Disaster Labs explores how state governments partner with businesses and nonprofits to manage large-scale emergencies. Using extensive one-on-one interviews with senior government and private sector leaders in California, Florida, New York, and Virginia, coupled with analyses of government policy documents, laws, regulations, and press accounts, Disaster Labs shows, in striking detail, that public-private sector coordination is now essential for emergency management nationwide.

Despite their importance, however, these innovative state-level emergency management partnerships are increasingly under threat. Budgetary instability, personnel turnover, political battles, and technological challenges risk eroding the progress that has been made in building these agreements. The federal government’s propensity to centralize emergency management practices can stifle state-level emergency partnerships, too. For these disaster management collaborations to continue, state governments, businesses, and nonprofits must plan now for their future. And they also need freedom to shape their partnerships without undue federal interference.