NIST Releases Community Resilience Guide
Stephen A. Cauffman, manager of the NIST Community Resilience Program, reports that the Community Resilience Planning Guide sets out a collaborative six-step process that towns, cities, counties, and campuses can follow to better manage their hazard risks and build resilience.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology, a Commerce Department agency, recently released a guide to help communities prepare for and recover from disasters. Stephen A. Cauffman, manager of the NIST Community Resilience Program, highlighted its importance in a Nov. 24 blog post.
NIST's Community Resilience Planning Guide sets out a collaborative six-step process that towns, cities, counties, and campuses can follow to better manage their hazard risks and build resilience, he explained, adding that the guide's emphasis is on buildings and physical infrastructure systems and that it provides the context for making informed decisions on how to improve a community's resilience.
"The vast majority of the nation's 28 million owners of small businesses are aware of at least some of the steps recommended to help them avoid being added to this casualty list. Foremost among them are developing a business continuity plan laying out measures to maintain essential functions during a hazard event, and a disaster recovery plan specifying steps to resume interrupted operations," Cauffman wrote. He wrote that the guide encourages community resilience planning to align with economic development, zoning, and other local planning activities that impact the buildings, utilities, and other infrastructure systems on which businesses depend.