Blame & Board Games
Action: Look into your state’s own disaster preparedness resources (most have websites, some do not). Look critically, but holistically at issues you see with disaster responses. And, if you have the means, volunteer with or donate to disaster response and preparedness groups, like the Medical Reserve Corps, Community Emergency Response Teams, The Red Cross, or another local group, NGO, or FBO. Or check in with your workplace and see what they are doing to be prepared and who is responsible for what aspect of preparedness and response. And remember, not everyone has the capacity to plan and supply beforehand, so find a local food bank to use or donate to depending on your circumstances, and help out our undocumented (1, 2), indigenous (1, 2, 3), and trans friends through mutual aid programs as they face these crises with fewer resources and less government support than should be the case.
Educate: Check out some of FEMA’s free trainings to learn more about national, state, and local disaster response and preparedness systems. If you’re interested, also check out how to run an AAR to find yet another way to find struggle points and sustains within your plans and responses. Check out this article from Psychology Today to learn more about why we shift blame and how to stop doing it in an unhealthy manner. And check out our Avoiding Unhealthy Blaming Infographic from the week of June 15, 2020.
Source Material: Click through the links to the source material we used to research this week – take a deep dive into what was most interesting to you!
- FEMA: National Response Framework from FEMA
- FEMA State Disaster Management Course – IS 208 Training Doc from FEMA
- Feds, States, Cities — The All of the Above Disaster Response from Brookings
- Local, state and federal responsibilities after a disaster from US Green Building Council
- FEMA announces need for states and localities to be first and foremost in Disaster Preparedness/Response (2018) from CNN
- Inside the secret U.S. stockpile meant to save us all in a bioterror attack from The Washington Post
- Was National Stockpile Website Edited After Jared Kushner’s Comments? from Snopes
- Strategic National Stockpile description altered online after Kushner’s remarks from POLITICO
- The effect of admitting fault versus shifting blame on expectations for others to do the same from PLoS One
- What Is Blame Shifting? Escaping Responsibility from thehaguepsychologist.nl
- What is Blame-Shifting? from So Far Away
- 4 Steps to Stop Blaming from Psychology Today
