Main Street Disaster Resilience: Planning for the Next Disaster in Three Steps

The past few months have highlighted the growing importance of preparing for natural disasters — from flooding in western North Carolina to winter tornadoes in Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana and devastating fires in Southern California. These disasters caused loss of property, businesses, and lives. The Los Angeles fires destroyed landmark diner Fox’s Restaurant, the 36-year-old beloved seaside restaurant the Reel Inn, and the Malibu Feed Store, a fixture for animal lovers in the community. 

But will this happen to happen to your community? According to our research, 88.5% of all counties were included in a Presidentially declared disaster area between 2013 and 2023, and 1 in 10 businesses suffered a loss from a natural disaster in a given year. We are all at risk, and we need to prepare.

In September, Main Street America released the Main Street Disaster and Resilience Toolkit. Part of a three-year project funded by the National Park Service, the toolkit curates the best resources to help you plan, prepare, respond, and recover. To help you get started, here are three steps you can take to launch the planning process and get the most out of the toolkit. 

Understand Your Risk

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) developed the National Risk Index for Natural Hazards Tool to help you understand what natural disasters are most likely to affect your county and whether your area is at high, moderate, or low risk. The index also categorizes your annual loss risk, social vulnerability, and community resilience. 

Talk to Your Leaders

Once you have your risk information, your next step is to talk to business leaders, elected officials, and the county emergency management agency director. Take the opportunity to reach out to your small businesses at your next monthly business event or mixer to understand their disaster preparedness plans, insurance, or contingency plans. Meet with your mayor or trust elected official and ask if your neighborhood commercial district is included in your local disaster preparedness plan. And if you haven’t met them, introduce yourself to your local county emergency management agency. They should list the local Main Street program as an important resource and reliable non-profit partner. 

Consider What Kind of Plan You Need

Do your local businesses need a plan? Does your organization have a disaster preparedness plan? Has your community considered disaster planning for different kinds of natural disasters? Perhaps you need all three, but don’t let that stop you from doing any disaster preparedness planning at all. Meet your community where they are at.

Start by checking out the toolkit’s comparison table of disaster preparedness plans. If your businesses are ready to roll up their sleeves, FEMA OPEN Training is a good place to start, and it includes easy-to-digest slide decks, worksheets, and resources. If your businesses aren’t ready yet, you can model the effort by starting your disaster preparedness plan for your Main Street organization. We have resources from the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits, which has been training organizations for decades along Tornado Alley. Take a moment to consider whether your local Main Street has a backup of important documents and a telephone tree to contact all your businesses and whether you’re prepared to serve as a resilience hub for devastated businesses or serve as the go-to organization to collect donations for the community. 

If possible, participate in exploratory scenario planning with other community leaders to examine the impact of different disasters on the business community. For example, a fire that destroys a commercial district will impact businesses differently from a flood or an earthquake. Work with your local university, community college, and planning department to gather data and maps to get the conversation going. 

Dive into the Toolkit

Now you have the formula for disaster planning success: understand your risk, talk to your community, and consider what plan is right for you. By following these simple steps and using the toolkit as your guide, you can start disaster planning today.

Do you want to learn more about the toolkit resources and how you can use them to increase resilience in your community? Join Main Street America for a webinar on March 6^th from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. CST to explore all three toolkit sections and provide actionable takeaways to help your community plan, prepare, respond, and recover.