Residents of Essex and Clinton counties who were impacted by the storm are asked to take short survey

The Paul Smith’s College Senior Capstone for Integrated Disaster Management Studies is in full swing. This spring’s students are developing a research project that focuses on Community Resilience to Natural Disasters and how that resilience is linked to ecosystem restoration and adaptability.

We designed a survey to begin to address the following steps which are often found in community based vulnerability assessments:

Step 1: Identify and Rank Hazards
Step 2: Map Areas of Greatest Risk
Step 3: Identify and Map Physically Vulnerable People and Property
Step 4: Identify and Map Socially Vulnerable Populations
Step 5: Inventory and Map Environmental Hazards

The survey is based on Community Vulnerability metrics from the FEMA RAP Toolkit.  Much of the identification of social vulnerabilities will come directly from the responses in your surveys. We will consider this empirical data and establish our own vulnerability assessment. If you’re interested in helping us, and live in Essex or Clinton Counties, the survey link is found here.

Irene’s flooding of Styles Bridge in Keene, photo by Lorraine Duvall