Reaping the resilience dividend

In a world where disaster is the new normal, Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, believes a template for crisis management that builds resilience is the way forward.

Published Fri, Feb 20, 2015 · 09:50 PM

Impact Investing

IN the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy - the 2012 superstorm which closed the New York Stock Exchange for two days, left millions without electricity for up to a week and cost the state over US$32 billion in damages - it became painfully clear that the City of New York was not as prepared for disaster as it should have been.

"For all of lower Manhattan to be taken out for almost an entire week, it made us realise that despite the fact that we had been doing sustainability planning - we had been greening, we had been working on air quality and the like - we hadn't been making ourselves more resilient," says Judith Rodin, 70, president of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Following the devastation of Sandy, Dr Rodin was appointed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to co-chair NYS 2100, a commission charged with improving the state's resilience against natural disasters and other emergencies.