This study seeks to empirically measure disaster preparedness levels among Native American communities in the United States. While past studies have sought to measure preparedness at the individual, household, and organizational levels, few have focused explicitly on the community level and none have looked specifically at Native American populations. Thus, the research is transformative in its aim to refine and extend existing disaster preparedness frameworks while simultaneously broadening the field's horizon and reach through the inclusion of a historically underrepresented group. In addition to measuring preparedness levels, the study will also identify the major natural and technological hazards faced by Native American communities; explore and describe the structure of emergency management functions in those communities; and assess the challenges they face in their efforts to implement various disaster-related initiatives, such as the National Incident Management System and the National Preparedness Goal. With the frequency, severity, and financial costs of natural and technological disasters increasing, enhancing community resilience has become a national priority and preparedness is one mechanism through which local communities can strengthen their capacity to rebound from large-scale disasters.
To better understand disaster preparedness levels in Native American communities and the challenges they face in their preparedness efforts, this study employs a triangulated, mixed-method approach that integrates survey research, focus group interviews, and geo-spatial analysis. The level of analysis in the research is the community, which is a significant departure from past studies, which have focused largely on individuals, households, and organizations. Statistical tests will be performed to assess the effects of numerous variables on levels of community preparedness, including hazard exposure, past disaster experience, risk perception, and emergency management capacity. In addition to the intellectual merits of the research in terms of refining empirical measures of preparedness at the community level, identifying factors that influence community preparedness levels, and focusing on an understudied population, the findings of the research are also expected to have important applied implications for emergency management practitioners and other public officials responsible for preparing their communities for future disasters and thereby enhancing societal resilience to a wide range of threats.
