It is hard to know where to begin, after such a seemingly endless stream of weather-related disasters and, most recently, the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Only yesterday did the earthquake recovery efforts there begin to move to the next stage of restoration. There are fingers pointed already at the quality of the Turkish emergency response and at the poor construction of many of the structures that collapsed. Short term, there is the bitter cold to survive for the thousands that have nowhere to live now. It is estimated that the death toll is at 33,000, with many bodies still buried in the rubble. The scale of the devastation is nearly unfathomable as international relief organizations arrived to assist. It will be years before the regional infrastructure is restored.
It is hard not to see the photos of rubble and death as similar to those that arrive daily from the Ukraine. That so much of the infrastructure has been restored is another form of tribute to the resilience of the Ukrainian people, many of them left to live underground in the bitter cold.
In this country, we have weathered bitter cold, flooding, wildfires, snowfall, cyclones and the side effects of hurricanes since last fall. We also have thousands of residents without homes, but we at least have FEMA to respond to national disasters and provide at least temporary housing to those displaced. Lives have been affected, but there is a process and an end in sight, even if years away.
Residents are beginning to understand that it may be wiser to rebuild in a new location, rather than rebuild a home every five years or so in the same place, given the toll that climate change has been taking. Irrespective of political affiliation, we seem to value the necessary help provided by the government during disasters. Some of us are more fortunate than others: in Washington State, we have city, county and state emergency managers working seamlessly, which is the result of collaboration between the public and private sectors, frequent scenario tests and rehearsals around types of events, and after-action reviews of performance around events.
In a couple of months, I will have more time to participate as a member of the Seattle Disaster Recovery Committee and the CISA Region X Infrastructure Security Group. I will take more time in these two arenas not because I think we can end earthquakes or wars, but because the more expert voices at the table means the more informed the decision-making will be.
In his new book, The Bill of Obligations, diplomat and policy maker Richard Haass identifies what he considers to be “the ten habits [obligations] of good citizens”:
- Be Informed
- Get Involved
- Stay Open to Compromise
- Remain Civil
- Reject Violence
- Value Norms
- Promote the Common Good
- Respect Government Service
- Support the Teaching of Civics
- Put County First
I am still reading Haass’ book, and find I agree on these obligations. I find there to be significant gaps in the education of graduate students, so the course I teach on information ethics and policy necessarily begins with an introduction to the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, then weaves concepts of privacy, intellectual property, the digital divide, and ethical frameworks for decision-making through the course. I encourage students from other countries to bring their own moral frameworks into our discussions whenever possible.
Because the podcast series I am designing to begin this fall will examine issues surrounding risk and ethics, and will invite speakers from around the world, I expect to wrestle often with the question of what makes a good leader, a good diplomat, or a good citizen. Real world catastrophes like Turkey and Syria’s earthquakes, or the deliberate intention to bomb an entire people into submission will certainly be part of our discussions. This will take a still larger scale recognition that the quality of governance is perhaps a summary obligation of good citizenship.
Originally Published in ASA News & Notes February 13, 2023
Annie Searle
Searle is an Associate Teaching Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington. She is founder and principal of ASA Risk Consultants, a Seattle-based advisory firm. She spent 10 years at Washington Mutual Bank, most of them as a senior executive. Annie is a member of the CISA 10 Regional Infrastructure Security Group. She was an inaugural inductee in 2011 into the Hall of Fame for the International Network of Women in Homeland Security and Emergency Management. She writes a column monthly for ASA News & Notes and is the author of several books or book chapters. She is also a member of the emeritus board of directors for the Seattle Public Library Foundation.