94th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting

February 02 - 06, 2014

Everyday news from many corners of the world point to more loss of life and significant direct and indirect economic losses caused by the disasters related to weather-, water- and climate-related hazards. Building resilience to disasters and protecting critical infrastructure (e.g., transportation, health, water management, energy, agriculture and food security, etc) are at the core of priorities of international cooperation in disaster risk reduction, facilitated through the adoption of Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 (HFA) by 168 countries at the second World Conference on Disaster Reduction (2005, Kobe, Japan). HFA has resulted in a paradigm shift from post disaster response to a comprehensive approach that would also include prevention and preparedness measures. HFA has facilitated unprecedented international cooperation among international development, humanitarian and scientific and technical agencies to assist Member States with a coordinated approach to build resilience to disasters. Furthermore, under the UNFCCC international agreements and related Damage and Loss Programme as well as the Global Framework for Climate Services, critical developments are underway to facilitate provision of science-based climate services to support risk-informed decision-making. Effective inter- and intra-sectoral risk reduction measures should be -informed, be underpinned by clear and consistent policies, legislation and legal frameworks at all levels of government and leverage partnerships (public and private). This workshop will explore opportunities of the weather and climate services to support risk analysis and provide fundamental information as input to policy development and risk-based decision-making tools, used by practitioners to reduce impacts and develop resilience of built environment to extreme events.

On December 7, 2012, President Obama issued an Executive Order forming the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, directed to coordinate recovery efforts across the federal government as well as with state, local, and tribal governments. The Task Force developed the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Strategy to address current and future vulnerabilities and provide long-term risk management strategies. Scientists from several federal science agencies and departments - including the NOAA, NASA, USGS, DHS – contributed to the Task Force with a focus on science and technology (S&T) through the Task Force Science Coordination Group. In addition, the White House National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction (SDR) also mobilized a post-Sandy effort to determine lessons learned from Superstorm Sandy and identify new opportunities where the federal government's S&T resources could be utilized for future disaster events. The SDR produced a series of recommendations for the Science Coordination Group, with a particular focus on geospatial and remote sensing data for natural hazards. The panel includes invited speakers from the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, the Task Force Science Coordination Group, and the White House NSTC SDR. The panelists will discuss the recommendations for better utilizing federal S&T resources as well as the strategies developed to reduce current and future vulnerabilities to natural hazards.