1998 Year of the Ocean Mitigating the Impacts of Coastal Hazards 



measures. There is also a need for a comprehensive and coordinated national strategy for hazard 

 warnings. Current warning practices are highly fragmented among different agencies and are 

 usually hazard specific, requiring the public to rely on multiple information sources in addressing 

 different types of hazards. A more coordinated national strategy could help minimize public 

 confiision and maximize the use of limited public resources. 



Broadened Emergency Preparedness And Response 



Progress has also been made in reducing hazard impacts through better emergency 

 preparedness and response activities. The vast majority of people dealing with disasters at the 

 state and local level are emergency response personnel such as fire, police, and medical staff, 

 along with disaster managers and planners who devote the bulk of their efforts to disaster 

 preparedness and response activities. FEMA provides funding to help state and local 

 governments maintain emergency preparedness programs and participate in activities such as 

 developing disaster plans, conducting disaster drills, and implementing public education and 

 awareness campaigns. 



A key opportunity exists to incorporate hazard mitigation concepts into the disaster 

 preparedness and response phases of emergency management. The primary focus of emergency 

 management has previously been on how to prepare and respond to disaster events, not on how 

 to manage the hazards that can sometimes cause disasters. A shift in emphasis from "disaster" or 

 "emergency" management to "hazards" management could help to ensure that planning activities 

 are broadened to address the hazards that always face communities rather than just the disasters 

 that sometimes strike them. Many of the challenges that need to be overcome in implementing 

 local hazard mitigation stem from the fact that hazards receive little attention until there is a 

 disaster. 



Preplanning for Opportunities during Recovery and Reconstruction 



In the past, the implementation of hazard mitigation activities has been closely linked to 

 the post-disaster recovery and reconstruction phase of emergency management. Not only are 

 hazard vulnerabilities in a post-disaster situation more obvious from the damages incurred, but 

 the opportunity exists to rebuild in ways that should make them less vulnerable in the future. 

 Another major factor in encouraging post-disaster hazard mitigation is the availability of money 

 to help support such initiatives. FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) sets aside a 

 percentage of disaster damage reimbursements to fund these types of projects. 



Every major disaster brings new experiences and lessons about recovery and 

 reconstruction processes. A major challenge in addressing these lessons from a national 

 perspective is that most of the responsibility for setting and implementing reconstruction policies 

 lies at the local level. While information gained from other experiences could help guide some 

 local decisions, the recovery process is very localized — a function of specific local conditions 

 including the nature and severity of the disaster, local political circumstances, and the degree to 

 which reconstruction planning has already taken place. 



H-6 



