Assessing the Relationship Between Hazard Mitigation Plan Quality and Rural Status in a Cohort of 57 Counties from 3 States in the Southeastern U.S.

North Carolina Institute for Public Health, University of North Carolina, Gillings School of Global Public Health, CB # 8165, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA

⁴

Institute for the Environment, CB # 1105, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Challenges 2012, 3(2), 183-193; https://doi.org/10.3390/challe3020183

Received: 13 April 2012 / Revised: 27 July 2012 / Accepted: 28 July 2012 / Published: 13 August 2012

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Management Challenges: Mitigate the Risk from Natural Hazards)

View Full-Text Download PDF

Browse Figure

Citation Export

Abstract

Rural counties face unique challenges with regard to disaster vulnerability and resilience. We compared the quality of hazard mitigation plans (HMPs) completed in accordance with provisions of the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 from 21 urban and 36 rural counties in three southeastern states. HMPs were content analyzed to calculate a score for six principles of plan quality. Generalized linear models were used to assess how the mean number of items within each of the six principles was related to urban status, adjusting for total county population and state-level differences. Adjusted mean ratios were higher in urban areas for goals, fact base, policies and participation. Rural areas performed better than urban counterparts in both implementation and monitoring and inter-organizational coordination. Our results suggest that there are important differences in hazard mitigation plan quality between urban and rural counties. Future research should explore characteristics of urban and rural counties that explain the observed differences, and whether such differences can help explain the inequalities in response and recovery to disasters between urban and rural counties. View Full-Text

Keywords: rural; resiliency; hazard mitigation plan quality

▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Horney, J.A.; Naimi, A.I.; Lyles, W.; Simon, M.; Salvesen, D.; Berke, P. Assessing the Relationship Between Hazard Mitigation Plan Quality and Rural Status in a Cohort of 57 Counties from 3 States in the Southeastern U.S. Challenges 2012, 3, 183-193. https://doi.org/10.3390/challe3020183

AMA Style

Horney JA, Naimi AI, Lyles W, Simon M, Salvesen D, Berke P. Assessing the Relationship Between Hazard Mitigation Plan Quality and Rural Status in a Cohort of 57 Counties from 3 States in the Southeastern U.S. Challenges. 2012; 3(2):183-193. https://doi.org/10.3390/challe3020183

Chicago/Turabian Style

Horney, Jennifer A., Ashley I. Naimi, Ward Lyles, Matt Simon, David Salvesen, and Philip Berke. 2012. "Assessing the Relationship Between Hazard Mitigation Plan Quality and Rural Status in a Cohort of 57 Counties from 3 States in the Southeastern U.S." Challenges 3, no. 2: 183-193. https://doi.org/10.3390/challe3020183

Find Other Styles

Article Metrics

Abstract views Pdf views Html views

Article Access Map by Country/Region

Only visits after 24 November 2015 are recorded.

Article Menu

Assessing the Relationship Between Hazard Mitigation Plan Quality and Rural Status in a Cohort of 57 Counties from 3 States in the Southeastern U.S.

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Article Access Map by Country/Region

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI