Skip to content

September is National Preparedness Month—an initiative designed to enhance emergency readiness across the nation. Investing time and resources into readiness before an event drastically cuts down on the chaotic, costly, and dangerous aftermath. While we typically associate September with peak hurricane season, emergency preparedness remains a vital year-round endeavor that covers far more than just hurricane and relates disasters. 

The frequency of natural disasters is increasing. Of the 10 years with the most natural disasters, nine were in the last decade. Since 1980, there have been 402 natural weather disasters in the US with total costs over $1 billion. Historically, in the United States, the South, Central, and Southeast regions incurred the highest costs from billion-dollar disaster events. Texas, Florida, and Louisiana disasters cost the most, each paying for more than $300 billion in damages (in 2024 dollars) since 1980.

Disaster response creates a complex, high-stakes environment for local and incoming contractors and subcontractors.  The disaster is felt personally as an impacted local business struggling to survive but also experienced as critical first responders-tasked with rebuilding the community. It’s a unique position that offers expanded business potential and the pride of rebuilding ones community, but also requires navigating extreme financial risk, supply shortages, and intense administrative burdens to stay solvent.

To help navigate some of these issues FASA offers an overview on natural disaster preparedness to help keep ASA members on track. You can provide further information on the following

  • Federal resources to consult or contact before, during, and after the event.
  • Insights on commercial property insurance, specifically for the types of disasters it may not cover such as flood, hurricanes and earthquakes.
  • Legal and contract considerations on projects following a disaster.

Please visit FASA Natural Disaster guide to access these resources and information. 

Also, this year’s SUB Excel will be addressing the topic on October 1 and please see flyer below!