An examination of midwestern US cities’ preparedness for climate change and extreme hazards

Qiao Hu, Zhenghong Tang, Martha Shulski (), Natalie Umphlett, Tarik Abdel-Monem and Frank E. Uhlarik
Additional contact information
Qiao Hu: University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Zhenghong Tang: University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Martha Shulski: University of Nebraska–Lincoln, HARH 153B, UNL
Natalie Umphlett: University of Nebraska–Lincoln, HARH 153B, UNL
Tarik Abdel-Monem: University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2018, vol. 94, issue 2, No 15, 777-800

Abstract: Abstract The increasing occurrence of extreme weather and climate events raised concerns in regard to hazard mitigation and climate adaptation. Local municipal planning mechanisms play a fundamental role in increasing a community’s capacity toward long-term resiliency. This study employs the content analysis method to evaluate the 95 selected cities located in the US Federal Emergency Management Agency Region VII and examine how these local plans, including local comprehensive plans (CPs), hazard mitigation plans (HMPs), and local emergency operations plans (EOPs), prepare communities for climate change and possible extreme events. Results indicate that local plans delineated multiple resources and diverse strategies to reduce community climatic risks, where HMPs have medium-level preparation, and CPs and EOPs have limited level preparation. Local HMPs lead in mitigating for impacts from potential extreme events, but both local CPs and EOPs are proactively adapted for climatic risks. Common strengths and weaknesses exist between different planning mechanisms. Large variations exist among plans due to varying jurisdictions among cities. However, the plans score similarly overall—higher on strategies and factual base but are short of clear and detailed goals, objectives, and agendas. Finally, despite the diverse vertical and horizontal outreach, there is inadequate integration among local planning mechanisms to share climate hazard information.

Keywords: Climate change; Extreme hazards; Local comprehensive plan; Local hazard mitigation plan; Local emergency operations plan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11069-018-3420-y Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:94:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s11069-018-3420-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11069

DOI: 10.1007/s11069-018-3420-y

Access Statistics for this article

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards is currently edited by Thomas Glade, Tad S. Murty and Vladimír Schenk

More articles in Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards from Springer, International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().