AI To Trigger Disaster Response Surge
In the US, disaster response at the local level may be downgraded because of federal budget cuts. New AI applications may offset that.
Route Fifty reports, “AI’s ability to process massive amounts of data swiftly, automate tasks and provide predictive insights makes it a game-changer in emergency management.” The challenge is creating applications and then training. There is no centralized research for either of these.
Local Government Fund
One suggestion is that local governments have an AI officer. However, municipal budgets are already stretched in most places. Route Fifty’s suggestion for the forward-looking project is to have communities “AI-ready.” This means collecting data in advance and stored.
The challenge in the Route Fifty analysis is that part of the federal government cuts will affect local government services. That leaves funding sources, budget cuts elsewhere, high taxes, or private funding.
NOAA Data
The NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information analysis shows, “The U.S. has sustained 403 weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including CPI adjustment to 2024). The total cost of these 403 events exceeds $2.915 trillion.”
While AI will not prevent $2 trillion in damages, there is a case that a large investment could cut that number substantially.
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