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Natural Hazards

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Losses resulting from natural hazards—including floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and wildfires—cost billions of dollars each year. RAND research has shown how long-term loss-reduction strategies and disaster preparedness could improve the resilience of communities and infrastructure in the face of natural disasters, resulting in less property damage and reduced rebuilding costs.

Report

Exploring Funding Allocations to Best Support Louisiana's Flood Risk and Resilience

Mar 1, 2016

States that have recently experienced a presidentially declared major disaster can apply for funds through the Natural Disaster Resilience Competition. For Louisiana's application, RAND provided a quantitative analysis of baseline flood risks under different amounts of investment in three parishes.
Report

Climate Change May Increase Future Exposure of U.S. Infrastructure to Natural Hazards

Jul 12, 2016

Exposure to natural hazards such as flooding, drought, and wildfires is projected to be larger and more uncertain in the future due to the effects of sea level rise and changes in temperature and precipitation patterns.

Explore Natural Hazards

Research Brief

Research Brief

Mapping Vulnerability to Heat Waves in India

Using district-level data on demographic, social, economic, health, and environmental factors, RAND researchers created the first-ever tool for measuring and mapping India's population's vulnerability to heat waves: the Heat Vulnerability Index.

Sep 15, 2017
Commentary

Why Houstonians Didn't Buy Flood Insurance

Thousands of Houston-area homeowners will face massive, uninsured losses due to flood damage. Few homeowners buy flood insurance unless they are required to, and it's only mandatory for homes with mortgages located in FEMA-defined high-risk flood zones. People tend to ignore low-probability risks.

Sep 12, 2017
Commentary

Rethinking Disaster Evacuation

Before a storm hits, officials must decide whether to evacuate the public or advise them to shelter in place. Other, more targeted choices — such as sheltering in safer locations within a city — could be available if an analytic basis for making such judgments were fully developed.

Sep 11, 2017
Report

Landscape Survey to Support Flood Apex National Flood Decision Support Toolbox: Definitions and Existing Tools

This report summarizes the literature on resilience to flood risk, its analysis and measurement, and examples. It also catalogs decision support tools for flood mitigation and makes recommendations for further investigation of the tools.

Sep 7, 2017
Tool

Getting To Outcomes® Guide for Community Emergency Preparedness

This Getting To Outcomes guide will help with the planning, implementation, evaluation, continuous quality improvement, and sustainability of community emergency preparedness programs. It includes instructions, completed examples, and blank tools.

Aug 21, 2017
Report

Reducing Coastal Flood Risk with a Lake Pontchartrain Barrier

A Lake Pontchartrain barrier could provide substantial damage reduction benefits—including reduced flood depths and preventing direct economic damage—for southeastern Louisiana, potentially amounting to billions of dollars saved per year.

Aug 4, 2017
Journal Article

Economic Evaluation of Coastal Land Loss in Louisiana

This study quantifies the economic assets and activity that is at risk from the process of land loss in coastal Louisiana in a future without restoration and protection efforts to minimize or mitigate land loss.

Jul 19, 2017
Journal Article

Economic Evaluation of Coastal Land Loss in Louisiana

This report presents an economic evaluation of assets and activities at risk from land loss and associated storm damage in coastal Louisiana. The results show a significant level of risk to economic assets and activity in Louisiana.

Jul 19, 2017
Commentary

Where Are India's Heat Hotspots?

Poverty, poor sanitation, a precarious water and electricity supply, and limited access to health care make India vulnerable to heat waves. Rural and urban districts could improve their preparedness by developing and targeting local adaptation strategies.

May 17, 2017
Report

Robust Stormwater Management in the Pittsburgh Region

The city of Pittsburgh and its surrounding region face significant—and potentially growing—stormwater management challenges. Analysis can help better understand the system's vulnerabilities and identify solutions.

Apr 24, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Heat Wave Vulnerability Mapping for India

Indexing relative variation in heat-related vulnerability across all of India can help planners, policy makers, and disaster mitigation experts target climate adaptation efforts.

Apr 4, 2017
News Release

News Release

Rising Flood Insurance Costs a Growing Burden to Communities and Homeowners in New York City

Hurricane Sandy underscored the need for greater resilience to flooding. Insurance is part of the strategy, but it is spotty among one- to four-family properties in New York and is difficult for some to afford. Adding to the challenge is direction from Congress to phase out subsidies in the National Flood Insurance Program.

Mar 27, 2017
Report

Flood Insurance Costs Rising in New York City

Hurricane Sandy highlighted the importance of efforts to promote resilience. Flood insurance is a key component, but it's hard to afford for some households in New York City. What are some options for a program that helps reduce the impact of higher premiums?

Mar 27, 2017
Research Brief

How Affordable Is Flood Insurance in New York City and What Can Be Done to Address Affordability Issues?

This research brief examines the affordability of flood insurance in New York City and what can be done to address the affordability issue.

Mar 27, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Setting Foundations for Developing Disaster Response Metrics

Review of three natural disasters revealed key categories and specific activities that can be used as an organizational framework to develop standardized disaster response measures and improve future disaster responses.

Mar 16, 2017
Report

Evaluation of the Jinan City Water Ecological Development Implementation Plan and Recommendations for Improvement

RAND evaluated potential effects of uncertain projections of demand and climate change on the ability of the Jinan Municipal Water Resources Bureau to meet its long-term water resources goals for Shandong Province's capital city.

Mar 9, 2017
Report

An Agenda to Advance Integrative Resilience Research and Practice: Key Themes From a Resilience Roundtable

Presents recommendations for an integrated agenda to promote transdisciplinary resilience research and practice, drawing on proceedings from a 2016 Resilience Roundtable and a supplementary literature review.

Feb 6, 2017
Commentary

Cholera in Haiti: No Surprise This Time Around

When Hurricane Matthew swept across Haiti, it left a resurgence of cholera in its wake. Tackling cholera head-on should be on the short list of health priorities for disaster relief in the island nation.

Oct 27, 2016
Journal Article

Journal Article

Geo-targeting Performance of Wireless Emergency Alerts in Imminent Threat Scenarios: Volume 1: Tornado Warnings

This study examines how Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) can be used to warn the public in three potentially deadly scenarios: --A large destructive earthquake; --A Tsunami ; and --A terrorist detonation of nuclear weapon in an urban area.

Oct 5, 2016
Journal Article

Journal Article

Geo-targeting Performance of Wireless Emergency Alerts in Imminent Threat Scenarios: Volume 2: Earthquake, Tsunami and Radiation Warnings

This study examines how WEA can be used to warn the public in three potentially deadly scenarios: A large destructive earthquake; A Tsunami ; and A terrorist detonation of nuclear weapon in an urban area.

Oct 5, 2016

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RAND Topic:
Natural Hazards

Topic Synonyms:
Natural Disasters

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