Over the last decade, the overall cost of disasters to the United
States has grown significantly. From 1989 to 1993, the average
annual losses from disasters were $3.3 billion. Over the last 4
years, the average annual losses have increased to $13 billion. On
the Federal side alone, disasters have cost over $20 billion over
the last four years. The disaster losses are equally as staggering
for the American public. Since 1993, over 1.4 million Americans
have been impacted by Presidentially declared disasters, resulting
in the loss of their homes, property, communities, jobs, and in
some cases their lives. This figure does not include the hundreds
of thousands of people impacted by natural hazard events that were
managed entirely at the State and local levels, and involved the
personal savings and private resources of property owners. Indeed,
the impacts of major disasters on Americans go well beyond those
damages that are directly sustained. Recovery from disasters
requires resources to be diverted from other important public and
private programs, and adversely impacts the productivity of
economic systems. To many, the rising costs associated with natural
disasters have become unacceptable. To address this growing
problem, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), under
Director James L. Witt, has encouraged the emergency management
community to become more proactive in reducing the potential for
losses before an event occurs. This proactive strategy is commonly
known as mitigation. Hazard mitigation is defined as sustained
action taken to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk to people
and property from hazards and their effects. This distinguishes
mitigation from other major emergency management functions such as
preparedness and training, response, and short-term recovery. This
emphasis on mitigation led FEMA to introduce a National Mitigation
Strategy in December of 1995 to encourage a national focus on
hazard mitigation. The strategy is based on the objective of
strengthening the partnership among all levels of government and
the private sector and to empower all Americans to fulfill their
responsibilities for ensuring safer communities. The strategy was
developed with input from State and local officials, as well as
individuals and organizations with expertise in hazard mitigation.
The strategy has two goals: to substantially increase the public
awareness of natural hazard risk so that the public demands safer
communities in which to live and work; and to significantly reduce
the risk of loss of life, injury, economic costs, and destruction
of natural and cultural resources that result from natural hazards.
The reason for the emphasis on mitigation is clear. Experience at
the Federal, State, and local levels during natural disasters, and
a growing body of associated research, have demonstrated that the
losses from such events (in terms of life, property, and community
resources) can be substantially reduced when mitigation techniques
and technologies are applied. This paper was prepared to illustrate
the comparative benefits and costs associated with the
implementation of a variety of mitigation measures by Federal,
State, and local government, and private sector entities. To
accomplish this, this paper will identify, through a series of case
studies, the mitigation tools used to achieve cost-effective hazard
mitigation benefits. The case studies are representative of the
types of mitigation measures that are, or could be, performed
elsewhere in the nation under similar conditions.
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