First responders—including police, paramedics, firefighters, and public health agencies—must react to all manner of emergencies, from terrorism to natural disasters. RAND research supports private-sector and government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels that are charged with responding to, mitigating the effects of, and recovering from natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other emergencies.
Commentary
An aircraft's capacity and speed largely determine the rate at which water or retardant can be applied to a fire. Very large air tankers (VLATs) certainly have the capacity to apply large amounts of fluids to a fire, but because of the distances travelled they may not be able to get a second load very quickly.
Journal Article
In the age of austerity, Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) provision is now the focus of policymakers' efficiency drives.
Commentary
In this fiscally uncertain climate, we should continue to leverage the dual-use benefit of bioterrorism investments by building and maintaining those routine (but essential) public health capabilities that can also be used in response to a variety of public health emergencies.
Journal Article
The report describes the results of the first year of pilot data for medical countermeasure drills conducted by 72 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs).
Report
RAND researchers developed an initial prototype tool to help determine capabilities and resources a locality will likely require during a disaster. The report also describes two social networking tools for local coordination of disaster preparedness.
News Release
The U.S. Forest Service should upgrade its large airborne firefighting fleet to include more amphibious scooper aircraft, with air tankers and helicopters in a supporting role during the initial attack of fires before they become large.
Report
The U.S. Forest Service should upgrade its large airborne firefighting fleet to include more amphibious scooper aircraft, with air tankers and helicopters in a supporting role during the initial attack of fires before they become large.
Research Brief
This brief provides an overview of a RAND study to support the U.S. Forest Service in determining the composition of a fleet of airtankers, scoopers, and helicopters that would minimize the total social costs of wildfires.
Report
Examines (1) the status of communities' capability to deliver medical countermeasures within 48 hours of a federal decision to deploy assets and (2) whether the Cities Readiness Initiative has improved communities' capability to meet that goal.
Journal Article
This editorial examines the performance of urban search and rescue teams that responded to major earthquake disasters in Iran, Pakistan, Indonesia, Haiti, New Zealand, and Japan over the last decade.
Multimedia
Admiral Thad Allen, then a senior fellow at RAND, presented “Managing the Unexpected” on April 19, 2011, as part of RAND's Issues in Focus public outreach series. Retired Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard and National Incident Commander for the response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Allen discussed his experiences leading the nation's high-profile response to two national emergencies—the oil spill and Hurricane Katrina.
Journal Article
This study combines a text analysis of 70 after action reports (AARs) with a failure mode effects and consequences analysis (FMECA). This approach provides a mechanism to connect the AAR process with efforts to improve emergency response planning.
Journal Article
The capabilities and capacities for response are the product of a system of plans, authorities, policies,procedures, personnel, training, materials, equipment and facilities to address post-incident needs.
Report
This report describes a method for modeling an emergency response system; identifying how individual parts of the system might fail; and assessing the likelihood of each failure and the severity of its effects on the overall response effort.
Report
This report describes the current policy context for domestic all-hazards risk-informed capabilities-based planning by local military and civilian authorities and provides a framework for a local planning support tool for their use.
Research Brief
Presents an assessment of how effectively state and local health departments communicated information regarding the April 2009 H1N1 virus (swine flu) outbreak via the Web to their constituents.
Report
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response asked RAND to facilitate the development of a public health systems research agenda for emergency preparedness with a focus on both short- and long-term priorities.
Report
Discusses the role of public health agencies in emergency preparedness for and response to chemical and radiological incidents.
News Release
State and local health departments get mixed marks for efforts to convey information about the H1N1 virus to the public using their Web sites immediately after U.S. officials declared a public health emergency in April.
Journal Article
On Sunday, 26 April 2009, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency in response to the outbreak of H1N1 influenza (known as swine flu) in the United States. Through an analysis of state and local health department Web sites, we determined whether departments were able to provide online information to their constituents within twenty-four hours of the declaration. The overwhelming majority of state health departments, and more than half of health departments participating in the Cities Readiness Initiative--but only a quarter of smaller, local health departments--were successful in doing so.
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