Defined as actions taken to prevent or reduce the risk to life, property, social and economic activities, and natural resources from natural hazards, mitigation includes such activities as:
- Complying with or exceeding flood plain management regulations.
- Enforcing stringent building codes, flood-proofing requirements, seismic design standards and wind-bracing requirements for new construction or repairing existing buildings.
- Adopting zoning ordinances that steer development away from areas subject to flooding, storm surge or coastal erosion.
- Retrofitting public buildings to withstand hurricane-strength winds or ground shaking.
- Acquiring damaged homes or businesses in flood-prone areas and returning the property to open space, wetlands or recreational use.
- Revamping of our infrastructure, roadways, utilities to better meet our needs during a recovery period.
Mitigation also involves a broad spectrum of players outside the traditional emergency management circle. Among others, these parties might include land use planners, construction and building officials (both public and private), business owners, insurance companies, community leaders, politicians and individual home owners.
The design and construction process provides one of the most cost effective means of addressing risk. This process is governed by building codes, architecture and design criteria, and soils and landscaping considerations. Most often code criteria that support risk reduction apply only to new construction, substantial renovation or renovation to change the type of use of the building.
Enactment of building codes is the responsibility of the state and most state codes are derivatives of one of the three model codes which reflect geographical differences across the United States. Some state delegate code adoption responsibility to more local governmental authorities. Because of cost, codes that require rehabilitation of existing potential-hazardous structures have been rarely implemented.
The construction process offers other opportunities.
For example, installing underground utility lines thereby minimizing the loss of service due to wind and ice storms. Landscaping is particularly critical in areas of potential mudslides or near bodies of natural waterways because of erosion. Clearing, grading, and siting all potential impacts to soil stability and erosion can and should be part of a design or building permit review process.
However, there are a number of obstacles or impediments to mitigation – and this will be the subject of our next post.