indicating elevations and available evacuation routes 
from vulnerable coastal areas. These maps feature 
high-resolution relief so that local disaster officials 
can choose the most suitable evacuation routes to 
safety inland. National Ocean Survey has produced 
over 60 of these maps to date; about 12 maps per 
year are planned for the rest of the program, which 
will end in 1986 with about 175 maps published. 
The U.S. Geological Survey maps flood-prone areas 
and documents major floods; the National Weather 
Service compiles relevant statistics on all weather- 
related disasters and makes the information avail- 
able; the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides 
technical aid in rural areas; the Corps of Engineers, 
HUD, National Science Foundation, and the Office 
of Water Research and Technology are all involved 
in flood-related research that is available to local 
officials. In dealing with tornado disaster plans, the 
States may call on the help of the Weather Service’s 
Disaster Preparedness Program, the Defense Civil 
Preparedness Agency, the Federal Disaster Assist- 
ance Administration, and the Department of Agri- 
culture’s Extension Service. As an example, the May 
_ 1977 Disaster Preparedness Report of the Weather 
Service notes that: statewide mandatory tornado 
drills in schools are in effect in nine States and that 
nine other States are working on plans to do the 
same. 
The aim of Weather Service’s Disaster Prepared- 
ness Program is to increase the number of well- 
prepared communities (for all types of weather- 
related disasters) in the United States. The Federal 
Disaster Assistance Administration administers the 
Federal program designed to encourage “the devel- 
opment of comprehensive plans and practicable pro- 
grams for preparation against disasters, including 
hazard reduction, avoidance, and mitigation and for 
providing guidance to state and local governments 
in coping with pending or actual disasters.” 1°! The 
Disaster Relief Act of 1974 made available funds 
(100 percent Federal up to $250,000 per State) for 
developing State disaster plans and an annual match- 
ing grant of $25,000 for improving, maintaining, 
and updating the Staté plan; however, State plans 
are generally geared toward reaction to hazards 
rather than preparation to mitigate their effect. No 
Federal money was provided for local plans, and the 
success of reaction to disaster depends on local pre- 
paredness. Natural hazards should play a larger role 
in planning, local governments should be encour- 
aged to have adequate disaster plans, and those 
plans should include mitigation features as well as 
emergency action and recovery segments. 
154U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 
Federc' Disaster Assistance Administration Program Guide. 
Washington, D.C., September 1976, pp. 11-12. 
Hazard Mitigation 
The fourth aspect of a management system at- 
tempts to limit the destructive capabilities of the 
hazards by developing protective structures, by as- 
sisting and strengthening the natural protective sys- 
tems, and by instituting land-use and building codes. 
Structural. protection is best suited to flooding, 
erosion, and certain types of protection from waves 
and storm surge in hurricanes. Structural protection 
is not exceedingly useful against tornadoes, land- 
slides, avalanches, tsunami waters, and volcanoes, 
although some benefit can be derived in all of these 
areas. With the problem of subsidence, the only 
useful role than can be played by structural protec- 
tion is that of holding surface waters off sunken land. 
This becomes a monumental task, and probably an 
impossible problem, when combined with the pres- 
sures of storm surge and waves from a hurricane. 
These structures often have unanticipated conse- 
quences ecologically, either in the immediate area 
or in surrounding areas. 
Sand dunes, beaches, barrier islands, mangrove 
stands, wetlands, and similar natural features often 
serve as protection from hurricane surge and wave 
action. In some places dunes have been built artifi- 
cially; in other places dune stabilization is aided by 
means of vegetative plantings. Where appropriate, 
fixed or mobile sand bypassing systems are used to 
maintain the normal movement of sand because of 
currents and other natural forces. The Corps of 
Engineers and NOAA are both involved in research 
concerned with maximizing the possibilities of natural 
protective devices and features in the coastal zone. 
Beach nourishment is practiced in many locations. 
Sand or other materials from another source is 
trucked in, or sand from the sea or lake bed is 
dredged and placed on a beach that is eroding and 
dwindling in size, because it has been denied a 
natural source of the appropriate material. Although 
this method is relatively successful in curtailing 
erosion to at least a minimum level, and _ is 
aesthetically pleasing to many people, it offers only 
a temporary cure for the symptoms of erosion and 
does little, if anything, to correct the causes of the 
problem. 
Another way of seeking protection from natural 
hazards is to modify the occurrence of the hazard 
be decreasing its force, or destructive power. This 
involves an attempt to influence the basic physical 
forces controlling the natural phenomena. This, of 
course, requires a great deal of research in, and 
understanding of, these phenomena; this type of 
research is an ongoing part of agencies such as 
NOAA, the U.S. Geological Survey, and NASA. A 
major area of interest is the possibility of modifying 
weather conditions such as fog, hail, hurricanes, and 
lightning. For example, it is possible to disperse fog 
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