Planning for predictable disasters and response are not things we prioritize. Shock is an acceptable repeated response to catastrophic failures, quarterly thinking traps, growth assumptions. Multigenerational projects have no chance, we cant even get a decade of continuity.

We fail to plan even for hurricanes adequately or proportionately.

Hurricane disaster response isn’t simply ineffective, it is subject to outside pressures which should never be a part of the process. Governments which intentionally obscure how many deaths have occurred, how costly the damage, all made worse as preventive actions are deemed too costly.

Prevention needs to include building standards which refactor building codes to survive the conditions of their particular environment.

Zoning, preventing new construction in areas which need to be rebuilt every time hurricane knocks them over.

Insurance companies pressure local governments and organizations to score category 5 hurricanes as 4 to avoid paying out their customers. Governments overly concerned with minimizing the damage in order to hide incompetence and save face.

Developers charm local, state, and federal officials to keep building costs low and keep producing structures which are cheaply made and begin to fall apart the minute they are finished being built.

Developers who discourage or minimize transparency concerning risks.

People have their dream homes built believing they will last longer than a 30 year mortgage when in reality these homes will need significant interventions within 10 years.

Often the dialog prioritizes who is at fault before and above actually fixing or responding to the events and helping the people effected.

There is a time for blame and a time for action. When and directly after a disaster is the time for action, blame must be analyzed during response, post mortem must taken seriously, organizations, governments, and corporations must be held to account once those affected are relieved, stabilized.

Blame however is usually addressed during the crisis this allows the framing to be controlled by private interests.

One problem that must be overcome in the US are inappropriate cabinet departments. We saw many examples of this during the pandemic. Some goals are too important to have leadership that is subject to change every 4-8 years. Some departments must be shielded from administration instability issues.

Reactive approaches to a crisis are expensive, more expensive than adequate planning. Certain areas in Florida are repeatedly rebuilt at great cost, costs which could be much lower when proactive planning is prioritized equally with response.

Bad at response and no planning seem to be accepted as too ingrained to change. This is not of course true.