Economic Development Recovery and Resiliency Playbook - Flipbook - Page 75
disasters that threaten the community. The THIRA planning efort discussed earlier is a great way to identify the natural disaster
risk to the community and how prepared it is to respond to and recover from a particular disaster. Mitigation planning is also
an excellent way to identify the frequency of these natural disasters by assigning a threat level to a specific risk, which helps a
community prioritize where to focus its eforts to improve its overall resiliency. Also note that a disaster does not have to occur in
your jurisdiction in order for you to feel its economic disruption.
Climate Change. Climate-based risks and vulnerabilities cannot be assessed without factoring in the impact of climate
change. As outlined in the August 2021 United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report 6 Climate
Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis92 on the state of climate change, it is undeniable that human influence has warmed the
atmosphere, ocean, and land and that widespread, rapid changes have occurred. This has a direct impact on worldwide weather
and climate conditions with an increase in extreme weather-related disasters such as wildfires, heatwaves, heavy precipitation
and flooding, droughts, and tropical cyclones and hurricanes. To accurately assess the vulnerabilities of a community to natural
disasters, climate change must be factored into a community’s THIRA.
Through their shared traumas, communities realize what they did not have in place
during previous disasters and where improvements can be made to improve their
resilience to future disasters.
Coordination Benefts and Obstacles
Coordination, both internal and external, can present benefits and potential vulnerabilities that should be considered, such
as the level of community education and preparedness, collaboration within the community, and interconnectedness with
neighboring jurisdictions.
Community Education and Preparedness. The overall level of preparedness correlates directly with a jurisdiction's
resiliency to the impacts of a disaster. A community that understands its risks and the steps that they can take to be personally
prepared is more likely to successfully recover from a disaster and require less support from others in the recovery process.
Communities that have been previously impacted by disaster ofen have a higher level of preparedness. Through their shared
traumas, communities realize what they did not have in place during previous disasters and where improvements can be made
to improve their resilience to future disasters. In areas that have high levels of risk but have not been impacted by disasters in
decades, a reduced level of awareness can pose a significant challenge to community engagement in preparedness; denial and
attitudes of “it will never happen in my lifetime” or “that will never happen” become an obstacle to getting a community to take
the steps to become prepared. This can be frustrating for emergency managers and other community leaders. In such cases,
community outreach needs to incorporate creative ways of encouraging the community to engage in preparedness activities
and improve overall community resilience to future disasters.
Stakeholders and Partner Collaboration. Coordinating with others in the geographic area prior to the disaster, as mentioned
in Chapter 2, is key to a successful economic recovery. This can include having pre-established mutual aid agreements for
resource-sharing, decision-making, and information-sharing structures and using a holistic community approach that includes
stakeholders from government, the private sector, community organizations, and the public. Any steps that can be taken in
advance to remove political obstacles to neighboring jurisdictions supporting each other during a disaster will improve disaster
response and resiliency.
Interconnectedness with Neighboring Communities. Disasters and associated economic disruptions do not adhere to
geographic boundaries nor political lines. There are ofen many interdependencies between neighboring jurisdictions that
either benefit or negatively impact their economic recovery. A disaster can start in one community and end in another or
cause widespread damage impacting multiple communities. In addition, a disaster in one community can impact adjacent
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https://www.ipcc.ch/ and https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-i
Geographic Assets and Vulnerabilities
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