Chapter 7: Statutory Authority Chapter Outline
Pre-disaster Mitigation Program Reauthorization Act of 2003
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Pre-disaster Mitigation Program Reauthorization Act of 2003Congress is taking steps to continue efforts towards pre-disaster mitigation. In the 108th Congressional session, the U.S. House of Representatives worked to amend the three year deadline to the HGMP, and extended the deadline to September 30, 2005. The Pre-disaster Mitigation Program Reauthorization Act of 2003, H.R. 3181, sought to extend the Disaster Mitigation Act for three years, (and to restore the HMGP formula to 15%). The U.S. House of Representatives referred H.R. 3181, Pre-disaster Mitigation Program Reauthorization Act of 2003, to House committee on November 4, 2003; The bill was then referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on December 9, 2003. However, because Congress adjourned without voting on the bill, it did not move forward. In December of 2004, a one-year extension of the PDM program was included in the Omnibus Appropriations bill. ConclusionFederal mitigation policies have grown significantly during the last fifty years. The most significant change has been the shift towards vulnerability reduction at the community level. Mitigation policy has begun to move away from the treatment of individual disasters towards more comprehensive programs supporting hazards risk assessment. With such tools at their service, communities are better able to define their needs accurate in relation to the portfolio of risks they face. Federal mitigation policy has also sought to treat hazards before disasters occur rather then taking those same mitigation actions only as a reactionary measure. Under such policies, towns and cities must no longer suffer needlessly before State and Federal Government support is provided. With the benefit of hazards risk assessments, communities can identify these hazard risks and reduce them without needing to have an established history of disaster events. Several communities have already reaped the benefits of pre-disaster mitigation, and their increased resilience paid off in lives saved and property preserved. Unfortunately, because pre-disaster mitigation funding is still very new, and only limited research exists on the absolute monetary benefits it provides, some communities may be skeptical of committing funds to its practice despite evidence that suggests cost-effectiveness. However, as more programs are funded, and more disasters are mitigated as a result, these figures will become available. In 2005, the argument for pre-disaster mitigation received a significant boost when a report was released by the Multihazard Mitigation Council (MMC), a public/private partnership designed to reduce the economic and social costs of natural hazards. The Council proclaimed “money spent on reducing the risk of natural hazards is a sound investment” (MMH, 2005). The MMC study determined that, on average, every dollar that FEMA had spent on hazard mitigation had produced about $4 in future benefits. What is more impressive is that these results are not limited purely to the financial consequences. According to the study, FEMA’s mitigation grants were directly linked to the prevention of an estimated 220 lives, and also appear to have prevented almost 4,700 injuries. Armed with these findings, more emergency managers will be able to convince their constituents, and their community executives, that pre-disaster mitigation is as sound an investment as those managers have long believed. Such findings will also be key to furthering the drive towards Federally- and state-supported mitigation policies. After all, with an 300% observed rate of return, investment in pre-disaster mitigation is a fantastic sell. References Bea, Keith. 2000. Disaster Mitigation Assistance Bills in the 106th Congress: Comparison of Provisions. Congressional Research Service Report RL30543. May 5. Bea, Keith. 2003. Federal Disaster Policies after Terrorists Strike: Issues and Options. New York. Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Dacy, Douglas and Howard Kunreuther. 1969. The Economics of Natural Disaster: Implications for Federal Policy. New York. The Free Press. FEMA. N/D. “Mitigation Grant Programs: List of Fiscal Year 2003 Pre-Disaster Mitigation Competitive Grant Recipients.” FEMA Website. www.fema.gov/fima/pdmclist.shtm FEMA 2. N/D. “Pre-Disaster Mitigation Loans for Small Businesses.” FEMA Website. http://www.fema.gov/fima/planning_sba_loan.shtm Godschalk, David R., Timothy Beatley, Philip Berke, David Brower, and Edward Kaiser. 1999. Natural Hazard Mitigation: Recasting Disaster Policy and Planning. Washington, DC. Island Press. Government Accountability Office (GAO). 2002. “Hazard Mitigation: Proposed Changes to FEMA’s Multihazard Program Present Challenges.” Washington, DC. September. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d021035.pdf Haddow, George and Jane Bullock. 2003. Introduction to Emergency Management. New York. Butterworth Heinemann. Huffman, James. 1986. Government Liability and Disaster Mitigation: A Comparative Study. Lanham, MD. University Press of America, Inc. Leinwand, Donna, and Gregg Zoroya. 2004. “Hurricane’s Toll Grows Heavier in Eastern USA.” USA Today. September 20. http://usatoday.com/weather/hurricane/2004-09-20-ivan-1a_x.htm Mileti, Dennis S. 1999. Disasters by Design: A Reassessment of Natural Hazards in the United States. Washington, DC. Joseph Henry Press. Multihazard Mitigation Council (MMC). 2005. Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: An Independent Study to Assess the Future Savings from Mitigation Activities. Volume 1. http://nibs.org/MMC/MitigationSavingsReport/Part1_final.pdf National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP). 2004. What is an Earthquake? November 22. http://www.fema.gov/hazards/earthquakes/nehrp/earthquake_backgrounder.shtm Perry, Charles A. 2000. Significant Floods in the United States During the 20th Century – USGS Measures a Century of Floods. United States Geological Survey (USGS) Fact Sheet 024-00. March. Science Daily. 2005. USGS Measures a Century of Floods. May 12. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/05/000512083928.htm Small Business Administration (SBA). N/D. “Pre-Disaster Mitigation Loan Program.” SBA Website. http://www.sba.gov/disaster_recov/loaninfo/pre_disaster_mitigation.html United States Congress. 2000. “Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000.” Public Law 106-390. October 30. http://www.dem.dcc.state.nc.us/PA/Assets/Forms/dma2000.pdf United States Senate. 2000. “Disaster Mitigation Act of 1999.” S. 1691. May 17. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r106:3:./temp/~r106fPPlYP: Wachtendorf, Tricia. 2000. “Building Community Partnerships Toward a National Mitigation Effort.” Disaster Research Center. Newark, DE. University of Delaware. Image 7.3.1: House Raised to Mitigate Flood Risk 
Source: FEMA - http://www.fema.gov/fima/planning.shtm Additional Sources of Information on NEHRP FEMA NEHRP Home Page - http://www.fema.gov/hazards/earthquakes/nehrp/ SAC Steel Project: http://www.sacsteel.org/project/index.html The NEHRP Coalition - http://www.nehrp.org/ Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) Position on NEHRP Reauthorization - http://www.eeri.org/news/nehrp/ USGS Earthquake Hazards Program “Largest Earthquakes in the United States” http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eqlists/10maps_usa.html USGS Earthquake Home Page - http://earthquake.usgs.gov/ HAZUS - http://www.fema.gov/hazus/ Additional Sources of Information on the Homeland Security Act of 2002 Department of Homeland Security – www.dhs.gov White House Homeland Security Page - http://www.whitehouse.gov/homeland/ Full Text of the Act - http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=5&q=http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/hsa2002.pdf&e=10313 GAO Report on Nunn Lugar Domenici Act - http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=1&q=http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt%3FGAO/T-NSIAD-99-16&e=10313 Terrorism Annex to the Federal Response Plan (Now the National Response Plan) http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=1&q=http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/pdd39_frp.htm&e=10313 FEMA September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack Page - http://www.fema.gov/diz01/d1391.shtm Additional Sources of Information on DMA 2000 SBA Pre-disaster mitigation program - http://www.sba.gov/disaster_recov/loaninfo/pre_disaster_mitigation.html DMA 2000 Planning Resources http://www.fema.gov/fima/resources.shtm Approved Hazard Mitigation Plans http://www.fema.gov/fima/approved_plans.shtm Full List of 2003 Approved PDM Projects http://www.fema.gov/fima/pdmclist.shtm FEMA Mitigation Division Website - http://www.fema.gov/fima/ Glossary of Terms ASCE Standard – Building or other engineering / architectural code accepted by the American Society of Civil Engineers Microzonation - The identification of separate individual areas having different potentials for hazardous earthquake effects Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale - a scale used to classify the intensity of an earthquake by examining its effects on people and structures at the Earth's surface. It was created by Italian volcanologist Giuseppe Mercalli in 1902. It is often used to classify the magnitude of historical earthquakes that occurred before seismic measurements were possible. Richter Scale – A logarithmic scale, invented in 1935 by United States geophysicist Charles Richter, for representing the energy released by earthquakes Sarin – a man-made chemical warfare agent classified as a nerve agent WMD – Weapon of Mass Destruction – Refers to a weapon designed to kill or injure large numbers of people. These weapons tend to be made out of Nuclear, radiological, biological, chemical, or highly explosive materials. Acronyms ASCE – American Society of Civil Engineers ATF – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms BTS – Border and Transportation Security CBP – U.S. Customs and Border Protection CIA – Central Intelligence Agency CUREe – California Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering DHS – Department of Homeland Security DOJ – Department of Homeland Security EERI – Earthquake Engineering Research Institute EP&R – Emergency Preparedness and Response FEMA – Federal Emergency Management Agency FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation FOIA – Freedom of Information Act FRP - Federal Response Plan GAO – General Accounting Office / Government Accountability Office HAZUS – Hazards U.S. HAS – Homeland Security Act HMGP – Hazard Mitigation Grant Program HSARPA - Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency HSOC – Homeland Security Operations Center HSPD – Homeland Security Presidential Directive IAIP – Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection NEES – Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation NEHRP – National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program NESW – National Earthquake Strategy Working Group NEP – National Earthquake Loss Reduction Program NHSA – National Homeland Security Agency NIMS – National Incident Management System NIST – National Institute for Standards and Technology NSA – National Security Agency NSF – National Science Foundation OIG – Office of the Inspector General OSTP – Office of Science and Technology Policy PBSD – Performance Based Seismic Design PDD – Presidential Decision Directive PDM – Pre-Disaster Mitigation PHSAC – President’s Homeland Security Advisory Council S&T – Science and Technology SBA – Small Business Administration TIPS – Terrorism Information and Prevention System TSA – Transportation Security Administration TTIC – Terrorist Threat Information Center USAR – Urban Search and Rescue USCIS - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services USCNS/21 – United States Commission on National Security / 21st Century USGS - United States Geological Survey USSS – United States Secret Service WMD – Weapon of Mass Destruction Discussion Questions General
NEHRP
Homeland Security Act of 2002
DMA 2000
Suggested Out of Class Exercises
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