Disaster Preparedness and Resilience for Rural Communities

It is critical to assess how the needs and vulnerabilities in rural communities impact the creation of resilience, especially in states that have a large expanse of rural regions. Rural areas present different opportunities and challenges from their urban counterparts for disaster managers. The position rural communities find themselves in after a disaster is different than that of urban communities. Using the Central Florida region as an example, this study examines the characteristics of disaster management in rural communities and ways to strengthen emergency management systems to develop and improve disaster resilience in these communities. Surveys and focus groups were conducted to examine the common traits and problems in existing emergency management systems across the rural regions. Results suggest that collaboration is needed in tackling evolving social, economic, and technological environments, which tend to create new vulnerabilities in rural communities. The adaptive capacity of rural communities is expected to sustain recovery at the individual, organizational, and the community levels. Sustainability is an important element for emergency management in rural communities because the policies and programs that influence the location and character of development can ultimately reduce losses and create resilience to future disasters.