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How prepared is prepared enough?

Jongejan, Ruben B. ; Helsloot, Ira ; Beerens, Ralf J J LU orcid and Vrijling, Jan K. (2011) In Disasters 35(1). p.130-142
Abstract

Decisions about disaster preparedness are rarely informed by cost-benefit analyses. This paper presents an economic model to address the thorny question, 'how prepared is prepared enough?' Difficulties related to the use of cost-benefit analysis in the field of disaster management concern the tension between the large number of high-probability events that can be handled by a single emergency response unit and the small number of low-probability events that must be handled by a large number of them. A further special feature of disaster management concerns the opportunity for cooperation between different emergency response units. To account for these issues, we introduce a portfolio approach. Our analysis shows that it would be useful... (More)

Decisions about disaster preparedness are rarely informed by cost-benefit analyses. This paper presents an economic model to address the thorny question, 'how prepared is prepared enough?' Difficulties related to the use of cost-benefit analysis in the field of disaster management concern the tension between the large number of high-probability events that can be handled by a single emergency response unit and the small number of low-probability events that must be handled by a large number of them. A further special feature of disaster management concerns the opportunity for cooperation between different emergency response units. To account for these issues, we introduce a portfolio approach. Our analysis shows that it would be useful to define disaster preparedness not in terms of capacities, but in terms of the frequency with which response capacity is expected to fall short.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Crisis management, Disaster preparedness, Risk management, Safety chain
in
Disasters
volume
35
issue
1
pages
13 pages
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:78650087386
  • pmid:20735462
ISSN
0361-3666
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-7717.2010.01196.x
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
d894a42e-4b38-4695-bee9-88975e268a3a
date added to LUP
2016-10-31 17:37:51
date last changed
2024-01-04 15:10:31
@article{d894a42e-4b38-4695-bee9-88975e268a3a,
  abstract     = {{<p>Decisions about disaster preparedness are rarely informed by cost-benefit analyses. This paper presents an economic model to address the thorny question, 'how prepared is prepared enough?' Difficulties related to the use of cost-benefit analysis in the field of disaster management concern the tension between the large number of high-probability events that can be handled by a single emergency response unit and the small number of low-probability events that must be handled by a large number of them. A further special feature of disaster management concerns the opportunity for cooperation between different emergency response units. To account for these issues, we introduce a portfolio approach. Our analysis shows that it would be useful to define disaster preparedness not in terms of capacities, but in terms of the frequency with which response capacity is expected to fall short.</p>}},
  author       = {{Jongejan, Ruben B. and Helsloot, Ira and Beerens, Ralf J J and Vrijling, Jan K.}},
  issn         = {{0361-3666}},
  keywords     = {{Crisis management; Disaster preparedness; Risk management; Safety chain}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{130--142}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Disasters}},
  title        = {{How prepared is prepared enough?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7717.2010.01196.x}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/j.1467-7717.2010.01196.x}},
  volume       = {{35}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}