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Abstract Phenomena such as climate change, COVID-19, long-term environmental pollutants, and urbanization increase the probability of hazards occurring simultaneously or sequentially – creating a compound hazard. How governments plan for compound hazards needs to differ from how they plan for independent hazards, but there is little research on whether or how this is done. This study examines the depth of formal and informal state planning for compound hazards across the United States. State emergency management plans were evaluated based on whether and how they address simultaneous hazards, cascading hazards, and environmental justice. Results indicate that 45 of 51 state and territorial disaster plans mention compound hazards in some capacity in at least one sentence of their plan. Only 22 discuss the implications of compound hazards or establish a plan to address them, and only 7 include more than one sentence of actionable procedures. The study concludes with a recommendation that future plans not only acknowledge the possibility of compound hazards but recognize the common occurrence of such events; identify the variety of interactions that are possible between hazards; plan for how to prioritize resources and personnel that will inevitably be in short supply; and ensure consistency by aligning potentially contradictory response plans.
Gerber‐Chavez et al. (Tue,) studied this question.