Hazard Mitigation Breaks the Cycle
When recurrent disasters take place, such as flooding along a river, repeated damage and reconstruction occurs. This recurrent reconstruction is often more expensive as the years go by. Hazard mitigation breaks this expensive cycle of recurrent damage and increasing reconstruction costs by taking a long-term view of rebuilding and recovery following natural disasters.
What Are the Benefits?
- Reduces the loss of life, property, essential services, critical facilities and economic hardship.
- Reduces short-term and long-term recovery and reconstruction costs.
- Increases cooperation and communication within the community through the planning process.
- Increases potential for state and federal funding for recovery and reconstruction projects.
What Are the Tools of Hazard Mitigation?
Land use planning & regulation of the development in hazard-prone areas, such as prohibiting new construction in a floodplain, along a coastline or in any other hazard prone area.
- Enforcement of building codes and environmental regulations.
- Public safety measures such as continual maintenance of roadways, culverts and dams.
- Acquisition of relocation of properties, such as purchasing buildings located in a floodplain.
- Retrofitting of structures & design of new construction such as elevating a home or building.
- Coastal zone management, such as dune restoration and harbor safety measures.
- Comprehensive emergency planning, preparedness and recovery.
- New Culvert Works file size 1MB
- New Drainage Averts Flooding file size 1MB
- Freeboard Incentive Program file size 1MB
- Best Practices - Town of Scituate file size 1MB
- Mitigation in Massachusetts - 2009 Overview file size 3MB
- Many communities in the Commonwealth maintain gravel/dirt roads. These roads often serve as an important access way to critical facilities or evacuation routes, so the maintenance and restoration of these roads during or after a flood event are crucial. In addition to roadways, slopes and ditches may also fail in a flood event and become a major hazard to public safety. This poster file size 1MB and slide show file size 35MB provide information of Best Practices for the mitigation of gravel roads and slope stabilization