Battling Hazards with a Brand New Tool

Which buildings, roads, and bridges may be damaged and how great would the damage be? Which roads may be shut down? Which areas may be affected if utilities go down? Which businesses will close? Without answers to these questions, communities are hampered in their efforts to plan responsibly for future development, safe and effective evacuation routes, and appropriate emergency shelter locations—and to take steps that will make their communities safer places to live and work. Sensitivity to hazards has certainly increased since September 11, 2001. Now there seems to be more recognition of national vulnerability to both manmade and natural hazards. As a result, planners are reevaluating their communities’ exposure to risks and seriously considering proactive hazard mitigation measures. Any impetus for undertaking hazard mitigation planning was given a boost in October 2000, when the Disaster Mitigation Act (DMA 2000) was signed into law. DMA 2000 encourages and rewards pre-disaster planning and calls for increased coordination between state and local government plans. Interim final regulations published in February 2002 require communities to complete mitigation plans in order to receive hazard mitigation funds. Often the greatest challenge in developing such plans is gaining an understanding of the damage from past disasters issues (how a community should prepare for, mitigate, respond to, and recover from hazards). All of these issues are interrelated, which makes data gathering, evaluation, maintenance, and standardization such a complicated task.