Defining Hazard Mitigation . . .What Does It Mean to You?
Hazard mitigation is defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as "sustained action that reduces or eliminates long-term risk to people and property from natural hazards and their effects." This term describes the ongoing effort that federal, state, and local governments, businesses, and individuals can do to lessen damages to people, property, and resources before a disaster strikes. The goal of hazard mitigation is to reduce vulnerability and exposure to disasters. Hazard mitigation refers to actions that have a long-term impact (i.e., zoning, land use, and structural reinforcement, etc.) in comparison to actions that are taken during disaster preparedness, response, and short-term recovery (i.e., several weeks or months after the disaster occurs). These actions are addressed during predisaster planning, and often during long-term recovery efforts.Hazard Mitigation measures can be characterized in the following ways:
Vulnerability Reduction
- Altering the environment:
erosion control, roadway realignment, etc. - Strengthening the built environment:
windproofing, wet/dry flood proofing, elevating structures, etc.
Vulnerability Avoidance
- Managing development in high hazard areas:
land-use planning, economic incentives, education, codes, etc. - Limiting development in high hazard areas:
permitting, zoning, moratoria, development caps, etc.
Hazard Mitigation's Role in the Disaster Cycle
As stated earlier, the primary purpose of hazard mitigation is to minimize or eliminate the vulnerability of people, property, and resources to natural hazards. A key benefit is that
money spent on hazard mitigation today will significantly
reduce human suffering and the demand for large
amounts of future dollars when disasters strike.
Hazard mitigation will also reduce the
economic disaster that often follows the natural
hazard event, through destruction of property, loss or
interruption of jobs, and closing or disabling of
businesses and essential governmental services.
Mitigation is a philosophy that includes a range of
actions that, when holistically implemented, increases
a community's resiliency to disasters. Mitigation is
best implemented throughout the phases of the disaster
cycle: planning, response, and recovery.
Listed below are examples of mitigation at these various stages.
Planning:
- Create, maintain, and update state and local hazard mitigation plans
- Create hazard mitigation strategies through community collaboration, which includes governmental agencies, businesses, industries, and private nonprofits
- Increase outreach and public awareness of mitigation techniques, hazards insurance, and evacuation planning
- Include hazard mitigation criteria in local comprehensive plans
- Create policies for mitigation implementation and land-use planning
- Develop, adopt, and enforce building codes and standards to better withstand hazards
- Develop emergency operation plans (EOP) inclusive of hazard mitigation objectives
- Develop mutual aid agreements
- Relocate or elevate structures and equipment out of high-risk areas
- Create backup of important records and store safely
- Engineer roads and bridges to withstand earthquakes
- Establish and/or maintain effective hazard warning systems
Response:
- Locate staging areas for emergency equipment and supplies out of high-risk areas
- Activate mutual aid responders to supplement local resources
- Activate EOP (i.e., evacuation, communication)
- Implement other plans (i.e., debris management )
Recovery:
- Relocate buildings out of high-risk areas
- Retrofit structures
- Elevate above the 100-year floodplain
For more information on implementing hazard mitigation measures in your community, explore the Planning Tool.