Heat waves bring some level of discomfort to nearly everyone. When excessive heat catches vulnerable populations off guard, though, discomfort can advance to illness and even death. Learn about strategies that help protect people in both rural and urban settings.

On Wednesday, July 13th, the National Integrated Heat Health Information System held its first regional workshop in El Paso (during an active heat wave and under threat of rolling blackouts) to understand the heat-health needs and unique adaptive approaches of the Rio Grande/Bravo region.

On May 26, 2016 at 2pm EDT, the National Security Council and the Office of Science and Technology Policy held a webinar focused on building community preparedness to extreme heat - which populations are most vulnerable, and what information, tools, and other resources are available to manage heat risk - many of which will be featured on the interagency National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) upon its launch on May 22nd.

In 2005, the SDR identified a set of challenges that, when addressed, would reduce community vulnerability to disasters and thus create a more disaster-resilient Nation. These were set forth in the report, Grand Challenges for Disaster Reduction, which formulated a ten-year strategy for disaster reduction through science and technology. The SDR subsequently developed a Heat Wave Implementation Plan released in 2008 that contained priority science and technology interagency strategic actions to improve the Nation's capacity to mitigate, respond to, and recover from extreme heat events. An ad hoc SDR task force was spun up in 2016 to assess agency progress on addressing the 17 short-, medium-, and long-term strategic actions contained in the SDR Grand Challenges for Disaster Reduction Heat Wave Implementation Plan.

Michelle Hawkins of NOAA's National Weather Service shares tips for staying safe in extreme heat with The Weather Channel as the FEMA PrepareAthon's Extreme Heat Week begins. She discusses heat watches, warning, and advisories as well as tips for protecting vulnerable populations (including National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Where's Baby campaign) and signs and symptoms of heat stress. For more information on extreme heat and tools and trainings to reduce risk, visit the National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) at http://climate.gov/nihhis.