How Can Small Localities, Non-profit Organizations, and Businesses Deal with Disasters?
The potential consequences of disaster damage can extend well beyond the direct impacts that a disaster can have on businesses and residents. The community at-large (e.g. local jurisdiction, region and state economies, and even the national economic community) may be forced to address a range of consequential recovery-related problems including loss of good and services as well as jobs, declining land values and property and sales tax revenues, and temporary and permanent relocations of residents and businesses. It is this interconnectedness that makes us all vulnerable to disasters in our communities and beyond. Furthermore, it is this interconnectedness that compels us to consider, during this symposium, what practical steps each organization can take to prepare communities for disasters. The first paper is “Coping with Disasters by Building Local Resiliency,” by Mary Fran Myers, Co-Director, and Jacqueline Monday, Research Associate, of the Natural Hazards Research Applications and
