What is Resilience?

A resilient Los Altos is the ability of the city and its residents to recover quickly after a major incident such as an earthquake, fire or even terrorism. But being able to recover from a disaster starts with preparation well in advance of any disaster. Preparation at the simplest level involves planning, training and practice.

Community resilience refers to the ability of groups of people to respond to and recover from adverse situations, such as natural disasters, acts of violence, economic hardship, and other challenges to their community. In a significant emergency, traditional support structures will likely be overloaded or unavailable in the short term. Neighborhoods of Los Altos and surrounding areas need to be prepared to cope with these situations. The goal of Resilient Los Altos is to work with major stakeholders to help our residents be prepared to handle such emergencies.

There are many examples of community resilience that we have seen in action:

New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina

New York City after the 9/11 terrorist attack

Santa Clara County and the greater bay area after the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989