Assignment Task:
Risk assessment entails asking what could happen, when, where, why, and how bad could it be? To prepare for any type of disaster event one has to ask what the possibilities are. Our society prepares for things that have already occurred that could repeat themselves such as school shootings, flooding, and hurricanes. According to the NOAA website, every state in the country has experienced a disaster than reached over $1 billion in damages (National, 2024). This is hard to imagine and certainly to recall each one, which makes these types of studies all the more important. We also prepare for things that have not occurred such as EMPs and zombie attacks. The main step in assessment is checking your geographic area to find out what event is most realistic. The possible hazards should be identified on a map first. Next, the specific hazards should be evaluated as to how likely they are and what the possible ripple effects. The textbook suggests the third step is to evaluate and inventory what people and assets are liabilities, and next the possibility of losing any of them. The fifth step is interesting, because it focuses on the future rather than the past or present and that is planning and development. Last, make your conclusions and game plan going forward (Sandler & Schwab, 2023). When each of these steps is taken and applied in the specific context in question, a plethora of information can be both obtained, but also applied to making a plan for going forward. Too often studies are done costing both time and money but then there is a lack of decisions made based off that new found information. Citizens, whether common taxpayers or those involved in leadership and decisions making, need to focus on learning from past events and using those experiences and lessons to chart a course for the future. As the old sang goes, if we forget history and don't learn from it, we will be doomed to repeat it. Therefore we all should be in a constant mindset of learning from the past and intentional planning for the future.