacea for a climate crisis fueling <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/heat-waves-are-dominating-summer-and-its-not-abnormal-anymore-2022-7" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">deadly heat waves and wildfires in Europe</a> and other natural disasters around the globe. A national climate emergency must be paired with new legislation and regulations, the staffer said."The inaction by Congress and the SCOTUS decision means Biden has a narrow path for anything meaningful," said Safak Yucel, an assistant professor of operation management at Georgetown University. "Renewables are doing well even without strong support from any administration because the economics makes sense, but all this policy uncertainty is hampering growth."Yucel added that even if Biden took executive action, future administrations could unravel the measures."Will the policy be in place for a year, two years?" he said. "That's the biggest concern I have."

Biden boosts funding for climate preparedness but stops short of declaring a national climate emergency

While no ready-made emergency preparedness kit is perfect, experts say Judy's is a good starting point

<div type="image" title="man working at desk in office" height="1414" width="1885" msid="79154740" hostid="261"></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>34% of employers didn't have an <keyword id="1549476" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Emergency-Preparedness">emergency preparedness</keyword> plan before the pandemic, a recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management reported.</li><li>Businesses should be ready for any emergency that comes their way if they want to retain top talent and keep everyone productive and well taken care of.</li><li>A crisis management plan should include what types of risks are out there and the level of impact they could have on business, who's responsible for handling what during a crisis, and how the organization plans to communicate with staff.</li><li>The pandemic has also encouraged businesses to consider whether they address work-from-home policies and mental and physical health in their plans.</li></ul>Businesses have undoubtedly learned many hard lessons this year, but maybe the biggest is the need to be prepared for anything at any time, even something as unprecedented as a pandemic.According to a <a href="https://shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/research-and-surveys/Documents/SHRM%20CV19%20Research%20Presentation%20Release%202.pdf">survey</a> conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in April, 34% of employers didn't have an emergency preparedness plan before the pandemic, and 53% of companies with a plan are revising them because of the coronavirus.That doesn't surprise Kurt von Koch, CEO of <a href="https://fmsystems.com/our-solutions/">FM:Systems</a>, a workplace facility management software company. "So often organizations are hyper-focused on running the day-to-day pieces of their business like growing sales, retaining clients, or solving problems and are not able to take a step back and discuss what they would do if a flood, hurricane, or other existential threat were to impact their company," he said.Organizations have mostly always planned for smaller-scale, local disaster response, but von Koch said they need to use what they've learned from the pandemic to prepare for emergencies on a broader scope. A comprehensive <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-emergency-contingency-plan-for-office">crisis management plan</a> removes ambiguity and ensures employees remain productive, taken care of, and able to manage any negative implications of the emergency, said Tina Riley, <a href="https://hrlr.msu.edu/directory/faculty/riley.html">associate director</a> and associate professor at the <a href="https://hrlr.msu.edu/index.html">School of Human Resources and Labor Relations</a> at Michigan State University. It's also important for recruitment and retention as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/safety-new-workplace-perk-job-seekers-applying-to-companies-2020-8">employees consider whether their workplace feels safe</a> and supports their well-being.Most employers have the legal responsibility to provide a safe, healthy workplace under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) <a href="https://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3021.pdf">General Duty Clause</a>. Riley said these regulations, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, should be factored into all emergency plans to prevent discrimination."The importance of these plans are first and foremost the health and safety of people, but it also helps to improve the chances of business continuity and increased business resilience," von Koch said. <a href="https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/evacuation/eap.html">OSHA</a> and the <a href="https://emergency.cdc.gov/">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> have several online resources to help you get started on or revise your emergency plan. All plans should include the following provisions, according to von Koch and Riley:<ul><li>Risk-type categories: List all types of possible emergencies (fires, active shooters, pandemics, cyberattacks, and other crises), how they'll affect employees and the business, and the likelihood and potential magnitude of the event. A risk-assessment matrix can help organizations prioritize risk.</li><li>Team roles and responsibilities: Designate who's responsible for emergency preparedness and outlining who has authority to execute the plan during an emergency.</li><li>Information accessibility and communications: Describe the systems, policies, and procedures for updating employees in case internal communication systems are disrupted. The policy should also include alternative communication methods and details about storing information and data externally in a secure location with quick access.</li></ul>For natural disasters, Riley said, include procedures for evacuation, closing and boarding up facilities, moving equipment, and turning off electricity, as well as how employers will communicate with employees and how employees will be paid.<h2>Emergency plans also need work-from-home and health policies</h2>COVID-19 has made businesses realize they need health-related provisions. More than half of organizations with emergency plans didn't have one that covered communicable diseases pre-pandemic, according to <a href="https://shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/research-and-surveys/Documents/SHRM%20CV19%20Research%20Presentation%20Release%202.pdf">SHRM</a>.Riley suggested adding policies for screening employees and visitors, handling instances of illness, communicating with employees and others, informing employees of leave policies and resources, and outlining how work will be performed during the emergency and how employees will <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sc/how-to-safely-return-to-work-during-the-coronavirus-crisis-2020-6">return to work safely</a>.The pandemic also underscored the need for emergency preparedness to include detailed work-from-home plans. "Many organizations and their employees have developed deep expertise in remote work, including modern digital communication capabilities such as conferencing," von Koch said.Above all, the safety and physical and emotional well-being of employees should be a top concern. "What we have learned from the current pandemic is that we also need to create plans that address the emotional and social effects of losing loved ones through death and separation," von Koch said. "Plans of the future need to take into consideration the people side of the emergencies, not just the logistics of moving resources."<h2>Emergency plans need regular re-evaluation</h2>Emergency preparedness plans are not a "one-shot deal," von Koch said. They need continual evaluation and revision. New employees need to be trained on the process, and existing ones need refreshers.To keep emergency plans relevant, Riley suggested designating one person responsible for reviewing and revising the plan as needed, and forming a "cross-functional" crisis management team with members representing human resources, facilities, operations, and leadership.Run regular organization-wide drills and training to test the plan, making sure everyone responds well to real-life situations, von Koch said. If you ever put the emergency plan into action, conduct an after-action review (AAR) once the emergency has been resolved. "The AAR evaluates what worked well, what didn't, and what was missed," she said. "The plan, policies, or procedures are then revised accordingly."<h2>Companies must plan for the unexpected to thrive in the future</h2>Everyone gets busy, and too often company leaders consider emergency or crisis planning a low priority, Riley said. But, the pandemic illustrated that the unthinkable can happen at any time."The current pandemic should be causing every single organization globally to update their plans to include lessons learned from the current crisis," von Koch said.At a time when many <a href="https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/348770/businesses-unprepared-for-covid-19-crisis.html">businesses are struggling</a> because of COVID-19, a company's survival depends on planning and being prepared for every emergency. Minimizing risk and ensuring employees' wellbeing is vital for long-term success."Given the current pandemic, the wildfires raging across the west, the social unrest we're experiencing [and other crises], companies can no longer assume that they face little risk of a crisis impacting their organization," Riley said.

Resilient businesses have an emergency preparedness plan ready for any crisis. Here's what it should include.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In "The Devil Never Sleeps," a national security expert makes the case for <keyword id="12050310" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="disaster" source="Orion">disaster</keyword> preparedness.</li><li>The book is most convincing when it argues that we should use close calls as opportunities to plan for the worst.</li></ul>Ever feel like the world is facing a series of never-ending rolling calamities? If it's not a war in Ukraine, it's a domestic constitutional crisis or a freak weather-induced disaster.What's more, doesn't it seem like it didn't used to be that way?If you're convinced that this is not just your imagination, and you want to sound the alarm that everyone — from mothers and school teachers to small business owners and Fortune 500 CEOs — needs to reorient how they operate to reflect this new reality, then CNN national security analyst <keyword id="13610625" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="juliette-kayyem" source="Orion">Juliette Kayyem</keyword>'s new book may be for you.In "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devil-Never-Sleeps-Learning-Disasters/dp/1541700090">The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in the Age of Disasters</a>," Kayyem — faculty director of the Homeland Security Project who's held a variety of state and federal homeland security positions — introduces us to "the infinite loop of destruction" that she claims characterizes the current era. (This may remind you of the immortal words of Father O'Flannagan from the movie "Airplane II": "You must trust me when I say it's very likely that we are all going to die.")Don't worry, it's not that bad.The good news, she assures us, is that the very "commonality and frequency of disasters allows us to focus on the few key skills needed to manage them," enabling her to finally make "disaster management simple, accessible" amidst the apparent chaos of the modern world. No longer will disaster management be treated as a unique skill delegated to professionals, she writes, but instead will be within the purview of every one of us.<h2>Unfortunately, Kayyem simply takes it as a given that we are living in "an age of disasters"</h2>It may be true, but beyond a passing reference to the increased frequency of hurricanes, the book never attempts to systematically make the case. This is much like the conventional wisdom that the world is changing faster than ever. It certainly feels like the technological disruptions in the 30 years since Marc Andreesen developed the Mosaic internet browser are unprecedented — but on reflection, it's not obviously more dramatic than going to war on horses in 1914 or dropping the atomic bomb in 1945.Even if the premise is accepted, however, the collection of tools, frameworks and acronyms offered up by "The Devil Never Sleeps" fails to provide a convincing response. Kayyem's overarching approach does, at least, deliver on its promise of simplicity: "Essentially, when we think of a disaster, we focus on all the things we can do to stop it from happening (left of boom) and then all the things we can do to pick up the pieces when it does (right of boom)."Given her assumption of relentless booms no matter what, she not surprisingly disparages efforts focused on stopping the inevitable, and instead emphasizes consequence mitigation. To underscore her preoccupation with what to do once the boom actually happens, she melodramatically ends each chapter dedicated to the lessons of various recent disasters with the words, "You are here."But many activities designed to stop disasters also mitigate consequences — <keyword id="8764262" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid" source="Orion">COVID</keyword> vaccines, for instance, both decrease the chance you are infected and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-vaccine-fully-vaccinated-death-breakthrough-cases-ons-2021-9">make it less likely you will die</a> if you are — so the stark distinction repeatedly made seems a little artificial.Kayyem's point that we should "stop trying to control probabilities when it comes to disasters and start trying to control the consequences" presents a similarly false choice. Just because probabilities cannot be calculated precisely does not mean that they should be ignored. It's not possible to make intelligent resource allocations to thwart an apparently endless array of potential harmful events without considering both the likelihood and the magnitude of the specific threats involved. Kayydem's formal training is as an attorney, and that may be reflected in her belief in the relative importance of generalized processes and structures as compared to specialized knowledge. It may also infuse the various semantic distinctions that preoccupy her, often relating to what constitutes the "boom" and its left and right side in various crises. She also spends several pages complaining, unconvincingly, that the popular slogan "Keep Calm and Carry On" is somehow inconsistent with an aggressive focus on consequence mitigation.Many of the short case studies of various well known disasters of recent decades are interesting, even if they don't necessarily prove or even support all the broader disaster management principles that the book seeks to promote. Where the book is most convincing is in its emphasis on using close calls "as an opportunity for worst-case-scenario planning" rather than an excuse to justify continued avoidance of the underlying problem.We may or may not be living in the age of disasters, but it is definitely true that the devil never sleeps.Jonathan A. Knee is a professor of professional practice at Columbia Business School and a senior advisor at Evercore. His most recent book is "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Platform-Delusion-Wins-Loses-Titans/dp/0593189434">The Platform Delusion: Who Wins and Who Loses in the Age of Tech Titans</a>."

In an age of disasters, a new book explains how we can better prepare for worst-care scenarios

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A new <keyword id="11079" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="interactive">interactive</keyword> dashboard rates the "<keyword id="86702" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="preparedness">preparedness</keyword>" of every US <keyword id="73513" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="County">county</keyword> for the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword>.</li><li>Although the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-live-updates-latest-news">coronavirus</a> hit US cities hard first, it's spreading to more rural regions of the country.</li><li>Rural and urban communities face different challenges in fighting coronavirus outbreaks. However, this dashboard compares them via factors like hospital beds and critical-care staff per capita, poverty, age, and projected outbreak peaks.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>The coronavirus has already wreaked havoc in US cities and their surrounding areas, especially New York, but it's now entering the more rural parts of the country — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/social-media-may-show-where-virus-will-strike-next-2020-4">including</a> Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia.A <a href="https://www.statnews.com/feature/coronavirus/county-preparedness-scores/?utm_source=STAT+Newsletters&amp;utm_campaign=38bcfbc731-breaking_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_8cab1d7961-38bcfbc731-15202941331-152029413">new dashboard</a> scores every county in the US based on how prepared they are for when coronavirus cases start to surge.The interactive <keyword id="6369896" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Map">map</keyword> comes from <a href="https://www.statnews.com/">STAT News</a>, the <a href="https://ruralinnovation.us/">Center on Rural Innovation</a>, and a data company called <a href="https://www.appliedxl.com/">Applied XL</a>.<div type="image" title="A screenshot of the &quot;Covid-19 Preparedness: How ready is your county?&quot; dashboard" height="1314" width="1964" msid="75213922" hostid="261"></div>The <keyword id="237975" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="tool">tool</keyword> gives a score for each county, based on several factors that affect how hard the virus is likely to hit. Those include the percentage of the population that's 65 and older, the number of hospital beds and critical-care staff within a 40-minute drive, and the poverty level of the community.You can explore it <a href="https://www.statnews.com/feature/coronavirus/county-preparedness-scores/?utm_source=STAT+Newsletters&amp;utm_campaign=38bcfbc731-breaking_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_8cab1d7961-38bcfbc731-15202941331-152029413">here</a>.<h2>How the map works</h2>Map users can search for their county, explore their state, or order the map by ranking by score, from 100 to 0.The preparedness scores are based on the following factors:<ul><li>The number of beds in licensed hospitals within a 40-minute drive. </li><li>The number of critical-care staff such as specialists, nurses, and respiratory therapists within a 40-minute drive.</li><li>The relative age of the population — specifically, the percentage of those 65 and older.</li><li>A county's score on the CDC's <a href="https://svi.cdc.gov/">social vulnerability index</a>, which measures a county's resilience to natural or human-caused disasters, including disease outbreaks, from 0 to 1 (higher is more vulnerable).</li><li>When modeling suggests the county's outbreak will hit its most severe point.</li></ul>The projected peak of each county's outbreak is based on the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation's <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> model. The map updates as the model does, since estimates of when a peak might come change based on how a community reacts to new cases (whether it effectively follows social distancing practices, for example).<h2>What 'preparedness' scores can tell us</h2><div type="image" title="Rural hospital Illinois coronavirus" height="1080" width="1440" msid="75213925" hostid="261"></div>Rural and urban communities face different challenges when it comes to the coronavirus. Urban areas are more densely populated, and the virus can spread among more people in them more easily. But rural areas often face resource shortages: Hospitals can be hours away, for example, and have pre-existing staffing and equipment shortages. For example, one <a href="https://www.shepscenter.unc.edu/programs-projects/rural-health/rural-hospital-closures/">study</a> found that from 2005 to 2020, 170 rural communities' hospitals have been shuttered — with 128 of them closing since 2010.Rural counties also tend to have more people who are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-death-age-older-people-higher-risk-2020-2">older</a> and have pre-existing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hypertension-diabetes-conditions-that-make-coronavirus-more-deadly-2020-3">health conditions</a> that make them more vulnerable to the virus, such as diabetes and obesity.Take Grant county in Oregon, for example. The rural county has 655 hospital beds and 14 critical staff per 100,000 residents. 28% of the population above the age of 65, and it received a score of .58 on the CDC Social Vulnerability Index. It received a score of 2.But Sullivan county in New Hampshire, across the country, is also rural. Still, it received a score of 84 overall. It has 2,610 hospital beds and 441 critical staff per 100,000 residents, and 20% of the population is above the age of 65. Also, it got a 0.17 CDC Social Vulnerability Index. Some urban counties also scored low on the preparedness scale, often based on low scores on the social vulnerability index due to higher poverty rates, lack of access to transportation, and crowded housing.For example, Clarke County, Nevada, where Las Vegas is located, received a preparedness score of 12 out of 100. That's because the county only has 25 critical-care staff and 207 hospital beds for every 100,000 residents.San Francisco county in California got an overall score of 45. It has 1218 hospital beds and 169 critical staff for every 100,000 residents, and 15% of the population above the age of 65. Plus, it got a 0.22 the CDC's Social Vulnerability Index.More prepared counties, whether rural or urban, tend to have closer and more accessible hospitals, with more staff. A low social vulnerability index helps — and higher income levels help with that. "There are variations in terms of capacity and demographics in rural areas around the country, and those variations can have life-and-death implications in this pandemic," Matt Dunne, the executive director of the Center on Rural Innovation, said, according to <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/16/rural-communities-coronavirus-toll/">STAT</a>.Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/map-how-prepared-us-counties-are-for-coronavirus-2020-4">Business Insider</a>

An interactive map lets you see how prepared your county is for a coronavirus outbreak — from Delta, Michigan's 1 to Kalawao, Hawai'i's 100

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Hurricane Ian is forecasted to strike Florida's Gulf Coast on Wednesday.</li><li>Governors usually work directly with the White House during disasters, relying on the government for federal resources.</li></ul>Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been one of President Joe Biden's loudest critics. He's attacked Biden's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ron-desantis-2024-president-biden-florida-governor-2022-covid-plan-2021-2">pandemic strategy</a>, his immigration policy, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/desantis-wants-biden-oversight-if-gop-wins-in-november-2022-7">encouraged congressional Republicans</a> to go after his administration if they take the US House in November's midterms.But as <a href="https://www.insider.com/track-hurricane-ian-live-updates-2022-9">Hurricane Ian</a> gains strength to strike Florida's Gulf Coast, DeSantis may need to put politics on pause as he leans on the federal government for disaster support.DeSantis has rejected federal aid before: In 2021, The Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fl-state-wire-florida-business-health-coronavirus-pandemic-a4e9b3e004c5d77edfe68922836b374f">reported</a> the governor vetoed funding from the American Rescue Plan, which included $1 billion for an Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund. The governor claimed the funding had strings attached — such as parts of it only being accessible through grants — that made it unusable, per the outlet. Ian — which could become a Category 4 storm — will be DeSantis' <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/desantis-wants-biden-oversight-if-gop-wins-in-november-2022-7">first major hurricane</a> as governor, just six weeks before Election Day. Earlier Tuesday, Biden <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1574825314227785728">called</a> the mayors of Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater, Florida, to discuss preparations for Ian including evacuation efforts — but not DeSantis.However, on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/desantis-says-hes-open-to-biden-calling-him-about-hurricane-ian-2022-9">Tuesday evening</a>, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1574908623213535232">tweeted</a> that Biden and DeSantis had spoken to discuss steps the federal government is taking to help Florida. "The President and the Governor committed to continued close coordination," she said. During emergencies, The White House can engage the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the agency responsible for preparing and recovering from the impacts of natural disasters.It can also invoke <a href="https://www.fema.gov/disaster/stafford-act">The Stafford Act</a>, which allows a state governor to authorize the use of the military for disaster relief operations. The act authorizes the president to make federal aid available to states undergoing a natural or man-made disaster.Here's how the last three presidents worked with governors in their disaster relief efforts.<h2>George W. Bush and Kathleen Babineaux Blanco</h2>In 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Louisiana, claiming at least 1,800 lives, <a href="https://www.datacenterresearch.org/data-resources/katrina/facts-for-impact/">displacing</a> nearly one million people, and causing property damage that <a href="https://geology.com/hurricanes/largest-hurricane/">totaled over $125 billion.</a> More than 20,000 residents took shelter in the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-katrina-10-years-later-2015-8#once-home-to-more-than-20000-helpless-emotionally-wrung-out-new-orleans-residents-the-superdome-has-resumed-its-role-as-home-of-the-new-orleans-saints-9">Superdome</a>, the city's NFL stadium, where they were stranded for weeks. Days after Katrina hit, Michael D. Brown, the head of FEMA, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/03/us/nationalspecial/leader-of-federal-effort-feels-the-heat.html">admitted</a> on live television that his agency had just learned of the thousands of people at the Superdome without food or water. In the days that followed, the Bush administration <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2012/10/10-facts-about-the-katrina-response-081957">drew intense criticism</a> for its slow response. Instead of being on the ground to support the relief effort, then-President George W. Bush chose to <a href="https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/08/images/20050831_p083105pm-0117jas-515h.html">fly</a> over the region on Air Force One. "It's devastating," he said as he looked down, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/technology/2005/08/31/bush-views-katrina-devastation-from-plane/41367c31-3b4b-435f-8897-008ec9eb0d88/">according to The Washington Post</a>. "It's got to be doubly devastating on the ground."<div type="image" title="UNSPECIFIED - AUGUST 31: In this handout photo provided by the White House, U.S. President George W. Bush looks out over devastation from Hurricane Katrina as he heads back to Washington D.C. August 31, 2005 aboard Air Force One. Bush cut short his vacation and returned to Washington to monitor relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina." height="2062" width="2749" msid="94503971" hostid="261" sizebytes="80614"></div>New Orleans Democratic Mayor Ray Nagin <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna9172420">blasted the White House</a>, saying: "They flew down here one time two days after the doggone event was over with TV cameras, AP reporters, all kind of goddamn — excuse my French everybody in America, but I am pissed," he said.<a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-08-19/louisiana-governor-blanco-katrina-obit#:~:text=Kathleen%20Blanco%20still%20described%20her,fury%20and%20destruction%20of%20Katrina.">Democratic Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco</a> said the state's despair was made worse by a Republican-led White House eager to blame someone else for its failed disaster response: "I just thought I could shout more loudly than the noise around me, but in the end I couldn't. There was just too much pain," she said.<h2>Barack Obama and Chris Christie</h2>Former President Barack Obama's response to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/obama-hurricane-sandy-2012-10">Hurricane Sandy</a> in 2012 was swift. The <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/hurricane-sandy-evaluating-response-one-year-later">day before</a> the storm hit New Jersey, Obama signed emergency declarations for Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York.The declarations allowed FEMA to <a href="https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20210318/remembering-sandy-five-years-later#:~:text=The%20majority%2C%20more%20than%20%241.2,by%20homeowner's%20or%20renter's%20insurance.">transfer resources directly</a> to state, local, and tribal organizations to make preparations in advance of the storm. More than $1.2 billion was dedicated to housing assistance, including costs for temporary housing, and repairing damaged property.The hurricane killed 285 people and caused $70 billion in damage. During a visit to the coast to assess the destruction, Obama and New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/obama-praises-chris-christie-sandy-response2012-10">formed an unlikely bond</a>. Photos from that day show the two side-by-side. Christie <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/obama-praises-chris-christie-sandy-response2012-10">said</a>, "I want to thank the president for coming here today. It's really important to have the president of the United States acknowledge all the suffering that's going on here in New Jersey and I appreciate it very much." <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/us/politics/after-embrace-of-obama-chris-christie-woos-a-wary-gop.html">The New York Times reported</a> Christie's praise of Obama didn't sit well with Republican leaders who were offended at how closely he worked with the president.<div type="image" title="FILE - In this Oct. 31, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama is greeted by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie upon his arrival at Atlantic City International Airport, in Atlantic City, N.J. Obama traveled to region to take an aerial tour of the Atlantic Coast in New Jersey in areas damaged by superstorm Sandy. Ever since President George W. Bush's administration was crippled by its response to Hurricane Katrina, politicians and news organizations have been acutely aware of the stakes raised by big storms." height="3061" width="4084" msid="94503973" hostid="261" sizebytes="207190"></div>According to a White House pool report, Obama told survivors at a shelter in Brigantine, "I want to just let you know that your governor is working overtime to make sure that as soon as possible everybody can get back to normal."<h2>Donald Trump and Carmen Yulín Cruz</h2>In 2017, three major hurricanes occurred over the span of two months during former President Donald Trump's tenure: Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Hurricane Irma in Florida, and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Harvey was one of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-response-to-hurricane-harvey-2017-8">costliest disasters</a> in the US and one of the first serious crises of his presidency. Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa <a href="https://twitter.com/ChuckGrassley/status/901065715767164928" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">called out Trump on Twitter</a> to "keep on top of" the hurricane and warned him not to "make the same mistake President Bush made with Katrina."Questions were raised as to whether Trump would handle the situation appropriately, given he had <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-hurricane-harvey-texas-2017-8">"zero disaster-response experience,"</a> according to Matt Mackowiak, a Texas-based Republican strategist. While Trump received flak for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-response-to-hurricane-harvey-and-irma-climate-change-2017-9">downplaying</a> how climate change contributed to the intensity of Harvey and Irma, it was nothing compared to the criticism he earned for how his White House handled Hurricane Maria.The White House made few <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trumps-mishandling-of-puerto-rico-came-with-a-human-cost-2018-6">preparations</a> in the days leading up to the storm, and it took weeks before FEMA committed its full resources to the island.Despite <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-maria-death-toll-corrected-from-64-to-2975-2018-8">nearly 3,000 people dying</a>, the former president referred to his administration's handling of the disaster as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-puerto-rico-hurricane-response-unsung-success-deaths-maria-2018-9">"incredibly successful."</a>He also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-defends-paper-towel-toss-puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-victims-2017-10">tossed paper towels</a> to crowds of survivors during a visit to the territory. <div type="image" title="U.S. President Donald Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, U.S., October 3, 2017." height="3500" width="4666" msid="94503975" hostid="261" sizebytes="361482"></div>Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz of San Juan, Puerto Rico, who led her city's response during Maria, blasted <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-puerto-rico-hurricane-response-unsung-success-deaths-maria-2018-9">Trump's claim</a>, saying: "The president keeps <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/puerto-rico-mayor-trump-unsung-success-hurricane-maria-florence-2018-9">adding insult to injury</a> and I think his words are despicable. They really do not have any connection with reality."During Hurricane Dorian in 2019, Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1169300628000124929" target="_blank" rel="noopener">altered a map</a> from the National Hurricane Center to support his <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-may-have-broken-law-by-altering-hurricane-dorian-map-2019-9">false claim</a> that Alabama was in the path of Dorian. The incident was referred to as <a href="https://www.insider.com/hurricane-dorian-alabama-controversy-birmingham-divided-2019-9">Sharpiegate</a> and the <a href="https://www.insider.com/hurricane-dorian-video-eye-storm-heading-us-2019-9">Category 5 storm</a> ravaged the Bahamas instead. <h2>Joe Biden and Ron DeSantis</h2>President Joe Biden has already had to deal with a number of hurricanes such as Hurricanes Ida and Nicholas in 2021, far but appears to be taking the necessary steps to actively prepare for the impending damage of Ian. On Sept, 18, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/videos-show-hurricane-fiona-battering-a-powerless-puerto-rico-2022-9">Hurricane Fiona</a> hit Puerto Rico, causing an island-wide blackout and mass flooding. Biden declared a state of emergency as the storm approached, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/09/18/president-joseph-r-biden-jr-approves-puerto-rico-emergency-declaration/">ordering federal assistance</a> to supplement disaster response efforts.As of Monday, an estimated 746,000 homes and businesses were still without power, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/about-746000-still-without-power-puerto-rico-after-hurricane-fiona-2022-09-26/">according to Reuters</a>. The White House has provided <a href="https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20220923/president-joseph-r-biden-jr-amends-puerto-rico-disaster-declaration">additional support</a>, approving 100% retroactive federal funding to cover debris removal, emergency protective measures, and direct federal assistance for 30 days.As Hurricane Ian inches toward Florida, FEMA <a href="https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20220925/president-joseph-r-biden-jr-approves-emergency-declaration-florida">announced</a> federal emergency aid would be made available to supplement the state, tribal, and local response efforts.

All eyes are on DeSantis' relationship with Biden as Hurricane Ian approaches Florida. Here's how the previous 3 presidents worked (or didn't) with governors on disaster relief efforts.

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