Back to the Future: Charting the Course for Project Impact

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)'s Project Impact initiative has drastically altered the landscape of disaster mitigation activities throughout the United States. Through partnering with local and state government, the private sector, and nonprofit organizations, FEMA has established a means to accomplish a goal of significant mutual benefit: disaster resistant communities. By emphasizing the importance of land-use planning in addition to the traditional forms of mitigation, such as acquisition of property, elevation of buildings, and rehabilitation of existing structures, the Project Impact initiative is working toward a comprehensive, community-based process to incorporate technology effectively into hazard identification and sound public policy. The writer urges communities to reembrace an approach that respects the land and the forces of nature and to move away from a reflexive orientation toward sole reliance on structural solutions. This approach can more effectively establish a future with reduced risk from all natural hazards.