Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Natural disasters have led to accumulative economic losses of roughly seven trillion US dollars and loss of life of more than 8 million people worldwide in the 20th century. Under the escalating risk of natural disasters on communities, disaster mitigation for enhancing community resilience has become a de factopolicy priority for governments at all levels. However, practice has outpaced empirical research on the extent to which governments’ disaster risk reduction efforts have enhanced community resilience outcomes. That is, a dearth of research exists that empirically analyzes disaster mitigation policies and their impact on community resilience outcomes

To bridge the gap between practice and research, this study attempts to examine the effects of the disaster risk mitigation program (hereafter, HMGP) on actual disaster losses (i.e., property damages). The HMGP is the largest hazard mitigation program at the federal level in the U.S. designed to improve disaster resilience at the community level. By analyzing disaster losses of U.S. counties that received HMGP funds between 2010 and 2014, we find the empirical evidence for policy efficacy of the disaster risk mitigation program. More specifically, counties receiving the HMGP are likely to experience less property damages from future natural disasters compared to other counties.

Our findings indicate that the HMGP has achieved its intended goal by providing opportunities for local communities to improve their resilience to disasters. By assessing the relationship between disaster risk mitigation policies and community resilience outcomes, we could make a significant contribution to evidence-based policy and research in disaster management area.