Household Preparedness Is Not Enough: The Challenges and Opportunities in Assessing Community Readiness for Disasters

The public health community faces numerous challenges in measuring community preparedness and resilience. This study aimed to identify existing measures of partnership, self-sufficiency, and social connectedness, as well as gaps and opportunities in the measurement of community preparedness and resilience. To accomplish these aims, the study team conducted a broad environmental scan to identify a list of possible measures in these areas and then assessed these measures using a set of standard criteria and feedback from key informants. Results suggest that while there is great interest in quantifying community preparedness, existing data have major limitations. There is a need for more measures of organizational and network activity and measures in the area of community engagement and empowerment.