Perceptions of Resilience Among Coastal Emergency Managers

Abstract

Given the widescale usage of resilience in disaster research and policy, it is important to assess how the concept has translated to the local level where it is purported to exist and make the most change. This study assesses resilience among county emergency managers and answers: How do county emergency managers along the Gulf Coast perceive community resilience? What factors explain these perceptions? Employing original survey data collected from 51 Gulf Coast counties, this study finds that meanings of resilience among emergency managers is as varied as those used by academics and federal government agencies. However, interpretations of resilience as “bouncing back” is most common. Regression analyses indicate the adaptive capacity, organizational capacity, and disaster experience of the counties influence resilience perceptions. Emergency managers in urban counties with low adaptive capacity and little disaster experience are more likely to say resilience is “bouncing back” while “self‐reliance” is more likely among emergency managers in rural counties and resilience as “community” is more likely among emergency managers that have fewer emergency management staff. This study has considerable implications for our understanding of community resilience as a theoretical concept and a guiding principal for federal emergency management.