Show All Answers

1. What is mitigation planning?

Mitigation planning is a process through which communities assess risks and identify actions to reduce vulnerability to hazards through hazard mitigation.

2. What are the benefits of mitigation planning?

It creates safer communities by reducing loss of life and property damage. For example, the rigorous building standards adopted by 20,000 communities across the country are saving the nation more than $1.1 billion a year in prevented flood damages.

It allows individuals to minimize post-flood disaster disruptions and recover more rapidly. For example, homes built to NFIP standards incur less damage from floods. And when floods do cause damages, flood insurance protects the homeowner’s investment, as it did for the more than 200,000 Gulf Coast residents who received more than $23 billion in payments following the 2005 hurricanes.

Mitigation planning also lessens the financial impact on individuals, communities, and society as a whole. For example, a recent study by the Multi-Hazard Mitigation Council shows that each dollar spent on mitigation saves society an average of four dollars.

3. What is a mitigation plan?

A mitigation plan is a community-driven, living document that communities use to reduce their vulnerability to hazards.

4. Why assess and plan for risk?

The plan and its process show the link between land-use decisions and vulnerability. It serves as a tool to be used by planners or other officials to advise and inform decision makers.

5. What is the Stafford Act?

The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Public Law 93-288), as amended by the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, provides the legal basis for State, local, and Indian Tribal governments to undertake a risk-based approach to reducing risks to natural hazards through mitigation planning.