The President's Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force and Strategy

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.