May 21 - July 30
Rebuilding Decisions in Central Oklahoma
Nadajalah Bennett, Mark Shafer, Alek Krautman, and Putnam Reiter
What is already known:
- Investments in mitigation applications can greatly reduce or eliminate costs of recovery after a storm.
- Government and city programs are offered to communities to help them become more prepared for severe weather.
- Twelve new building codes were adopted by Moore for homes that are being newly built to better withstand severe weather.
What this study adds:
- Motivation as to why some residents or homeowners forgo some options of mitigation.
- This study investigates what homeowners use as a method of emergency preparedness.
- Families are becoming more actively staying on top of being safe, and becoming more aware of mitigation measures they can implement in their home.
Abstract:
A large tornado struck the central Oklahoma communities of Newcastle, Oklahoma City, and Moore on May 20th, 2013. A door-to-door survey was conducted of homeowners throughout the cities of Moore and Oklahoma City in the month of June 2013 to understand how residents may have incorporated mitigation techniques and emergency preparedness options since the May 20th, 2013 tornado. The survey was broken into categories of: damage done to homes, factors or reasons for homeowners implementing mitigation strategies, costs of implementing mitigation applications, and emergency preparedness strategies homeowners use to prepare for severe weather. Most homeowners were either considering or had already installed a storm shelter inside their home to help bring them a better sense of safety. Many homeowners were unaware of other mitigation techniques they could add to their homes to help protect them from wind damage and other severe weather. Some of the reasons why homeowners did not implement mitigation strategies were because of the additional cost of having to pay for them and most homeowners did not have a personal budget for out of pocket costs.