Every year, the start of summer begins with a familiar refrain predicting the severity of the upcoming hurricane season. This year, forecasters say it could be the most active season since 2012—the year Superstorm Sandy pounded parts of the East Coast.

Over the past few weeks, tropical storms Bonnie and Colin have already forced states to mobilize emergency plans. In response, emergency officials are pushing out messages, checklists and warnings to try and get individuals to make a plan, create an emergency kit, or download apps that will help them if the worst happens.

Yet, the data show individuals just don't care that much about being prepared for a disaster. Healthcare Ready's 2016 survey on disaster preparedness found only 25% of adults have discussed a plan and even fewer, 18%, have an emergency survival kit. Even relatively easy tasks like keeping track of one's medicines are not a priority, with less than half of Americans able to list all of their prescriptions.

Who does plan? The majority of large healthcare systems have robust business continuity programs, and every facility accredited by the Joint Commission is required to certify they meet minimum levels of preparedness. But the lack of individual planning makes the job of hospitals, health systems and emergency responders more difficult. Not only must providers plan for continuity among loss of power and critical supplies, they must plan for mass casualty events and, increasingly, help people manage chronic health conditions that could worsen and drive acute incidences.

Even more requirements may be on the horizon as the CMS considers a rule to require providers and health systems to establish emergency plans across 17 types of healthcare settings. Providers plan not just because it makes good business sense, but because they recognize their responsibility to their communities.

So why don't people plan? For one, disasters are scary. No one wants to think about the terrible things that could befall them, destroy their homes, or hurt their families. Also, the likelihood of a massive, catastrophic, disaster hitting one person's community feels so small that the time and effort to prepare doesn't feel worth it.

The reality is we are at risk. Whether it's wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes or H1N1, there have been more than 1,400 federally declared disasters in the past 10 years. These disasters are not confined to one geographic region; they hit every state.

How can we fill the gap between the need for every person to be ready and the apathy of many Americans? One way is to copy the successful early childhood and elementary programs like those on seat belt use or anti-smoking campaigns. Many organizations, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, HHS and the American Red Cross have developed programs that can begin to change our culture to embrace preparedness.

But change of this scale can take decades, and until that occurs, preparedness should be focused on community-level resiliency. Doing so lifts some of the burden from individuals and moves it to a higher level without replacing it all together. New approaches to community resiliency involve government entities partnering with private enterprises to develop plans prioritizing how critical services such as power, healthcare and communications will be restored.

In a sector like healthcare, this coordination is critical because of the sheer number of groups involved. Providers of care include nurses, doctors, hospitals, nursing facilities, assisted living centers, home care staffers and pharmacists. They all need access to medications, durable supplies, oxygen, and other materials provided in a timely manner. They need healthcare distributors to get them products. They need power and communications to perform critical services. They need passable and safe roads. Restoring critical services like theses can only be done in partnership between government and private industry.

Superstorm Sandy was a wake-up call, and communities are responding. Efforts like the Community Disaster Resilience Initiative by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation show a new commitment to planning and response. Sometimes preparedness doesn't look like preparedness. The growth of wellness centers and pharmacist collaborative practice agreements—which can allow pharmacists to conduct tests and dispense medicines without the need for a doctor—can increase Americans' access to convenient healthcare and help increase community resiliency.

Over the past decade, the 1,400 disaster declarations have shown us the strength and indomitable resiliency of the American people. In time, better individual planning combined with a deliberate approach to disaster preparedness—through government and private industry collaboration—will certainly increase our readiness.

As we begin the summer season that seems to bring so many natural disasters, it is imperative communities work to adopt structured, public-private disaster planning—starting today. Because of their critical role in the communities they serve, America's hospitals and health systems must be proactive participants in these conversations.

Emily Lord is executive director of Healthcare Ready (founded in 2006 as Rx Response), a not-for-profit dedicated to building healthcare resilience by strengthening healthcare supply chains through collaboration with the public health and private sectors to address pressing issues before, during, and after disasters.

ONE year has passed but the tragedy of the Mount Kinabalu earthquake is still etched in the memories of the affected residents, survivors, families of the victims, the malim gunung (mountain guides), Sabahans and all Malaysians.

The survivors remember that day like it was yesterday. On 5 June last year, Mount Kinabalu and the surrounding districts were jolted by a series of earthquakes, with the first measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale.

A total of 18 climbers were killed, including four mountain guides. Although life is slowly returning to normal, the scars of the tragedy will never fade, just like the tsunami which occurred 12 years ago.

The families and the loved ones of the victims are still coming to terms with the tragedy.

The mountain guides were the real heroes who put their own lives at risk and four of them died while protecting climbers during the earthquake. In fact, they were among the first who were killed .

The guides, who know the area well, had carried out the main rescue work by cutting out temporary trails through the devastated mountain landscape to bring climbers down the mountain.

When the earthquake struck, other guides and park rangers raced up the mountain from below to provide assistance. .

The supreme sacrifices and selfless acts of these unsung heroes should be forever remembered and their roles and contributions should be recognised and appreciated. For the guides who died in the earthquake -- Valerian Joannes, Ricky Masirin, Robbie Sapinggi and Joseph Solungin – they will always be in our hearts.

The tragedy brought out the best in people and positive human values were shown .

The incident has shown that Malaysia can no longer be regarded as free from natural disasters. The earthquake was proof that that the country needs to establish a centre that pools domestic and foreign expertise to provide emergency response plans for any disaster.

This should be a priority for Sabah, which is prone to such natural disaster.

We need to have an effective disaster management procedure that can prepare an early warning system as well as mobilise speedy and efficient disaster relief efforts.

While we may not be able to prevent such disasters, we can however minimise the suffering and damage. We cannot afford to take the matter lightly and the Government should be willing to invest in minimising damage and loss of lives due to natural disasters.

Malaysia also needs a medium to long-term plan for natural disaster management that incorporates environmental planning, building design standards, evacuation Standard Operating Procedures and efficient relief procedures. We can learn from experiences of other countries and cities such as Japan and San Francisco.

The educational programmes on disaster preparedness conducted by experts from the Fire and Rescue Department and Universiti Malaysia Sabah need to be enhanced so that a culture of preparedness can be built.

Besides safety education, we must also implement all forms of safety drills, whether for earthquakes or other emergencies.

Climbers, divers and tourists coming to Malaysia need to be assured that should any untoward incident happen, the country has a well-trained search-and-rescue team and efficient disaster management centre.

Despite their familiarity of the mountain terrain and survival skills, the local guides need to have formal safety training.

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is developing a special occupational safety and health (OSH) training module, targeted at mountain guides and other high-risk workers in the tourism sector. This would enable those involved in marine, forest and river activities, to identify hazards, be more prepared and react better in the event of emergency.

Good communication is essential for mountain guides and in this case, walkie-talkies should be provided for them when they bring climbers up on Mount Kinabalu.

These mountain guides should also be given better benefits such as improved allowances and they should have insurance.

I strongly believe that the damage and loss can be curbed by the safety steps we take before, during, and after a natural disaster.

source: thestar