Disaster risk reduction, community resilience, and policy effectiveness: the case of the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program in the United States

Disasters triggered by natural hazards resulted in an accumulative economic loss of approximately USD 7 trillion and killed some eight million people worldwide in the twentieth century. Given the escalating threat posed by natural hazards to communities, scholars and practitioners are emphasising the importance of mitigation as a strategy to enhance community resilience. Little is known, though, about the extent to which governments’ disaster risk reduction efforts have augmented community resilience outcomes. This paper bridges the gap by examining the effects of the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) in the United States, which was designed to improve disaster resilience at the community level. The study analysed natural hazard loss data pertaining to those US counties that received HMGP funds following the pronouncement of presidentially-declared disasters between 2010 and 2015. The findings suggest that the counties that obtained HMGP funds are likely to experience less property damage owing to future natural hazards.