Measuring Cross-Community Disaster Preparedness and Resiliency: Theoretical and Practical Application Development

这个项目的主要目标是扩大我们的概念，在危机事件发生前的社区准备和弹性。为此，我们将探讨在社区一级衡量“备灾”和随后衡量“复原力”的方式，力求制定一套可以标准化和衡量的特点和标准。通过创建一个框架的测量方法，研究将寻求操作化的危害和应急管理领域，即长期存在的理论建设;灾难发生时，对系统的需求大于社区的能力。具体而言，该项目将通过为有意义的测量奠定基础，然后检查，改进和应用社区备灾指数（DPi）来接近这一目标。一旦应用了DPi，就可以制定社区抗灾能力指数评分（DRI）。这些测量的创建对于多个研究和现场应用具有巨大的潜力。这些指数将提供一个机会，在各社区的应急准备、反应能力和灾后恢复潜力方面进行有意义的交叉比较。总体灾害指数模型将产生若干重要组成部分，包括专门针对社区备灾情况的评分或指标系统（基于加权功能因素），以及对社区能力和资源的系统评估（得出综合评分）。复原力指数的组成部分将说明一个社区遭受一系列特定地点危害的情况。参与减灾、备灾、救灾和灾后恢复工作的广大研究人员、从业人员和组织将对预期结果感兴趣。这些指数的制定将提供一个初步的理论框架，并确定研究界目前尚不存在的适当指标。在其他领域，直接投资模型可能会产生重大影响，因为它可以作为：1）研究工具; 2）社区准备和恢复审计或评估; 3）保险业和其他风险管理机构的风险定价工具; 4）用于缓解和恢复活动的联邦资金分配工具;以及5）一项政治工具，有可能提高对任何特定社区备灾和抗灾水平的关注。

The primary goal of this project is to broaden our conceptualization of community preparedness and resiliency in advance of crisis events. This will be accomplished by exploring the manner in which we measure "preparedness" and subsequently "resilience," at a community scale, seeking to develop a set of characteristics and criteria that can be standardized and measured. By creating a framework for measurement methodology, the research will seek to operationalize a long-standing theoretical construct in the hazards and emergency management fields, namely; that a disaster occurs when demands on the system are greater than the community's capacity. Specifically, the project will move closer to that goal by developing a foundation for meaningful measurement, and then the examining, refining, and applying a Community Disaster Preparedness index (DPi). The DPi, once applied, allows the development of a Community Disaster Resilience index score (DRi). The creation of these measurements has tremendous potential for multiple research and field applications. The indices will provide an opportunity to make meaningful cross-comparisons among communities with regard to their emergency preparedness, response capabilities, and potential for recovery from disaster events. The overall disaster index (DI) model would generate several important components, including a scoring or indicator system (based on weighted functional factors) directed specifically to a community's preparedness, and a systematic assessment of a community's capabilities and resources (resulting in a composite score). The resiliency index component would account for a community's exposure to a set of locational-specific hazards. The expected results will be of interest to a wide spectrum of researchers, practitioners, and organizations involved with hazard mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. The development of these indices will provide a first cut theoretical framework and the identification of appropriate indicators that do not currently exist in the research community. In other areas, the DI model could potentially have substantial impact with regard to its use as: 1) a research instrument; 2) a community preparedness and recovery audit or assessment; 3) a risk pricing instrument for the insurance industry and others in risk management; 4) an instrument for the allocation of federal funding, both for mitigation and recovery activities; and 5) a political instrument to potentially increase attention to the level of preparedness and resilience in any given community.