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Mahna khalaj's avatar

Situational context can include geographical references such as physical locations or infrastructure. Geographic locations can create unequal vulnerability to climate-related catastrophes. This includes the location of towns, cities, and rural communities and the infrastructure located within them.

Urbanization has led to population density and other attributes resulting in vulnerability to climate-related disasters. This has been noted regarding the extreme heat being experienced in states like California, where the term “heat island” has become common.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), heat islands are found in highly urbanized areas where roads, asphalt-paved areas, and building rooftops have been found to retain heat and increase local temperatures by up to 7°F. A lack of green spaces in these areas only heightens this effect.

Additionally, rural communities are also at an increased risk of susceptibility to natural disasters due to a comparative lack of infrastructure. Because of their isolation, they also may not have the financial or material resources readily available to address extreme disaster situations. Obtaining funding, training, mutual aid agreements, equipment, technology, and disaster declarations can be more difficult for these communities due to the low population and a smaller tax base. The agricultural industry, which serves as the bedrock of such communities while also being highly susceptible to climate change, has historically been allocated a lower percentage of funding compared to other sectors. Finally, the most well-known examples of situational context contributing to resilience issues affect coastal communities. The increasing frequency and intensity of storms, hurricanes, tropical cyclones, flooding, and rising sea levels create vulnerability due to a lack of appropriate building codes, lack of financial capacity to make necessary infrastructure modifications, land degradation, lack of sufficient evacuation routes, insufficiently robust buildings, and the affordability of flood insurance. FEMA has recently updated its flood premiums in its new Risk Rating 2.0 pricing methodology, which has resulted in unexpected increases for many homeowners that may make the coverage too costly to afford.

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