Resilience in Action

Who is this site for? This site is for individuals and community organizations to learn more about resilience and to implement strategies to help communities prepare, withstand, and recover from disasters.

What is community resilience? Community resilience is the ability of communities to withstand and recover from disasters and to learn from past disasters to strengthen future response and recovery efforts.

How is resilience different from preparedness? Resilience requires participation from the whole community to improve response and recovery, and helps the community plan for the full length of disaster recovery.

What are the levers of resilience?

We talk a lot about what makes a resilient community. But what are the levers we need to pull to get to a resilient community? See the levers below to pull or push to move a community towards greater resilience.

Levers and Core Components of Community Resilience

Click each to learn more.

Wellness

Promote pre- and post-incident population health, including behavioral health

Access

Ensure access to highquality health, behavioral health, and social services

Education

Ensure ongoing information to the public about preparedness, risks, and resources before, during, and after a disaster

Engagement

Promote participatory decisionmaking in planning, response and recovery activities

Self-Sufficiency

Enable and support individuals and communities to assume responsibility for their preparedness

Partnership

Develop strong partnerships within and between government and nongovernmental organizations

Quality

Collect, analyze, and utilize data on building community resilience

Efficiency

Leverage resources for multiple use and maximum effectiveness

Source: Building Community Resilience to Disasters