National Symposium on Mitigating Severe Weather Impacts

1
National Symposium on Mitigating Severe Weather
Impacts

• Design for Disaster Reduction
• March 31-April 5, 2001
• Tulsa, Oklahoma

2
SESSION IV Intervention for change Incentives,
Legislation, Regulations, Innovations and
Education

• The Congressional Natural Hazards Caucus and Its
  Work Group
• William H. Hooke
• American Meteorological Society

3
Talk Outline

• the caucus
• the work group
• discussion paper
• the transition document
• an analog to the NTSB

4
The Congressional Natural Hazards Caucus

• Senator Akaka of HawaiiSenator Boxer of
  CaliforniaSenator Breaux of LouisianaSenator
  Byrd of West VirginiaSenator Cleland of
  GeorgiaSenator Cochran of MississippiSenator
  Conrad of North DakotaSenator Dorgan of North
  DakotaSenator Feinstein of CaliforniaSenator
  Graham of FloridaSenator Inouye of
  HawaiiSenator Murkowski of AlaskaSenator Robb
  of VirginiaSenator Schumer of New YorkSenator
  Torricelli of New JerseySenator Wyden of Oregon

• Senator Stevens (AK) and Senator Edwards (NC),
  co-chairs

5
The Work Group
http//www.agiweb.org/workgroup/
6
Activities of the Work Grouphttp//www.agiweb.or
g/workgroup/

• Discussion Paper
• http//www.agiweb.org/workgroup/discussion_paper01
  01.html
• Transition Document
• http//www.ucar.edu/communications/awareness/2001/
  hazards/

7
Caucus Discussion Paper issue 1

• disaster loss estimates are uncertain
• charge an executive branch agency to develop
  hazard loss figures

8
Caucus Discussion Paper issue 2

• pre-event mitigation is under-used
• cost-benefit data scattered, anecdotal, not
  useful
• insist agencies document the cost-effectiveness
  of their mitigation programs

9
Caucus Discussion Paper issue 3

• emergency response needs improvement
• require agencies support RD and new
  instrumentation to improve lead times, accuracy,
  and specificity of warnings

10
Caucus Discussion Paper issue 4

• long term recovery not well coordinated
• work with agencies and state and local government
  to improve coordination beyond the immediate
  post-disaster period

11
Caucus Discussion Paper issue 5

• fed-state-local partnerships typically provide
  mitigation resources after the disaster, not
  before
• examine current law, insist that proposed
  legislation create no new vulnerability to
  hazards, and begin with federal facilities

12
Caucus Discussion Paper issue 6

• new technologies are needed to improve protection
  of critical infrastructure
• remove barriers impeding the entry of hazard
  mitigation technologies into the marketplace

13
A National Priority Building Resilience to
Natural Hazards
14
Eight Recommended Steps

• conduct a national assessment
• develop incentives
• improve warnings
• build resilience
• create and exercise partnerships
• measure progress
• learn from mistakes
• work with other nations
• provide leadership

15
Needed an Analog to the NTSB
16
A Natural Disaster Reduction Board (NDRB)

• independent investigation
• trained staff
• broad scope
• full stakeholder participation
• recommendations, not regulations
• public findings, broadly disseminated