A Caribbean island's quest to become the world's first climate-resilient nation

The Center for Neighborhood Technology’s RainReady program is creating flood mitigation projects most suitable for Illinois communities in need by ensuring community members have input. The program designs nature-based solutions, like widening creeks and installing rain gardens, based on demographics and flood data. And community committees are involved throughout.

Neighbors around the country are forming grassroots community groups to prepare for, and respond to, extreme weather and disasters. These groups organize aid and supplies, participate in reconstruction, and help others find shelter amidst the storms.

The design firm Arup calculates cities' ability to retain water through nature and helps them implement other solutions to flooding, like building rain gardens or public messaging strategies, depending on individual needs.

An early warning system in Bangladesh that uses a mix of technology and community connections is saving lives during storms and natural disasters. The mixture includes increased storm tracking, climate change mitigation solutions, and information-sharing systems that reach even the most remote areas. An essential part of the solution comes in the form of human capital - a human chain of communication that spreads the warnings across villages by word of mouth.

The Quinault Indian Nation is building new housing for its community about a mile from its current village on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. The goal is to relocate the whole village to a place further above sea level to avoid flooding and sea-level rise.

The community in Malabon, Philippines, worked with a nongovernmental organization to create a contingency plan for tropical storms. Tasks like search and rescue and resident relocation are divided between community leaders, and local input makes the plan more actionable and effective than a top-down approach.

The Alliance Center for Independence (ACI) started working with people who have disabilities to create better disaster preparedness measures that consider disabilities, ensuring support and shelter are accessible to anyone and everyone. ACI held an overnight shelter simulation exercise that allowed them to practice each step of an emergency shelter response with people who have disabilities to identify any areas that could be improved. These simulations have become a model for other counties across the state, inspiring more shelters to make improvements to their accessibility.

Florida’s Babcock Ranch survived Hurricane Ian relatively unscathed thanks to years of planning and development focused on resiliency. The community’s safety features include retaining ponds to prevent flooding, streets designed to absorb rain, a solar-powered gird with a backup-battery system, and buried power lines.

After being hit by two natural disasters in one year, cities, Indigenous tribes, and government agencies in Whatcom County on the Nooksack River are working together to create a new plan to deal with flood risk and salmon restoration. The Floodplain Integrated Planning team is overcoming distrust among its partners to build a more holistic plan that incorporates tested solutions like fish-friendly floodgates, levee repairs, and property buyouts to remove homes that will continue to be flooded in the future.

Bangladesh has become a leader in disaster preparedness through its strategy of training thousands of community members to give early warnings on cyclones and other disasters. This approach has saved thousands of lives and has become a model for other countries. Now the country is training Rohingya refugees living in Bangladeshi camps after fleeing persecution in Myanmar to do similar work as they face threats of widespread damage due to cyclones.