ation of homes. The National Mitigation Strategy, introduced by FEMA in 1995, was used to ensure safer communities by promoting partnerships of the private sector and the local government. There are two main goals involved:
· To increase public awareness of the risks of natural hazards so that they will become more involved, and
· A reduction in death, injuries, costs, and the destruction of natural resources that are a result of a natural hazard (IS 393, p. 1-2, 1-3).
The main reason mitigation is important in because "you will be prepared for a disaster before it strikes, thereby saving lives, property, time, money, and resources" (FEMA 364, p. 9). FEMA has restructured it's focus from response and recovery to that of mitigation to emphasize the that it is of the utmost importance. The only phase of emergency management that is dedicated to breaking the cycle of damage, reconstruction, and repeated damage is mitigation.
There are two sets of opportunities that present themselves through mitigation that deserve distinct treatment - "those pursued in the pre-disaster period and programmed into local government activities and budgets on an ongoing effort; and those created as an immediate result of a natural disaster and must be acted upon in a timely manner during the recovery and long-term reconstruction periods" (Schwab, p. 60).
There are several benefits to implementing hazard mitigation according to Schwab (p.58):
1. Saving lives and reducing injuries
2. Preventing or reducing property damage
4. Minimizing social dislocation and stress
5. Maintaining critical facilities in functional order
7. Limiting legal liability of government and public officials
8. Providing positive political consequences for government actions
Another reason mitigation is important is because it will provide assistance to fix all of the things that are vulnerable in the community. Without mitigation, the community ...