Arts Disaster and Crisis Preparedness Conference 2026

Have you ever wondered how many times your county has been included in a major disaster declaration? Have you ever gone online looking for county-level data related to disasters for a grant proposal, program or planning tool, or to help your organization understand the importance of community level disaster-related planning and response?


There are multiple data resources available online to assist in understanding and contextualizing local disasters. While each one uses different methods and draws on different data sources, each resource is intended to identify places with higher or lower levels of vulnerable populations and/or community resilience. Even with these online resources, navigating the websites and understanding the differences in the data they contain can be challenging. And, since learning the ins-and-outs of even just one data source or website can be time consuming, in the end, these challenges can dissuade people from using the online resources.


Intended to fill this void, Julie Zimmerman and Jeff Young produced a new 3-part data series for the Extension program Kentucky: By The Numbers. Together, these provide easy-to-use data related to disasters for every county in the state. The presentation will also include a discussion of changes to the National Risk Index and accessing data through the FEMA Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool (RAPT) website.