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Eugene -Springfield Area Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan 4. Risk and Vulnerability 4.4 Summary 2014 Climate and Hazards Vulnerability Assessment The following is a high-level overview of the Eugene -Springfield Climate and Hazards Vulnerability Assessment (Vulnerability Assessment) completed in 2014. Using the findings of the assessment the 2020 NHMP Project Team looked at how each natural hazard may, or may not, be affected by climate change. Included in this research was our fossil fuel dependency. The 2020 Project Team used a long-range lens developed by the 2014 research to assist and influence development of mitigation action items needed to align with the hazards we face today. The lens considered future conditions to ensure mitigation actions taken now will not be obsolete or counterproductive in the next several decades. Working from a standardized list of questions, the Vulnerability Assessment Team collected information about the adaptive capacity and sensitivity of each system to specific hazards.83 The summary of findings below provides a description of key themes from across all surveyed community sectors. These sector summaries include sector descriptions, an assessment of adaptive capacity, critical vulnerabilities, hazard specific sensitivities, and key sector interdependencies. The assessment does not reflect all hazards for all sectors. 4.4.1 Vulnerability Assessment - Hazards The Vulnerability Assessment reflects sensitivities to earthquakes, floods, wildfires, winter storms, climate changes, and rising fuel prices. While flood and wildfire events have the potential to cause severe loss, damage, inconvenience, and drain emergency response resources in localized areas these hazards are not likely to result in systemic failures across multiple sectors. Both large earthquake and severe winter storm events have the potential to cause region -wide system failures and other cascading incidents. Much of the region's adaptive capacity stems from our ability to draw resources, personnel, and expertise from nearby communities, particularly during an emergency. This capacity is severely restricted during region -wide events such as a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake or severe winter storms such as the big snow incidents of 1969. 4.4.2 Earthquake -Specific Findings According to the Oregon Resilience Plan 2013, all sectors (except for natural systems) 83 United States. Oregon. City of Eugene. Regional Climate and Hazards Vulnerability Assessment December 2014. Accessed August 2019. https://www.eugene- or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/20644/2014-Eugenespringfield-Climate-and-Hazards-Vulnerability- Assessment?bidId= 4-6 January 2020