Federal Government, but seem less satis- 
fied each year with the Federal Govern- 
ment’s performance of its part of the 
shared responsibility.” 
Two organizations in the Department of Housing 
and Urban Development are involved in natural 
hazard management: The Federal Disaster Assist- 
ance Administration (FDAA) and the Federal In- 
surance Administration’s National Flood Insurance 
Program. FDAA has been delegated the responsibil- 
ity for administering the Disaster Relief Act of 1974 
(P.L. 93-288). 
Under Section 201 of this Act, FDAA administers 
a program of preparedness grants to the States, as 
discussed earlier. The primary emphasis of this pro- 
gram has been on increasing the States’ capability to 
respond to disasters and emergencies, including 
preparation of a State Emergency Plan, but States 
can conduct vulnerability analyses and plan for 
hazard mitigation. The States have performed some 
mitigation functions (e.g., supporting appropriate 
State emergency legislation, encouraging community 
participation in the National Flood Insurance Pro- 
gram, and reviewing land-use practices and building 
codes). In the future, after a President has declared 
an emergency or major disaster, States will be 
urged under Section 406 of the Act to review the 
hazards to which their communities are exposed 
and, with local participation, agree on appropriate 
mitigation actions. If, for example, affected com- 
munities agree to adopt and enforce more stringent 
codes, the additional costs incurred in reconstructing 
public facilities as a result of such codes may be re- 
imbursable by the Federal Government. - 
Also in the Department of Housing and Urban De- 
velopment is the National Flood Insurance Program. 
The program establishes criteria for community in- 
clusion in the Flood Insurance Program and then 
requires the purchase of flood insurance, in commu- 
nities where it is available, before any Federal finan- 
cial assistance can be received. The program was 
weakened by the Housing and Community Develop- 
ment Act of 1977. The Act removed a provision 
that prohibited Federally regulated lending institu- 
tions from making any loan secured by improved 
real estate or a mobile home located in an area 
having special flood hazards, if the community is 
not participating in the National Flood Insurance 
Program. It provides instead that such lending insti- 
tutions notify a purchaser or lessee obtaining a Joan 
secured by real property in a designated special flood 
hazard area as to whether disaster relief for that 
property is available in the event of a flood disas- 
terse 
Summary of the Housing and Community Development Act of 
1977. Washington, D.C., October 1977, pp. 20-21. 
A major part of the National Flood Insurance 
Program is the identification of flood-prone areas. 
This program has been going forward with the help 
of other Federal agencies involved in hazard map- 
ping. Groups in the Department of Agriculture, U.S. 
Geological Survey, NOAA, the Corps of Engineers, 
and the Water Resources Council (a cabinet-level 
coordinating body) also are operating in this area. 
The President, through Executive Order 11296, at- 
tempted to strengthen the planning for flood disas- 
ters by ordering that new facilities should be placed, 
as far as practicable, outside areas of flood hazard. 
However, a report from the General Accounting 
Office regarding national attempts to reduce flood 
losses indicated that Federal agencies have been 
less than diligent in some places in complying with 
the President’s order.*®° 
Several agencies within NOAA participate in haz- 
ard management. The agency with the longest history 
of involvement is the National Weather Service be- 
cause of its role as weather forecaster. Prediction 
and warning systems are operating for all atmos- 
pheric hazards and for the flooding that may occur as 
a result. In addition, the Weather Service has a 
Disaster Preparedness Program that coordinates the 
work of meteorologists in the field who help com- 
munities prepare plans for coping with all sorts of 
weather-related disasters. 
The Coastal Mapping Division of the National 
Ocean Survey is carrying out a long-term program 
of preparing maps of high-water evacuation routes 
from vulnerable coastal areas. As mentioned earlier, 
these maps feature high-resolution relief so that local 
disaster officials can choose the most suitable evacu- 
ation routes to safety inland. Progress is slow in 
preparing the maps, and they cover only part of the 
total hazard problem. Also, their cost is high, and 
they are printed in relatively small quantities. 
A task force has been formed within the Na- 
tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to 
identify ways of strengthening the organization’s in- 
volvement in natural hazard planning and prepared- 
ness, particularly in relation to hurricanes as they 
affect the coastal area. 
The U.S. Geological Survey is active in a wide 
variety of mapping for flood, earthquake, landslide, 
volcano, and subsidence hazards.1*! It is also the 
lead agency in the development of monitoring and 
warning systems for geological hazards. With the 
passage of the “Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act 
of 1977” (P.L. 95-124), the level of these activities 
~160U.S. General Accounting Office. National Attempts to 
* Reduce Losses from Floods by Planning for and Controlling 
the Uses of Flood-Prone Lands. Washington, D.C., March 7, 
1975. 
161 U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey. 
Directory to U.S. Geological Survey Program Activities in 
Coastal Areas, 1974-76. Washington, D.C., 1976. 
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