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
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