Chapter 1 - Current and future directions in hazard mitigation policy

Abstract

The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA2K) is considered a key milestone in federal hazard mitigation policy. It requires local governments to create and maintain written hazard mitigation plans as a prerequisite for receiving several categories of federal disaster assistance, including hazard mitigation grants. Since DMA2K, there have been minor amendments to federal hazard mitigation policy, such as the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006. However, no substantial revision to the Code of Federal Regulations or to the actual requirements for hazard mitigation planning has occurred since 2000. Instead, the federal government has released a National Disaster Mitigation Framework and updated many of its guidance documents, positioning hazard mitigation within the broader context of emergency management and seeking to clarify the intent behind the policy. This has created a fragmented policy environment in which jurisdictions are left to implement hazard mitigation activities in very different ways, and in which the intent of the legislation, which was to reduce “loss of life, human suffering, loss of income, and property loss and damage” (DMA2K), has not been fully achieved. This chapter discusses hazard mitigation planning in the City of New Orleans during three different time periods: immediately following Hurricane Katrina (2005), the 5year update (2010), and 10years later (2015). These cases illustrate the impact that national policies have on local mitigation planning and activities, while also highlighting some of the pervasive challenges to the implementation of the national policy. The chapter will also discuss the implications for the future of hazard mitigation and disaster risk reduction in the United States.