Secondary Hazards Mitigation Efforts
The best mitigation techniques to reduce the impacts of secondary hazards are the proper siting and maintenance of facilities.
Mitigation Approaches for Dams, Pipelines, and Hazardous Waste Containers:
- Dams should be constructed to meet engineering requirements
- Older dams should be retrofitted to meet current standards
- Also, mapping of downstream hazard potential in the case of dam failure could be conducted for those areas where significant populations or infrastructure are at risk.
- Improving pipeline design and retrofitting pipelines to lessen breakage potential.
- Reduced vulnerability of rupture and puncture of railway hazardous material containers.
Overall, improving the resiliency of electrical and utility facilities to earthquake hazards will reduce the secondary impacts of these events in the Cascadia region.
Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Multi-hazard Identification and Risk Assessment: A Cornerstone of the National Mitigation Strategy. Washington, D.C., 1995 pg. 369