A Tale of Five Cities: Assessing Emergency Management for Future Disasters in the United States
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Background
2.1. Buffalo, New York
2.2. Honolulu, Hawaii
2.3. Memphis, Tennessee
2.4. New Orleans, Louisiana
2.5. Saint Paul, Minnesota
2.6. Summary of Review
3. Materials and Methods
3.1. City Resilience Index and Indicators
- The Leadership Strategy category has the drivers of effective leadership and management, empowered stakeholders, and integrated development planning.
- The Health and Wellness category has the drivers of minimal human vulnerability, livelihoods and employment, and safeguard to human life and health.
- The Economy and Society category has drivers for finance including contingency funds, social stability and security, and collective identity and mutual support.
- The Urban System and Services Category includes drivers for reliable mobility and communications, continuity of critical services, and reduced physical exposure.
3.2. The Smart Mature Resilience Project Resilience Maturity Model
3.3. Emergency Management Maturity Model Design and Development
3.4. Evaluation Framework
4. Results
4.1. Buffalo, New York
4.2. Honolulu, Hawaii
4.3. Memphis, Tennessee
4.4. New Orleans, Louisiana
4.5. Saint Paul, Minnesota
4.6. Average Maturity Scores
5. Discussion
5.1. Buffalo, New York
5.2. Honolulu, Hawaii
5.3. Memphis, Tennessee
5.4. New Orleans, Louisiana
5.5. Saint Paul, Minnesota
5.6. Limitations
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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City | Region | Characteristics | Natural Hazards |
---|---|---|---|
Buffalo, New York | US Northeast | Situated on Lake Erie and the Niagara River | Snow accumulation, extreme winter temperatures, blizzards, ice jams, flooding, drought, tornadoes, windstorms |
Honolulu, Hawaii | US Pacific Islands | Situated on the island of Oahu in the Hawaiian archipelago | Cyclones, hurricanes, drought, heavy rainfall, warmer oceans, coastal erosion, tidal flooding |
Memphis, Tennessee | US Mid-South | Situated on the Mississippi River; New Madrid Seismic Zone | Riverine and flash flooding, heat, drought, earthquakes, tornadoes, snowfall |
New Orleans, Louisiana | US Deep South | Situated on the Mississippi River near the Gulf of Mexico; Surrounded by wetlands | Riverine, flash, ponding, backwater, urban, and coastal flooding, storm surges, hurricanes, coastal erosion, extreme heat |
Saint Paul, Minnesota | US Midwest | Situated on the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers | Flooding, snow accumulation, extreme winter temperatures, thunderstorms, windstorms, tornadoes, extreme heat |
Category 2: Health and Wellness | |||
---|---|---|---|
Driver 3: Effective Safeguards to Human Health | |||
Indicator 3.1 Robust public health systems | Indicator 3.2 Adequate access to quality healthcare | Indicator 3.3 Emergency medical care | Indicator 3.4 Effective emergency services |
Maturity Level | Description |
---|---|
| The city (or other municipal departments) starts to develop resilience-based policies. During this time, the city’s government will identify relevant stakeholders to take part in the process for the development of the resilience action plan. |
| At this level, the city resilience action plan includes holistic policies for expected and unexpected disasters and communicates the strategy to public and private companies, NGOs, emergency services, volunteers, and other critical infrastructures. |
| The resilience plan includes broad stakeholders and is structured to create continuous improvement. The city now changes from guiding the resilience policy to facilitating stakeholders selected resilient strategies. |
| The stakeholders are directly guiding and actively participating in resilience development as aa part of their daily actions while providing feedback and sharing lessons learned, |
| Finally, all efforts by the stakeholders are coordinated, integrated and aligned with the city resilience plan, and the city is actively participating in local, regional, and international policies and stakeholders. |
Mitigation Policies | Preparedness Policies | Response Policies | Recovery Policies |
---|---|---|---|
Community Capability Assessment | NFIP Community Rating System | Emergency Response/Management Plan | Pre-Disaster Plan |
NFIP Compliance | Climate Action Plan | Resilience Strategy |
Preparedness | Mitigation | Recovery | Response | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Climate Action Plan | NFIP Community Rating System | Community Capability Assessment | NFIP Compliance | Resilience Strategy | Pre-Disaster Plan | Emergency Response/Management Plan | Other | |
Buffalo, NY | X * | X * | X | X | X * | X | ||
Honolulu, HI | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
Memphis, TN | X | X | X * | X | X | |||
New Orleans, LA | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Saint Paul, MN | X | X * | X | X | X |
City | Response | Recovery | Mitigation | Preparedness | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Buffalo, NY | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1.5 = 2 |
Buffalo w/County | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4.25 = 4 |
Honolulu, HI | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4.75 = 5 |
Honolulu w/County | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4.75 = 5 |
Memphis, TN | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3.75 = 4 |
Memphis w/County | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 = 4 |
New Orleans, LA | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.5 = 5 |
New Orleans w/County | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 = 5 |
Saint Paul, MN | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3.5 = 4 |
Saint Paul w/County | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 = 4 |
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Tlachac, M.; Greenwood, L.L.; Schneider, J.L. A Tale of Five Cities: Assessing Emergency Management for Future Disasters in the United States. Sustainability 2024, 16, 7419. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177419
Tlachac M, Greenwood LL, Schneider JL. A Tale of Five Cities: Assessing Emergency Management for Future Disasters in the United States. Sustainability. 2024; 16(17):7419. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177419
Chicago/Turabian StyleTlachac, Madison, Lisa L. Greenwood, and Jennifer L. Schneider. 2024. "A Tale of Five Cities: Assessing Emergency Management for Future Disasters in the United States" Sustainability 16, no. 17: 7419. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177419