Hazard Mitigation

Hazard mitigation can be broadly defined as measures directed at reducing risk or damage to property and lives from natural or human-made [Page 443]hazards. Suitable mitigation measures are determined by assessing which factors cause the most risk, and which of those will provide the most safety for cost. Hazard risk mitigation techniques can diminish the hazard and reduce the vulnerability of the property or life exposed to the hazard. Hazard mitigation techniques are structural (for example, dykes to protect from floods). Vulnerability mitigation techniques can be structural (for example, raising a home above flood level) and nonstructural (for example, regulation to address behavioral changes among the population with regard to the hazard). Mitigation is generally considered to be the first stage of disaster/crisis management. It allows for building community and personal resilience to hazards prior to the event through long-term investments in safety. This discussion focuses on nonstructural mitigation of natural hazards through incorporation of indigenous knowledge and local land use planning. The case study features the process of collaborative development of a risk-based land use guide for Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with a goal of mitigating hazards and strengthening community safety through informed land use decisions.

Drainage tubes installed along Route 30 in Blenheim, New York, diverting water during a heavy rainstorm on November 23, 2011. The tubes were part of mitigation work that was completed after flooding struck the area during Hurricane Irene in August 2011. Hazard mitigation techniques, such as this structural example, can reduce the vulnerability of the property or life exposed to the hazard.

Humans have been trying to mitigate hazards for centuries. Vincent Covello and Jeryl Mumpower suggested that virtually all great ancient civilizations (e.g., China, Maya, Egypt, and Mesopotamia) directly intervened to mitigate the effects of natural disasters and that governments have played a major role in developing and financing elaborate systems of flood control. Given the growing costs of disasters, public-private partnerships with the goal of mitigating hazards are gaining recognition as a potential way to share risk and costs of long-term investments in the resilience of communities and societies.

Researchers such as David Godschalk and colleagues in the United States and John Handmer