Hazard Mitigation

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The federal government's role in planning for, mitigating, responding to and recovering from natural and human-made disasters dates to the Congressional Act of 1803, which was enacted to provide relief from the aftermath of a devastating New Hampshire fire (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2010). Later disasters in our nation’s history “reached catastrophic proportions in terms of deaths, injuries and property loss which focused government and public attention on the need to develop formal systems to respond to such events” (Waugh & Tierney, 2007, p. 27). By the 1970’s, more than 100 agencies were responsible for some element of emergency preparedness and response. Competing and sometimes duplicative programs were also instituted at state and local levels which compounded the complexity of response efforts. This broad-based, uncoordinated approach yielded a fragmented response posture, with roles and missions unclear across government, community and private sector lines.

Despite efforts to better organize response programs, “expectations regarding improved federal response to natural disasters were shattered by FEMA’s poor performance in dealing with hurricanes” (Waugh & Tierney, 2007, p.33). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), created to ameliorate gaps in the federal response capability, was plagued by similar shortcomings (Fessler, 2008). These failures demonstrated “the nation’s emergency management system was broken and officials needed to rebuild local, state and regional capacities to reduce hazards and respond to emergencies” (Waugh & Tierney, 2007, p.4). The current paradigm, therefore, must be realigned “and the process of rebuilding should focus on two goals: developing the capacities of local emergency man...

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Fessler, P. (2008). DHS Still Dogged by Questions over Effectiveness. NPR. Retrieved August 19, 2011 from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17969438

González, P. (2009). Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change: Understanding Threat and Vulnerability, Building Adaptive Capacity. Retrieved August 29, 2011 http://www.eird.org/wikien/images/DRRandCC_PGonzalez.pdf

Mileti, D. S. (1999). Disasters by Design: A Reassessment of Natural Hazards in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press.

United Nations Development Programme. (2004). Reducing Disaster Risk A Challenge for Development . New York : John S Swift.

Waugh, W. L., Jr. & Tierney, K. (2007). Emergency Planning: Principles and Practice for Local Government. 2nd edition. Washington, D.C.: International City/County Management Association (ICMA) Press.

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