AUSTIN, Texas — The City of Austin is launching various "resilience hubs" to better prepare the community for a range of natural disaster threats.
Resilience hubs are intended to complement emergency responses and operations, as well as act as trusted neighborhood spaces to strengthen community ties and provide basic needs when disasters occur. These hubs will focus on threats like flooding, drought, extreme heat and wildfires and will be placed throughout areas that have vulnerable populations.
The City is working with community partners to have six introductory hubs in the fall. The plan for the hubs is to have a citywide "Resilience Hub Network" of community-focused physical facilities that offer various daily services to support residents before, during and after a disaster.
“As climate change brings more frequent severe weather and other disasters, there is a need for accessible community spaces, supply distribution centers, backup power and water, and safe temporary shelters,” said Laura Patiño, the City's resilience officer. “Working with Austin Independent School District, Travis County, the Community Advisory Committee, and the Community Task Force, we continue to make progress towards the creation of this vital support network.”
The hubs will offer shelter, food, water, information, accessible bathrooms, cellphone charging and meeting spaces. During non-emergency situations, the hubs help enhance the area they are located in by offering resources to those that need them and community-building activities year-round.
The February 2021 winter storm inspired the need for these hubs, as hundreds of thousands of homes in Austin were left without electricity and water for multiple days.
The creation of the network of hubs is being led by the City's Resilience Office as part of the development of a citywide resilience plan and strategy.
For more information on the hubs, visit the Austin Resilience Hub Network's website.
The City is holding a community feedback meeting on the hubs on Oct. 6. You can RSVP to the meeting here.
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