With constant media bombardment of fears of a nuclear war, many have begun to prepare for a disaster. But government uncertainty isn’t the only thing on the minds of the masses. Volcanic activity appears to be increasing and earthquakes seem to be getting more severe. That begs the question: do you live in a disaster zone?
In just the past 16 years, parts of Louisiana have been struck by six hurricanes. Areas near San Diego were devastated by three particularly vicious wildfire seasons. And a town in eastern Kentucky has been pummeled by at least nine storms severe enough to warrant federal assistance. These are obvious red flag areas, but what about the rest of the country?
The New York Times has put together a map showing which areas in the United States were subjected to the most disasters which caused monetary losses by ZIP code between 2002 – 2017.
All the maps in show losses verified by the Small Business Administration for disasters in which a presidential disaster declaration was issued. The values of the losses are expressed in 2017 dollars.
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The statistics for living in the “red zones” in the above map are not comforting either. About 90 percent of the total losses across the United States occurred in ZIP codes that contain less than 20 percent of the national population, according to an analysis of data from the Small Business Administration.
In the first three months of 2018, billion-dollar storms hit the United States three times. By contrast, in the first three months of an average year, just one disaster that causes more than a billion dollars in damages occurs, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records dating back to 1980.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) attempts to calculate the full cost of major disasters, namely those that cause more than a billion dollars in damages. It estimates that 2017 was the costliest year on record, with 16 billion-dollar disasters that together cost the United States more than $300 billion. While natural disasters are often unpredictable, the annual losses from billion-dollar disasters, which were adjusted for inflation, have increased over the last 40 years.
Because the federal government continues to use taxpayer funds to subsidize the disaster zones, critics feel that the money is being wasted by continuing to help people live in places that they know will be hit by a hurricane or deadly storm. Christina DeConcini, the director of government affairs at the World Resources Institute, said that instead of just being responsive, the government should stress building for resilience against the disasters that continue to cost people money.
