Community Resilience Resources This webpage hosts a number of resources addressing community resilience, with guidance on planning for an emergency or natural disaster; community-based methods for monitoring erosion, flooding, and permafrost thaw; resilience and mitigation planning, and incremental, community-driven relocation. Phases of Community Resilience Understanding risk is fundamental to making informed local decisions to respond and adapt to that risk. The graphic below illustrates the process through which communities can increase understanding of risk, leading to the decision-making process of planning, and ultimately, the implementation of actions to increase community resilience.(Click graphic to open larger a version.) Resources by Topic Planning for an Emergency or Natural Disaster Small Community Emergency Response Plan (SCERP) Develop a Small Community Emergency Response Plan - Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM) Small Community Emergency Response Plan Fact Sheet Standard Small Community Emergency Response Plan Toolkit (Word version) Standard Small Community Emergency Response Plan Toolkit(PDF version) Small Community Emergency Response Plan Template Family Emergency Response Plan Create a Free Family Emergency Plan - Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Family Emergency Plan - DHSEM Emergency Supply Kit Building a 7-Day Emergency Kit - DHSEM Basic Emergency Kit with Yup’ik Translation - DHSEM Build an Emergency Supply Kit - FEMA Emergency Supply Check List Community-Based Methods for Monitoring Erosion, Flooding, and Permafrost Thaw Community-Based Erosion Monitoring Understanding and Evaluating Erosion Problems by the Alaska Division of Community and Regional Affairs Community-Based Methods for Monitoring Coastal Erosion by the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Collecting High Water Marks High Water Mark Project Toolkit by the Federal Emergency Management Agency High Water Mark Sign Guide by the National Weather Service Community-Based Permafrost and Active Layer Monitoring The Active Layer Field Manual by the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council and the U.S. Geological Survey myThaw App for smartphones, tablets and personal computers, described within "Standardized Monitoring of Permafrost Thaw: A User-Friendly, Multiparameter Protocol" (See Appendix A) Example Scopes of Work for Erosion, Flood, and Permafrost Studies Example Scope of Work: Rural Alaska Coastal Erosion and Storm Surge Flood Assessment from Denali Commission Statewide Threat Assessment (Appendix B) Example Scope of Work: Rural Alaska Riverine Erosion Assessment from Denali Commission Statewide Threat Assessment (Appendix C) Example Scope of Work: Rural Alaska Permafrost Vulnerability Assessment from Denali Commission Statewide Threat Assessment (Appendix D) Resilience and Hazard Mitigation Planning Hazard Mitigation Planning Local Hazard Mitigation Plans, State of Alaska DHSEM webpage Hazard Mitigation Plannning FEMA webpage Local Mitigation Planning Handbook, June 2025 by FEMA Tribal Mitigation Planning Handbook by FEMA Adopting Your Local Mitigation Plan Fact Sheet by FEMA Local Alaska Hazard Mitigation Plans at DCRA's Community Plans Library - Select "Hazard Mitigation Plan" from "Category Type" Resilience Planning Community Resilience Planning Guide for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems: A Playbook by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Community Resilience Planning Guide for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems: Volume 1 by NIST Community Resilience Planning Guide for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems: Volume 2 by NIST Resilience Planning: Tools and Resources for Communities by the Environmental Finance Center at Sacramento State Resilience Planning: What Communities Can Do to Keep Hazards from Turning into Disasters by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Resilience Toolkit by HUD Infrastructure Protection Plans Template for Near-Term Infrastructure Protection Plan (Microsoft Word) by DCRA and ANTHC CETC Template for Near-Term Infrastructure Protection Plan (Adobe PDF) by DCRA and ANTHC CETC Protection-in-Place, Managed Retreat, and Relocation Resources Alaska communities are responding to natural hazard impacts to infrastructure in three primary ways: protection-in-place, managed retreat, and relocation. These response strategies are defined and illustrated in the graphic below. We utilize these categories for planning purposes and to estimate the time, cost, and labor allocations required for each response.(Click graphic to open larger a version.) Protection-in-Place Natural and Structural Measures for Shoreline Stabilization by NOAA Office for Coastal Management Guidance for Considering the Use of Living Shorelines by NOAA Office for Coastal Management Managed Retreat Managed Retreat Toolkit by the Georgetown University Law Center, PAS Quick Notes: Managed Retreat by the American Planning Association Planning Advisory Service Site Planning for Disaster Mitigation Guidebook by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Policy Development and Research Relocation A Phased Approach to Village Relocation: Guidance for Incremental, Community-Driven Village Relocation by the Alaska Division of Community and Regional Affairs Opportunities for Federal Support of Community-Driven Relocation by the Community-Driven Relocation Subcommittee Community-Driven Relocation: Guide to Federal Programs and Resources by the Community-Driven Relocation Subcommittee Response Categories Combined Relocation, Managed Retreat, & Protect-in-Place Cohort Resources by the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals Relocation, Managed Retreat, and Protect-in-Place Issues in Alaska Listening Session Report by the U.S. Department of the Interior Village Inter-Agency Planning Groups The focus of each inter-agency planning group is to reduce duplication and increase engagement between imminently-threatened communities, agencies and organizations to develop solutions to increase resilience in each community. The focus of the Newtok Planning Group has been on the village of Newtok's relocation to Mertarvik on Nelson Island. The inter-agency planning groups for Kivalina, Shaktoolik and Shishmaref have been focused on implementing the imminent and critical action items identified by each community in its Strategic Management Plan. Newtok Planning Group Kivalina Inter-Agency Planning Group Shaktoolik Inter-Agency Planning Group Shishmaref Inter-Agency Planning Group Web Resources Adapt Alaska - Living with Climate Change in Alaska U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit EPA's Regional Resilience Toolkit HUD Community Resilience Toolkit FEMA's Community Resilience Indicators FEMA Resources for Climate Resilience National Coastal Resilience Fund Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal Climate Resilience Program Resilience Presentations Risk MAP Coordination Efforts in Alaska (presentation to FEMA Region 10 Mitigation Summit, March 9, 2023) Community Resilience and Climate Adaptation Programs (presentation to Alaska Climate Adaptation Community of Practice, January 13, 2022) Perspectives on Building an Actionable Science Community (presentation to the National Science Foundation's Navigating the New Arctic Annual Community Meeting, November 10, 2021) Alaska Coastal Resilience Partnership: Partnering to Support Alaska's Environmentally Threatened Communities (presentation to the American Planning Association's Sustainability and Resilience Series, "What's all this I hear about Sustainability, Resilience, & Climate Change?", June 16, 2021) Increasing Resilience in Alaska’s Environmentally Threatened Communities (presentation to the American Planning Association's Housing and Community Development Division Webinar, January 29, 2021) What are Alaska Tribal Infrastructure Needs for Addressing Climate Impacts? Key Findings for Alaska (presentation to National Tribal & Indigenous Climate Conference, September 15, 2020) Community Responses to Natural Hazard Risks (presentation at Bureau of Indian Affairs Providers Conference, December 5, 2019) Risk Mapping, Assessment and Planning (Risk MAP): Assisting Imminently-Threatened Alaska Native Villages (presentation to Governor's Climate Action Leadership Team, February 27, 2018) Community Resilience and Climate Adaptation in Alaska (presentation at Climate Impacts to Infrastructure Workshop for Governor's Climate Action Leadership Team, February 26, 2018) Risk Mapping, Assessment and Planning (Risk MAP) (presentation to Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission, October 26, 2017) Risk Mapping, Assessment and Planning (Risk MAP): Assisting Imminently-Threatened Alaska Native Villages (presentation to U.S. Arctic Research Commission, October 10, 2017) Risk Mapping, Assessment and Planning (Risk MAP): Assisting Imminently-Threatened Alaska Native Villages, (presentation to White House Arctic Executive Steering committee, Community Resilience Working Group, June 13, 2017) Strategic Management Plans: Shishmaref, Shaktoolik, Kivalina (presentation at Alaska Planning Conference, November 15, 2016) Strengthening Local Resilience through Community-Based Adaptation Efforts (presentation at Rights, Resilience and Community-Based Adaptation Efforts Workshop, September 20, 2016) Alaska Community Coastal Protection Project (presentation to State of Alaska Emergency Response Commission, April 29, 2016) Addressing Coastal Erosion Impacts in Alaska through Village Planning Groups (presentation at Arctic Council Resilience Workshop, Fairbanks, March 14, 2016) State of Alaska Community Resilience Efforts for Coastal Erosion-Threatened Communities (State Arctic Advisor presentation at GLACIER Conference, August 31, 2015) Collaborative Community Planning for Resilient Alaska Communities (presentation to Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities, February 19, 2015) Increasing Community Resilience by Integrating Hazard Mitigation into Local Comprehensive Planning Efforts (presentation at Alaska Planning Conference, November 13, 2012) For more information contact: Sally Russell Cox Local Government Specialist 5 / Resilience, Planning, and Land Management Section Manager Division of Community and Regional Affairs Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development 550 West 7th Avenue, Suite 1640 Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: (907) 269-4588 Fax: (907) 269-4539 Revised 10/01/2025