Despite the known dangers of disasters, we persistently witness a pattern of inadequate preparation and a failure to learn from experience. Insufficient attention to risk often precedes these events, and a reactionary approach often follows. Examining twenty years of disasters from 9/11 to COVID-19, Jeff Schlegelmilch and his co-author of Catastrophic Incentives: Why our approaches to disasters keep falling short have analyzed how flawed incentive structures make the world more vulnerable to disasters and catastrophes. They show how governments, the private sector, nonprofits, and academia behave before, during, and after crises, arguing that standard operational and business models have produced dysfunction. The discussion will explore how the institutional dynamics that shape the processes contribute to a failure to build resilience. And further, how the research investment decisions of government and private sector actors are equally based on incentives that may drive disaster research in directions that are not ideal for building rapid, effective and holistic disaster resilience.
Jeff Schlegelmilch is a Research Scholar and the Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. His areas of expertise includes public health preparedness, community resilience and the integration of private and public sector capabilities. Prior to his work at Columbia, he was the Manager for the International and Non-Healthcare Business Sector for the Yale New Haven Health System Center for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response. He was also previously an epidemiologist and emergency planner for the Boston Public Health Commission.
