EPA Researchers Enhance Community Resilience

Published November 2, 2021

In recent months, wildfires, flooding, earthquakes, and hurricanes have affected communities around the globe. Severe weather and other disasters are becoming more frequent occurrences. One way to reduce the impacts of these kinds of disasters is to enhance communities’ resilience. Resilience is often defined as the ability to prepare for, withstand, and successfully recover from a disaster.

Communities are very complex, and no disaster is the same. To help state and local emergency planners think about resilience, EPA researchers developed the Environmental Resilience Tool Wizard. The Tool Wizard is a website that pulls all of EPA’s tools and resources for increasing community resilience into one easily searchable place. The tools can be used to help address environmental concerns that may arise during a disaster related to air quality, water quality, ecosystems, sustainability, and waste.

The website includes scientific models, guidance documents, cases studies, checklists, and other resources. It can be used during different stages of disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. 

Researchers will continue to add more information and tools that combine disaster resilience and environmental hazards. 

For more information, please contact CESER@epa.gov.