Comparing the Hurricane Disaster Risk of U.S. Coastal Counties

Abstract

This paper describes the Hurricane Disaster Risk Index (HDRI), a composite index developed to compare the risk of hurricane disaster in U.S. coastal counties. Analogous to a quality of life index, the HDRI was developed to be an easily understandable tool that can be used to compare the relative risk of economic and life loss in different coastal counties in the United States, and to compare the different relative contributions of various factors, e.g., frequency of hurricanes and quality of emergency evacuation plan. The HDRI is specifically intended to support local, state, and national government agencies as they (1) make resource allocation decisions; (2) make high-level planning decisions; and (3) raise public awareness of hurricane risk, its causes, and ways to manage it. This paper discusses the intended uses and background of the HDRI, the procedure used to develop it, and an analysis of 15 sample counties.