Guess Who's Coming to Dinner: Social Intelligence, Poverty Data, and a Comprehensive Approach to All Hazards

1. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner:  Social Intelligence, Poverty Data, and a Comprehensive Approach to All Hazards Ameya Pawar Scott Simon Charna R. Epstein University of Chicago

2. Poor people around the world suffer the greatest disaster losses and have the most limited access to public and private recovery assets, both in developing societies as well as wealthy industrialized nations like the United States.

3. President Obama’s FEMA Director Appointee, Craig Fugate, was quoted last year – "There's an expectation I think we've created that if a disaster strikes a community," people think,” 'I'm supposed to play the role of victim. I'm supposed to wait until somebody comes in to take care of me,' “he said." You're a survivor. You're actually part of the solution."

4. Post Katrina Emergency Management Initiatives • All-Hazards Approach • Culture of Preparedness • Personal Preparedness • “All Response is Local” • Increase Situational Awareness • Develop Common Operating Picture • Manage and Coordinate Relationships

5. EM Baseline Assumptions • Educated Public • Access to Basic Services • Personal Preparedness • Family Emergency Plans • Go-Kits • Planning for Pets • Etc. • Personal/Financial Resiliency • Evacuation Orders are Heeded • Ability to Survive 72 Hours Without Assistance

6. Emergency Management System Socially Vulnerable Gap System does not reflect reality

7. What Research Says • In a study of disaster relief officials from a variety of organizations in the U.S., one of the major conclusions was that the poor are one of the groups most likely to “fall through the cracks” during emergency relief operations (Colorado State University, 1985). • Emergency response workers commented that until the storm, they had no idea of the extent of the poverty in their own neighborhoods. One remarked that “...there was poverty here all of the time, but after the storm I saw what I’ve been living around for 34 years” (p. 11). – Hurricane Hugo Research • Turner et al. (1986) revealed that education, income, and ethnicity are related to earthquake preparedness. They discovered that preparedness increases steadily with income levels. • Vaughan (1995) noted that people living in poverty or those with inadequate resources may be less likely to perform prescribed or necessary actions to mitigate the effects of hazardous agents because of a lack of a sense of personal control over potential outcomes.

8. Research Continued… • Fothergill (2001) discovered that poorer residents reported greater stress over the possibility of losing their jobs after a flood disaster. While middle and high income salaried professionals found that collecting paychecks throughout the crisis alleviated stress, those paid hourly wages, such as those in most service-oriented jobs, were not paid during the crisis. • The authors noted that the churches, the community service programs, and the government workers were not interested in dealing with the larger problems of poverty and wanted to limit their assistance to Hurricane Hugo damage. One outreach worker said: I am still doing Hugo relief, but in all honesty, many of the things that we are doing are things that pre-existed. You cannot replace a roof on a wall that is rotted, and those types of things we ran into frequently because of the level of poverty (p. 11). Another recovery worker added: I try very hard not to call things Hugo that are not Hugo. That does not mean that we did not repair walls that were rotted, we had to do that; but I would flat out say to anybody you can call this Hugo, but most of it is really not Hugo (pp. 11-12).

9. Social Intelligence • Social Problems are Complex • Social Data Compiled in Silos • CONNECT THE DOTS • Focus on Intelligence Methodology instead of FEMA placement • Track real-time changes in • Economic Development; • Gentrification; • Job Loss; • Social Service Access; • Increases/Decreases in Concentrated Poverty; • Etc.

10. What is a Fusion Center? • A fusion center is an effective and efficient mechanism to exchange information and intelligence, maximize resources, streamline operations, and improve the ability to fight crime and terrorism by merging data from a variety of sources. In addition, fusion centers are a conduit for implementing portions of the National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan (NCISP).[i] [i] Sourced from Department of Justice Fusion Center webpage located at: http://www.it.ojp.gov/default.aspx?area=nationalInitiatives&page=1181

11. Intelligence Process Adapted for Social Intelligence

12. I. Fusion Process Capabilities These capabilities outline those standards necessary to perform the steps of the Intelligence Process within a fusion center. These areas are: Planning and Requirements Development Information Gathering/Collection and Recognition of Indicators and Warnings Processing and Collation of Information Intelligence Analysis and Production Intelligence/Information Dissemination Reevaluation II. Management and Administrative Capabilities These capabilities enable the proper management and functioning of a fusion center. These areas are: Management/Governance Information Privacy Protections Security Personnel and Training Information Technology/ Communications Infrastructure, Systems, Equipment, Facility, and Physical Infrastructure Funding Baseline Capabilities

13. Social Intelligence Justification • Disasters are NOT Status Levelers • Survey of the Landscape (i.e. Create a Global Picture) • Increase Personal/Financial Resiliency • Increased Situational Awareness • Develop Targeted Resource Deployments • Create Tipping Points for Access and Economic Mobility

14. Conclusion • Emergency management is moving in the right direction but we need to focus on embedded problems • Need to increase research on social issues • Connect the Dots via social intelligence • Cost-effective • Leverages existing technology • Emergency management will not prescribe solutions to end poverty; it will merely serve as the coordinator of resources

15. Any Questions? To view the full capstone project, please email Ameya Pawar at pawara@uchicago.edu