The Steps to Resilience | Investigate Options Tool

Welcome to the "Investigation Options" Tool for the Steps to Resilience (Step 3). In this step, you'll start to consider possible solutions for your highest risks. This tool helps you check how other communities have responded to similar issues, and assists in building a list of potential options.

Key Concepts:

  • Options encompass objectives, strategies, and actions to build resilience and can include policies, programs, projects, schemes, systems and technologies. Options require a subsequent decision about whether they will be enacted.
  • Strategies describe the way in which resilience objectives are going to be achieved but may not have a specific geographic scale or timeframe for implementation. Most options published in resilience plans are strategies.
  • Actions and projects fit within a strategy and describe how a strategy will be carried out. Actions and projects include roles and responsibilities, timeframes, and geographic boundaries.

Earlier in the Steps to Resilience (Step 2), you identified your largest risks and vulnerabilities linked to primary hazards and assets. With this tool, you can search for options that other communities have considered when facing similar hazards. The list of hazards, assets, and action types (along with their definitions) can be accessed here.

When considering options, most communities find that their potential actions fit into two main categories—options that address multiple hazards simultaneously or options that are more hazard- or asset- specific. Below are some examples:

Multi-hazard options:

  • Integrate resilience plans with hazard mitigation
  • Train staff in resilience techniques
  • Perform community outreach

Hazard,Asset and/or Action Type options:

  • Flooding: Harden existing critical assets within 100-yr and 500-yr flood zones or relocate if feasible
  • Extreme heat: Build cooling centers for underserved communities
  • Drought: Add capacity to water supply reservoir and determine viability and cost effectiveness

To search the database and download options:

  • Search for options by
    1. Multi-hazard; or
    2. Hazard, Asset, and Action type
  • Use drop-downs to filter and narrow your search
  • Select an option with a click— this will place your selection under My Options
  • To download a custom spreadsheet of options for the community you are working with— select Download under My Options (.xls file)