ABSTRACT

The American public generally sees its rural communities as autonomous and self-sufficient—inherently resilient. Accordingly, research on federally funded hazard mitigation has disproportionately focused on urban areas, as rural communities rebuild largely by themselves. Our exploratory research challenges this overarching narrative on rural communities by examining disparities in the mitigation process—specifically, the amount of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) assistance awarded per recipient and the duration of HMGP projects—between urban and rural counties from 1989 to 2018. Our analysis reveals vast inequities in the distribution and duration of HMGP assistance between urban and rural counties. Controlling for characteristics of the mitigated properties and corresponding counties, social and physical vulnerability, and climate change factors, we find (a) the amount of HMGP assistance awarded per recipient is higher in urban counties, and (b) projects are completed more quickly in rural counties. Ultimately, our findings indicate that the current structure of the HMGP leaves rural counties in the dust.

摘要

美国公众普遍认为其农村社区是自治和自给自足的——具有天生的弹性。因此，联邦政府资助的减灾研究不成比例地集中在城市地区，因为农村社区主要靠自己进行重建。我们的探索性研究通过检查缓解过程中的差异——具体而言，1989 年至 2018 年城乡县之间的减灾赠款计划 (HMGP) 援助金额和 HMGP 项目的持续时间，来挑战农村社区的总体叙述. 我们的分析揭示了 HMGP 援助在城乡县之间的分配和持续时间方面存在巨大的不平等。控制缓解属性和相应县的特征、社会和物理脆弱性，和气候变化因素，我们发现（a）城市县的每个受助人获得的 HMGP 援助金额较高，（b）农村县的项目完成速度更快。最终，我们的研究结果表明，HMGP 的当前结构使农村县陷入困境。