{"id":536752,"date":"2022-09-02T17:14:03","date_gmt":"2022-09-03T00:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcuser&#038;p=536752"},"modified":"2024-03-13T16:39:34","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T23:39:34","slug":"challenge-comes-change","status":"publish","type":"arcuser","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/challenge-comes-change","title":{"rendered":"Challenge Comes Change"},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[463771,10932,24992],"tags":[481522,481512,278642],"arcuser_issues":[481302],"class_list":["post-536752","arcuser","type-arcuser","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-change","category-esri-user-conference","category-special","tag-emergency-preparedness","tag-feam","tag-resilient-communities","arcuser_issues-arcuser-summer-2022"],"acf":{"short_description":"FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell urged GIS professionals help build a more resilient world at Esri User Conference.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":538582,"file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"blockquote","content":"\u201cThe nation needs you. My goal today is to empower all of you ... empower you to see yourself as part of that mission to build a more prepared and resilient nation,\u201d said Deanne Criswell, who gave a keynote address at the 2022 Esri User Conference (Esri UC)."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Criswell, who became the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) just last year, has been working in emergency management at all levels of government and in the private sector for 27 years. In the United States, FEMA is at the tip of the spear, coordinating the nation\u2019s response to the increasingly ferocious impacts of climate change that are evidenced by more frequent and extreme weather events and other natural disasters.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":536812,"image_position":"left","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"As Criswell noted, the wildfire season on the West Coast has turned into a year-long threat. She recited a roll call of recent fires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and heat domes that have broken records in terms of their severity and destructiveness. She displayed a map showing the frequency of disaster declarations since 2000. It clearly illustrated that while no region has escaped harm, some sections of the country have been repeatedly hammered by disasters. Clearly the risk landscape is all inclusive.\r\n\u201cNo one in this room is immune. Every community has been experiencing natural disasters and threats like we have never seen before,\u201d Criswell said.\r\n\r\nThese impacts are borne by communities, but they fall especially heavily on underserved populations. These people can be more vulnerable because of where they live and the limited resources that are available to them. In response, equity is the foundation of FEMA\u2019s emergency management approach. The agency is harnessing the diversity of its workforce, removing barriers to programs, and emphasizing people first to create equitable outcomes with the goal of \u201cbecoming the FEMA our nation deserves.\u201d FEMA programs will lead <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/about\/climate-action\/overview\/climate-risk-management\">climate resilience<\/a> efforts through educating its managers and helping communities become hardened against disasters.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe have to embrace that our world is changing around us. We have to be better prepared for the threats of the future because our landscape is changing,\u201d said Criswell. \u201cTime is our most precious commodity, and the time is now.\u201d\r\n\r\nFEMA is using GIS now to help plan for that future. The predictive capabilities of GIS have never been more important in helping the agency get ahead of the threats it faces and acquiring the data needed to identify risks and drive its decisions. Criswell displayed the FEMA Risk Index Map, which provides what she characterized as a \u201c30,000-foot view of what is going on.\u201d It maps data on the risk level for various natural hazards, anticipated losses, social vulnerability, and community resilience on the county and census tract levels.\r\n\r\nIt will take more than the dedicated efforts of the agency. \u201cFEMA cannot do this alone,\u201d said Criswell. \u201cThis is about mapping common ground.\u201d\r\n\r\nFortunately, one of the strengths of the emergency management community is its reliance on partnerships to bring experts together to share information and collaborate to solve problems. However, with the scale of current challenges, person-to-person collaboration will not be enough. Digital interactions are required to respond with the speed that is necessary.\r\n\r\nThe FEMA Geospatial Resource Center, a hub site, answers that need. It enables federal agencies and private and nonprofit organizations to contribute their data before, during, and after disasters to help FEMA make decisions that are based on the best data and analysis.\r\n\r\nPredictive data and models shared by agencies such as NASA ensure that FEMA is not just solving problems based solely on historical data but is looking at developing trends to strategically invest resources where they will be most effective in mitigating the impact of disasters. \u201cWe have to use this information to build a stronger, more resilient nation,\u201d said Criswell.\r\n\r\nIn emergencies, rapidly identifying who has been affected and where they are can save lives and speed the delivery of aid. Assistance teams from FEMA can be deployed accurately to people in need and proactively register them for assistance. Geospatial intelligence helps FEMA deliver its services to the people who need them where they are, instead of making them navigate the federal bureaucracy to obtain aid. Criswell advocates this approach because \u201cin the end, it\u2019s all about people.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn concluding her address, Criswell called on the Esri UC audience to contribute their ideas, passion, and creativity to efforts\u2014not only in the United States but around the world\u2014in dealing with the effects of climate change.\r\n\r\n\u201cThis room is full of the brightest minds. If there is anybody that can help us solve these types of tough problems, it\u2019s everybody here in this room,\u201d said Criswell. \u201cI ask you this: Keep pushing the boundaries, keep innovating and creating, so we can save the most lives and protect the most property, and we can create sustainable communities for generations to come. Remember, from challenge comes change, so let us begin.\u201d"}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Esri UC keynote Deanne Criswell<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell urged GIS professionals to work to build resilient communities in her Esri User Conference keynote address.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/challenge-comes-change\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Challenge Comes Change\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell urged GIS professionals to work to build 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