Abstract
National Response Plans have emphasized the need for interoperability of plans, systems, technology, and command structures. However, much less emphasis has been placed on equally important at-risk populations’ response to those plans. This study attempts to characterize the impact on resilience (recovery) of metropolitan areas by the presence (or absence) of separate small communities within a larger jurisdiction. We tested the hypothesis that urban areas composed of aggregation of smaller, self-contained communities experience slower recovery from natural disasters than more integrated communities as part of an overall effort to define and build resilience to natural disasters. A resilience index was created following the Political, Security, Economic, Social, Infrastructure, and Informational (PMESII) framework, and was tested using the socioeconomic data from Katrina-affected areas in Mississippi and Louisiana. A correlation analysis then investigated the relationship between racial geography, economic growth and natural disaster resilience. Results indicate the existence of segregated micro ethnic communities negatively correlates with resilience, and that economic capability correlates positively. The positive correlation coefficients of the total number of general-purpose government and the total general revenue per capita of county governments with the resilience indices suggest the importance of government involvement and government capacity in resilience construction. Neither the intergovernmental transferred revenue nor the general revenue from total tax significantly correlated with the resilience indices, implying that both the financial assistance from federal and state government and the fiscal revenue supported by the private economy are vital. The quantitative indicators of natural disaster resilience provide guidance for vulnerable communities to improve their processes. We hope to provide insights to improve future plans by policymakers developing comprehensive plans to build resilient communities and examine the relationship between racial geography, economic growth and restoration of essential socioeconomic activities.
Highlights
National Response Plans and National Incident Management Plans have emphasized the need for interoperability of plans, systems, technology, and command structures
A correlation analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between racial geography, economic growth and natural disaster resilience
The index of dissimilarity is a demographic measure of the evenness with which two groups are distributed across the component geographic areas that make up a larger area
Summary
National Response Plans and National Incident Management Plans have emphasized the need for interoperability of plans, systems, technology, and command structures. Much less emphasis has been placed on important elements such as the at-risk populations’ response to those plans, systems, and directions. The community-wide consequences of Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that the protection of communities is a function of public organizations. Over the last 10 years, global natural disasters have ranged from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, The Japanese Tsunami in 2012, to the Chilean Earthquakes of 2012 and 2014. Recovery as rapidly as possible became a national priority. How to assess the factors that would contribute to this recovery has been a topic of many studies centered on the development of resiliency indicators
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