Today, FEMA is announcing the designation of 275 census tracts in territories and on Tribal Nation lands as Community Disaster Resilience Zones. These zones will be eligible for increased federal support to become more resilient to natural hazards and extreme weather. Congress directed FEMA to designate these zones in the Community Disaster Resilience Zones Act of 2022, a piece of bipartisan legislation to help build resilience to natural hazards in communities most at-risk due to climate change.
After initially designating 483 Community Disaster Resilience Zones on Sept. 6, 2023 for states and the District of Columbia, there are now 758 zones across the United States now eligible for increased federal support. FEMA will continue the process of designating additional zones in territories, states, the District of Columbia and on Tribal Nation lands in 2025. The Community Disaster Resilience Zones announced today reflect all designations in territories and on Tribal lands as of Nov. 20, 2024. FEMA continues to coordinate with many Tribal Nations and territories to complete the designation process.
View the full list online of state, territory, and Tribal Nation designations.
“CDRZ enables joint prioritization and action in the most disadvantaged and underserved communities, which often face the highest risks from natural hazards and disasters but lack the resources to achieve their resilience goals,” said Victoria Salinas, Senior Official Performing the Duties of Deputy Administrator. “These communities, including Tribal Nations and territories, are among the most in need. Joint prioritization fosters the collaboration necessary to ensure they have greater access to resources that can make them more resilient to growing climate threats.”
FEMA took a collaborative approach to designating Community Disaster Resilience Zones for territories and Tribal Nations due to challenges with risk data and to allow these entities to use local knowledge and data sources to inform zone selection.
The Community Disaster Resilience Zones Act is intended to support resilience projects within or that primarily benefit a designated zone. The primary benefit of a designation is the potential for increased access to additional funding and technical assistance for resilience and mitigation projects, including an increased 90% federal cost share under the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program.
Community Disaster Resilience Zones have been incorporated into different programs and initiatives across federal agencies and numerous private sector organizations are driving targeted technical assistance to communities with designated zones.
For example, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) priority through the Climate Smart Communities Initiative (CSCI) is to assist communities that are at the highest risk to climate impacts and have the most need for assistance, including designated zones. Five communities with designations were selected for CSCI support this year, totaling over $500,000 for targeted resilience projects in those communities. The program will work with communities to co-develop equitable climate resilience plans that can be readied for funding and implementation.
The vision for the Community Disaster Resilience Zones initiative is to leverage collaboration and cross-sector coordination across all levels of government, philanthropic foundations, private non-profits, universities, the insurance industry and private businesses to help make these areas more resilient to natural hazards.
FEMA Publishes Summary Report of the 2023 Request for Information Comments
In addition to announcing new designations in territories and on Tribal Nation lands, FEMA published a summary report of the comments received from the Community Disaster Resilience Zones and the National Risk Index Request for Informationpublished in the Federal Register. The Request for Information was open for public comment for 60 days from May – July 2023.
FEMA has compiled a response to the comments received and categorized them into six themes:
- Community Engagement
- Data and National Risk Index
- Designation Methodology
- Displacement
- Equity
- Post-Designation Support
FEMA is committed to using this feedback to help improve future designations and implementation across these six categories. The summary report is available on FEMA.gov. A link to the summary report, as well as a list of Community Disaster Resilience Zones, is available in the Federal Register.