In a study on Americans' emergency preparedness and disaster resilience, new data from insurance broker Jumpstart shows roughly 1 in 5 women and just over 1 in 10 men have $0 in savings to use for natural disaster recovery. "The Resilience Report: Disaster Displacement" examines the correlation between natural disasters and housing displacement, investigating Americans' financial preparedness and their risk exposures. Jumpstart is a surplus lines insurance broker that specifically provides earthquake coverage. Jumpstart founder and CEO Kate Stillwell says she and her team issued the study following the barrage of extreme weather events of 2018 that sparked a growing conversation around resilience especially, and what it means to achieve resilience as a community. The findings show a relationship, Stillwell says. "In particular, people are seeing natural disasters cause displacement in their communities and this is a growing concern across the nation and in California especially. This highlights a strong role for our industry in the resilience conversation — finance builds resilience not just for individuals, but for whole communities." She adds that the findings about personal finance show that consumers are hungry for a wider variety of insurance products, particularly ones that are simple, unbundled, and customized, creating an opportunity for the private market to fill the gaps. Related: Earthquake preparedness: What to do before, during and after |

Avoiding housing displacement

Stillwell says the most important finding is that post-disaster financing can mitigate the potential for a housing crisis. The most compelling responses are from the Californians who had experienced by a disaster. A majority (58%) stated that residents in their community had left to go elsewhere, and 30% stated that the disaster added to the existing homeless population. "This is yet another reflection of the not-so-secret anxiety among Californians about housing cost and availability, and the fact that a disaster will only exacerbate this anxiety," she adds. "Anything we can do to get more money quickly flowing back into the area, will lessen the severity of a post-disaster housing crisis." When it comes to safety prep, Stillwell offers a more personal piece of advice. "Fundamentally, natural disasters are a human experience. Our biggest advice for everyone is to meet your neighbors," Stillwell says. "Make it a point to know people in your immediate environment, because in a disaster, they're the ones you might need to rely on most for resources like safe shelter, communications, power, water or childcare." In the slideshow above are some key statistics concluded in The Resilience Report related to Americans' emergency funds, safety preparedness, and outlooks on government assistance and insurance products. Related: California works to head off another season of deadly fires