Status and Trends of Coastal Vulnerability to Natural Hazards

Summary

The Status and Trends of Coastal Vulnerability to Natural Hazards project is a multi-phased project designed to undertake a status and trends study of coastal vulnerability to natural hazards of counties in the Texas Coastal Management Program (CMP) boundary. The target area for this study will be the Galveston, Brazoria, and Harris county areas. The project includes the following overarching tasks:

1. Evaluate content and implementation of the State of Texas Mitigation Plan for applicability to the CMP. 

2. Assess the regulatory regime and effectiveness of construction codes and land use planning policies to mitigate potential impacts of coastal natural hazards. 

3. Identify best practices and emerging technologies related to building code and land use planning that could further mitigate the potential impacts of coastal natural hazards. 

4. Assess the local, state and federal resources available for mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery to coastal natural hazards and evaluate their application to the CMP. 

5. Evaluate the geographic relationship between current CMP boundaries and project impacts from various categories of hurricanes based on the latest coastal study area maps. 

6. Assess the physical and social vulnerabilities of coastal populations to facilitate planning and policy development related to hazard mitigation and response. 

7. Assess the adoption of hazard mitigation technologies (e.g., hurricane shutters), issues related to the adoption of these technologies, and disaster planning by households and businesses so that effective and targeted outreach and education activities can be developed. 

The project will be completed in five phases. This proposal and the tasks included within represent the fourth phase of this project.