[ti:You Might Be Surprised about the Riskiest Places to Live in the US]
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[00:00.04]The Federal Emergency Management Agency, known as FEMA,
[00:04.72]is responsible for preparing the United States for natural disasters.
[00:11.36]One way the agency works to be prepared
[00:14.80]is by trying to predict where disasters might happen in the future.
[00:21.60]The information FEMA gathers is calculated
[00:25.04]and put into a tool called the National Risk Index.
[00:31.12]The index takes a look at natural disasters such as earthquakes,
[00:36.60]floods, forest fires, tornadoes and more.
[00:43.00]It also takes population and building density into consideration.
[00:49.92]Out of over 3,000 counties in the U.S.,
[00:54.20]Los Angeles County in southern California
[00:57.64]is the riskiest place to live.
[01:00.96]That is home to the city of Los Angeles.
[01:05.88]The counties in the U.S. that are home to other large U.S. cities are risky, too.
[01:13.32]New York County, home to New York City,
[01:16.48]and Miami-Dade County in Florida have large populations,
[01:21.84]lots of buildings and homes and are close to water.
[01:27.20]Cities that are close to water are generally considered risky due to flooding.
[01:34.36]Other U.S. cities that have a high risk index are Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
[01:40.56]San Antonio, Texas; and St. Louis, Missouri.
[01:46.40]There are some places in the U.S. that are at high risk for natural disasters,
[01:51.76]but they do not rank as high on this list.
[01:56.44]For example, Oklahoma County, in the state of Oklahoma,
[02:01.16]has seen over 120 tornadoes since 1950.
[02:07.32]However, FEMA says it is not as risky for tornadoes
[02:12.08]as some of the counties close to New York City.
[02:16.44]That is because if a tornado were to hit near New York,
[02:20.56]it would cause more damage and affect more people
[02:24.64]than when they hit in Oklahoma.
[02:28.28]Susan Cutter is the director of the Hazards
[02:31.32]and Vulnerability Research Institute
[02:34.16]at the University of South Carolina.
[02:38.12]She worked on gathering some of the data used in the FEMA study.
[02:44.24]She explained why densely populated counties are at risk.
[02:50.04]"A small tornado can create a large dollar loss," she said.
[02:56.04]Mike Grimm works for FEMA.
[02:59.00]He said one reason densely populated cities rank high on this list
[03:05.24]is because many of the residents would not
[03:07.96]be prepared for a disaster if it happened.
[03:12.40]They do not think their cities are at risk.
[03:17.00]"Just because I haven't seen it in my lifetime
[03:20.24]doesn't mean it won't happen," Grimm said.
[03:24.92]The list has its critics.
[03:27.92]David Ropeik wrote a book called "How Risky Is It, Really?"
[03:34.56]Ropeik said he did not think the FEMA study
[03:37.56]calculated the risk brought on by climate change well enough.
[03:42.64]He said people do not think things that happen infrequently are risky.
[03:49.56]But when they happen, they can cause a lot of damage.
[03:54.96]He mentioned Superstorm Sandy,
[03:57.80]which flooded much of New York City in late October 2012.
[04:04.32]Himanshu Grover researches land use and planning
[04:08.64]at the University of Washington.
[04:12.12]He studies how communities develop
[04:14.76]and how they manage climate change.
[04:18.84]Grover said the FEMA tool was "a good start,"
[04:22.56]but he did not think it paid enough attention
[04:25.84]to the frequency of a region's storms and disasters.
[04:31.56]FEMA's Mike Grimm said the tool should help "homeowners
[04:35.92]and renters and communities to be more resilient."
[04:41.24]I'm Jonathan Evans.
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