Step 5a: Identify primary economic sectors and locate economic centers.

It is critical for this step to begin with a general overview of your local economy. This economic information will provide some basis for targeting business sector partners in your community-wide hazard mitigation efforts. Some of the most devastating disaster costs to a community include the loss of income associated with business interruptions and the loss of jobs associated with business closures. A progressive community will actively pursue mitigation options to prevent such losses.

Information is widely available to help characterize your local economy. The general economic data used for the New Hanover County case study came from the County Business Pattern (CBP), directly off of the U.S. Census Bureau web page.

The table below provides a general overview of New Hanover County’s economy. It illustrates the employment percentages for each of the area’s major economic sectors. Information is also available on the employment in various subsets of these economic sectors.

Figure 3.32

The table below shows the various sub-categories of the economy that employ more than 1,000 persons in New Hanover County. This information provides a more thorough picture of the area’s economy.

Figure 3.33

Another key step is to identify locations that are primary economic centers of activity. After characterizing your local economy using the information above, you should identify where your primary economic centers are located. This can be easily accomplished in most communities, especially those with clearly defined business and commercial areas. New Hanover County’s parcel-based Geographic Information System (GIS) land use inventory provided a comprehensive assessment of economic sector locations. The map below shows the commercial land use by sector within New Hanover County.

Figure 3.34

The map below illustrates how economic areas are often spread along major highways rather than being concentrated in well-defined core locations. In some cases, zoning classifications such as those above can be used to identify commercial areas.

Figure 3.35

Step 5b: Identify intersections of economic centers and high-risk areas.

In Step 5a, you used your community’s economic characterization to identify the priority sectors of your economy. Also in Step 5a, you identified your primary economic center locations to help you narrow your economic focus and identify some target commercial areas. Concentrating on your target commercial areas, you now need to identify the risk summary scores associated with key business and industry locations.

The maps below show the relationship between several of New Hanover County’s target commercial areas and the summary hazard risk areas.

Figure 3.36

Figure 3.37

Step 5c: Conduct general inventory of high-risk economic centers.

There are several methods that could be used to complete this type of inventory. In some cases, communities will choose to conduct a parcel-by-parcel driving survey to determine the number and type of vulnerable facilities in high-risk areas. In New Hanover County, the commercial section of the parcel-based land use inventory was available in a GIS format. This database was used to identify the number and type of commercial operations located in hazard risk areas.

The table below provides an overview of the commercial land use within the high-risk summary areas. It can be used to identify key businesses as potential hazard mitigation partners. More specifically, those businesses operating in the community’s key economic sectors can be prioritized as critical partners and targeted in educational outreach activities.

Figure 3.38

Step 5d: Identify large employers and their intersection with hazard risk areas.

In addition to identifying your community’s primary economic sectors, you should also attempt to target single businesses that employ large numbers of residents. Most communities can easily identify their largest employers. It is possible to narrow down your search with some quantitative statistics such as those shown in the table below. Additional information from local economic development agencies or chamber of commerce can also be helpful. The location and risk scores of very large employers can then be used to prioritize these businesses as potential hazard mitigation partners.

The table below uses CBP data to help identify New Hanover County’s largest employers.

Figure 3.39

Step 5e: Conduct vulnerability analysis on structures of large employers as critical facilities.

While this step is largely up to the private sector, it is recommended that vulnerability assessments for large employers be addressed in a manner similar to critical facilities. You can take the first step by engaging key private sector establishments in hazard mitigation partnerships and asking them to assess their structural and operational vulnerability to hazards. At a minimum, the process you follow for analyzing the vulnerability of critical facilities can provide a guide for similar private sector activities.

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