Honors Theses and Capstones
Implementation of Stronger Community Resilience in the United States Before Natural Disasters Strike
Date Completed
Spring 2024
Abstract
Since 2000, the United States has not sustained viable mitigation and preparedness solutions to combat the frequent and intense onset of natural disasters; more must be done on how communities can adapt and withstand them. Instead, environmental and human-induced factors have exacerbated the likelihood of these threats, which has caused billion-dollar weather events to occur more often. This paper focuses on how congressional policymakers would have to incorporate new mitigation/preparedness approaches into current emergency management methodology by creating a new federal statute known as the National Resiliency Act (or similar). A policy like this would strengthen the overall resilience of communities nationwide for disaster events, such as exceeding standard building codes, incorporating robust Emergency Alert Systems (EAS), providing adequate emergency sheltering for low-income areas, and backing current research models constructed by numerous academic stakeholders. Creating a National Resiliency Act (or similar) would show guaranteed results to help subside damage costs due to catastrophic natural disasters, improve community resilience in a more urbanized society, and make billion-dollar events less of a trend for the impending future.
First Advisor
Sonic Woytonik
College or School
COLA
Department or Program
Homeland Security
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Recommended Citation
Widdekind, Andrew J., "Implementation of Stronger Community Resilience in the United States Before Natural Disasters Strike" (2024). Honors Theses and Capstones. 862.
https://scholars.unh.edu/honors/862