Disaster Resilience in Rural Communities

Disaster resilience involves strengthening infrastructure, coordinating responses and educating residents before a disaster strikes. Preparations are especially crucial for assisting and protecting people who have physical disabilities, chronic conditions or cognitive impairments. The challenges they face due to evacuations or power outages, both in general and specific to rural and remote areas, are often life-threatening.

The examples in this article come from AARP’s work in and with rural communities. Find more rural livability resources in the AARP Livability Library.

South Portland, Maine  

Volunteers with Age-Friendly South Portland helped fill and distribute emergency Go-Bags to the city’s older residents.

Photo courtesy Age-Friendly South Portland

Organized by Age-Friendly South Portland, an effort dubbed “SoPo Ready!” equipped older residents in the city of South Portland, Maine, with essential emergency preparation strategies for both sheltering in place and evacuating to a shelter.

As part of the safety effort’s launch in 2023, organizers met with more than 1,000 community members through local events and by visiting residential neighborhoods. Emergency preparedness information was also shared through a newspaper column and on community cable.

The outreach informed residents about evacuation routes, shelter locations and 48-hour emergency response plans.

By partnering with volunteers and local businesses, and securing funds from a 2024 AARP Community Challenge grant, Age-Friendly South Portland assembled and distributed emergency preparedness kits to older community members. Contents of the backpack-style go-bags include a radio, a lantern, a whistle, a compact emergency blanket, a first aid kit and checklists and instructions about collecting and protecting important documents.

Allegany County, New York

Items included in the emergency kits distributed to older adults in Allegany County.

Photo courtesy Age-Friendly Allegany County and Ardent Solutions

As part of the Age-Friendly Action Plan for Allegany County, New York, Ardent Solutions, a nonprofit coalition of local, regional and statewide health and wellness providers, secured funding and recruited new partners from higher education, emergency responders and faith-based groups to build preparedness resources, including training and emergency kits for distributing to residents.

Information was provided during sessions in private homes, at group gatherings and, when needed, phone consultations. (Nine out of 10 people who participated in the phone conversations reported being motivated to create an emergency plan.)

Additional support included materials from the Yellow Dot Program, a decal designation that helps first responders quickly access a patient’s medical information.

Shaktoolik, Alaska

An image and overview summary from the Executive Summary page of the Shaktoolik Strategic Management Plan, published in 2016. (Follow the first link below to access the report.)

Photo courtesy Shaktoolik Strategic Management Plan

In coastal Shaktoolik, Alaska, a community of 200 people faces the melting of the sea ice that shielded their village, which sits on a narrow strip of land between the Norton Sound and Shaktoolik River.

After a 2005 flood turned Shaktoolik into an island, the community built a resilience center on higher ground to house tribal offices, provide community meeting spaces and, when needed, serve as an emergency shelter.

The village continues to improve its mitigation infrastructure and working relationships with national and state agencies. Learn more about the efforts by reading the case study Planning Pays Off: Nature-Based Infrastructure Saves an Alaska Community.