FEMA National Household Survey
The FEMA National Household Survey (NHS) tracks progress in personal disaster preparedness through investigation of the American public's preparedness actions, attitudes, and motivations since 2013. Data are collected from respondents using a mix of telephone interviews and web surveys and was fielded for 11 weeks from February 24 to May 14, 2021.
The survey includes a nationally representative sample as well as hazard-specific oversamples which may include earthquake, flood, wildfire, hurricane, winter storm, extreme heat, tornado, and urban event.
Key Opportunities identified by FEMA on the Culture of Preparedness
Help Build Preparedness Confidence While Awareness and Disaster Experience are High
Most respondents have awareness of how to prepare for a disaster or have experienced the impacts of a disaster, but fewer respondents are both confident that they can prepare for a disaster and believe that their preparation would be helpful. The findings encourage us to emphasize the effectiveness of preparedness methods, training opportunities, and delivery of low-cost, accessible step-by-step methods that people can take to help them feel that their preparedness efforts are impactful.
Use Recognition of Risk to Motivate Preparedness For Climate-Driven Disasters
Climate change can make some disasters more frequent or severe. Most respondents reported that they understand the personal and household risk for the climate-driven hazards of drought, thunderstorm, winter storm, and power outage. Use this fact to confidently promote severe weather and other climate-driven disaster preparedness actions in your communities.
Promote Low-Cost Ways to Bridge the Preparedness Gap for the Socioeconomically Disadvantaged
Respondents who are socioeconomically disadvantaged are less likely to have taken cost-driven preparedness actions like saving for a rainy day. However, they are equally likely to have taken less costly actions, such as getting involved with the community. This indicates that while people are willing to prepare, they may not always have the means. Promotion of low or no-cost ways to prepare can empower individuals of all financial circumstances to take preparedness actions.
Consider the Differing Needs of Historically Underserved Communities
Historically underserved communities have varying preparedness needs, and no community or demographic is fully prepared for everything. The NHS contains demographic-specific hazard information focused on historically underserved communities so that stakeholders can use the results to plan out their preparedness
Those who have taken at least one preparedness action were more likely to take additional preparedness actions. Encourage the public to take the first step, and it is likely that other actions will follow.
The 2021 NHS was published in Sept 2022 on the FEMA website:
https://www.fema.gov/about/openfema/data-sets/national-household-survey
The data was accessed from fema.gov on December 11, 2022.
FEMA and the Federal Government cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website.
