Community Disaster Resilient Zone Designations Spark Questions, Concerns

FEMA announced the first communities to receive targeted assistance through the Community Disaster Resilient Zones Act, a new initiative signed into law in 2022 to support under-resourced communities most at risk to natural disasters. The Sept. 6 announcement identifies 483 census tracts across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

However, not everyone is on board with the designated Community Disaster Resilient Zones (CDRZ) who will get prioritized access to federal funding for climate resilience and mitigation projects. In July, ASFPM outlined the concerns we have about the dangers of relying solely on federal, big data programs like the National Risk Index (NRI) and the new Community Disaster Resilience Zones (CDRZ) without consulting states and local communities.

Since FEMA’s announcement, we’ve been hearing directly from members who are mystified by some of the CDRZ designations in their states and regions and are wondering why they weren’t consulted. Comments are similar on social media with those on the ground saying the program misses the mark, no matter how well-intentioned. A sampling of comments:

It just strikes me as another desktop exercise carried too far without real field confirmation or local vetting.

I love the concept, but some of the results are just odd.

I look at my region and know of areas that are significantly more disadvantaged and at higher risk than the one area noted.

“State and local data and knowledge is critical to the success of any hazard mitigation program,” said Chad Berginnis, ASFPM Executive Director. “While the communities identified as CDRZ may benefit from their designation, what about those underserved communities who’ve been once again overlooked? This program, in its current form, is deeply flawed and will result in unintended consequences.”

Methodology used to create the CDRZ
A census tract is designated as a Community Disaster Resilience Zone if its National Risk Index (NRI) score ranks in the top 50 nationally or in the top 1% in its state and it is identified as a disadvantaged community by the federal Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST). Learn more about the methodology.

As ASFPM noted in our comments submitted this summer in response to FEMA’s request for information regarding NRI and CDRZ, state and local mitigation officials have indicated to us that using NRI to identify areas as “high risk” does not always correlate with state and local experience and data, including hazard mitigation plans, and gaps in the NRI data are well known.  Compounding that problem is the fact that the CEJST tool simply does not do a good job at identifying disadvantaged communities.  We have observed that with the CEJST Tool, disadvantaged areas in larger census tracts get missed or their needs become diluted in smaller rural communities due to the size of the community relative to the size of the census tract. These types of tools and datasets could play a supporting role in things like program planning and public education, but it is a real problem to use them for such high-stakes initiatives as grant program eligibility, cost share, or funding priority given the obvious deficiencies.

Further, we believe states and communities need a voice in the selection of the census tracts and should even have the ability to veto their selection. Any attempt by the federal government to impose a CDRZ zone in a community without their input and consultation is doomed for failure.

FEMA will announce its CDRZ designations for tribal lands and territories later this fall. A third designation of zones will occur in 12-18 months based on updates to the National Risk Index, lessons learned from this initial experience, and stakeholder input, FEMA said. Examples of planned updates to the National Risk Index include additional data on tsunami and riverine flood risk.

Learn more about the initial round of CDRZ designations, including an interactive map and GIS data.