In May 2023, Dr. Delmo and Dr. Krikowa were invited to present their research to leading emergency management agencies in New York City. They met with Fire Department of New York (FDNY) First Deputy Commissioner Joseph Pfeifer; New York City Emergency Management Department (NYCEM) Director of Community Engagement Moriah Washington and Assistant Commissioner of Community Engagement Iskra Killgore; and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Associate Programme Management Officer Nehali Anupriya. These meetings highlighted UTS's commitment to world-class research in climate action and resilience, aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals:
11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities)
13 (Climate Action)
Dr. Delmo and Dr. Krikowa had the honour of meeting with Fire Department of New York (FDNY) Deputy Commissioner Joseph Pfeifer. Deputy Commissioner Pfeifer's background as a firefighter, Battalion Chief, Chief of Counter-terrorism and Emergency Preparedness has led many initiatives in NYC. He is also a visiting fellow of the Program on Crisis Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School, and has spoken about crisis leadership and disaster management at Harvard University, Columbia University, Wharton, Kellogg School of Management, the United States Military Academy, and the FBI.
Read an article by Pfeifer & Roman (2016): "Tiered Response Pyramid: A System-Wide Approach to Build Response Capacity and Surge Capacity"
The FDNY Community Affairs Unit are charged with community preparation and public safety. The FDNY work across the five boroughs of New York and FDNY's educators have become a critical component of the department's mission to keep its communities safe.
Key Learning: The Community Affairs Unit runs various programs, similar to Fire and Rescue NSW such as Fire Safety Education, Youth Intervention, have various fire safety tip sheets and information brochures, and also run first aid courses.
Dr. Delmo and Dr. Krikowa met with the New York City Emergency Management Department (NYCEM) Community Engagement team to share research and practice in community preparedness and risk reduction. The team from UTS shared their research program and design, which emphasised the engagement of Culturall and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) community groups in all stages of the research project, as well as early insights from the research program which involved interviews with fire fighters and focus groups with member of CaLD communities.
Moriah, Iskra and their team shared valuable insights into their Commuity Preparedness Programs. NYC Emergency Management helps local organisations build capacity within their community to prepare for, respond to, and recover from an emergency. This includes training classes and events, preparedness and emergency information, preparedness resources for disability, access and functional needs populations, and connecting established community networks to the City's Emergency Operations Center during a disaster.
Key Learning: The Community Emergency Planning Toolkit was developed to address the lack of prevention and preparedness education within communities.
The final stop in New York CIty was to the United Nations (to meet with representatives from the Office for Disaster Risk Reduction). Visiting the UN, where the projects on display were all about disaster risk reduction was inspirational. As the lead agency within the United Nations system for the coordination of disaster risk reduction, we use our authoritative expertise and presence in five regional offices (including New York) to build and nurture relationships with national and local governments, intergovernmental organisations, civil society and the private sector.
Key Learning: Funding for disaster risk reduction lags way behind, but UNDRR is helping countries and communities to becomes more safe and sustainable
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