Institute for Business & Home Safety

Avoiding Natural Disasters

By Paul A. Devlin

Reducing the human suffering and financial costs that follow natural disasters is fast becoming a national priority — and for good reason. As we have seen in the last few years, economic losses can be staggering, and relief funds stretch only so far. Local jurisdictions have no choice but to practice mitigation — to take action now in order to reduce potential future losses.

Traditionally, local mitigation has taken the form of stronger building codes, stricter code enforcement, new construction methods and materials, and public education. Land-use planning has rarely been at the forefront of these efforts — but it should be. Building codes treat each structure as an isolated item, while planning considers structures within the context of the community as a whole. Just as natural hazards are a factor in all building codes, so they should be a factor in all land-use planning.

Things are changing for the property insurance industry as well. That industry took an early role in loss mitigation by creating the first modern building code in the U.S. in 1905. Only recently has it taken any role in land-use planning.

Controlling Costs
Mitigation is becoming a necessity as more and more people build in areas of the country most prone to natural disasters: the Southeast and Gulf coasts, where hurricanes are prevalent, and the West Coast, where earthquakes are common. Population growth is also steady in areas such as the New Madrid seismic zone in the Midwest and along the fringes of wildfire zones in the Mountain West.

Because the federal government underwrites and funds nearly all flood insurance policies, it also encourages the states to engage in land-use planning to avoid flooding. But what about perils such as earthquakes, windstorms, and wildfires? No federal program exists to insure against them. Meanwhile, common sense tells us not to build directly in harm's way, but we do it anyway. How to solve this dilemma? The answer is that federal, state, and local governments should give earthquakes, windstorms, and wildfires as least the same planning priority that they give to flooding.

Showcase Communities
To push in that direction, the Institute for Business & Home Safety, a nonprofit organization based in Boston, has created a program called Showcase Communities. The idea is to encourage counties and local jurisdictions to institutionalize natural disaster mitigation, just as they have done with fire prevention and recycling. In other words, the aim is to persuade communities to make mitigation a community value.

In 1997, the city of Evansville, Indiana, and surrounding Vanderburgh County became the first Showcase Community. That happened after the city council, the county board of commissioners, and Indiana's Gov. Frank O'Bannon issued resolutions in support of the program. Also, the city and county agreed to do the following:

• Assign responsibility to a single official to make sure the community's part of the program stays on track;
• Undertake a variety of training and outreach programs to increase awareness of natural hazards among homeowners and business owners;
• Incorporate natural hazard awareness and reduction criteria in school curriculums;
• Maintain up-to-date natural disaster response and recovery plans;
• Modify existing city and county land-use practices to make hazard vulnerability a factor in land-use decisions.

Another requirement is that the city and county have in place an appropriate building code, the means to enforce it, and a suitable fire suppression grade.

This year a second Showcase Community was chosen: Deerfield Beach, Florida, and surrounding Broward County. And others will be chosen soon.

The Institute offers other programs, too. For example, it makes available an assessment form that allows communities to rate themselves on how well they integrate natural hazard mitigation into land-use planning. The Institute also offers a report that describes how hazard mitigation can help reduce losses. And it has compiled a comparison of the planning laws and practices in all 50 states with an eye toward hazard mitigation principles.

Visit the website of the Institute for Business & Home Safety to find out more.

Paul Devlin is the vice president of the Institute for Business & Home Safety.