Not yet, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
In a recently published report, the GAO looked at the pandemic plans of seven securities exchanges, markets, clearinghouses and payment processors that are deemed critical to the financial services industry. Although progress had been made, the GAO indicated that only one had completed its organizational planning. The agencies being taken to task (the Federal Reserve System and the Securities and Exchange Commission, among others) disagreed with the findings saying their planning efforts were “in progress.”
The GAO also expressed concern about the impact of a pandemic on the country’s communications capabilities. With the toll such a widespread infection would take on the industry’s workforce, plus the expected increase in the communications load that a pandemic would generate, it’s questionable how effective our response would be.
Dr. Irwin Redlener, Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and author of the book, Americans at Risk, is even more expansive in his critique saying that the country as a whole is ill prepared for any mega-disaster. In a speech delivered to an American Health Insurance Plan policy conference last year he responded to the burning question of whether the country was ready for such public health emergencies. His answer was a flat, emphatic and disturbing “No.”
The public, it seems, agrees. A survey conducted by the Mailman School revealed that the American public’s confidence in the ability of the U.S government to protect them from terrorism, or respond to disasters or emergencies, had dropped to startling new low (44 percent). The nation’s health care system also got a huge no-confidence vote in the survey. Only 23 percent said the health care system was ready to respond effectively to a bird flu pandemic.
Addressing the survey results, Redlener said
“If the public does not believe the government or the medical infrastructure is ready to deal with terrorism and natural disasters, they will not trust the directives and guidance given by those in charge. This can potentially mean chaos in emergencies. That is why we need significant changes in how our leaders address preparedness and communicate with the public.”
Could it be that the country has lost focus here? Or has a public indifference settled in, with our political and industry leaders simply reflecting the mood of the day. I hope we don’t need another hit before we take all this more seriously.
