In 1979 President Jimmy Carter brought together programs involved in preparedness and response to emergencies under an umbrella body- the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) (Haddow, Bullock, & Coppola, 2014). FEMA provides guidelines and expertise in disaster management in the country and at the local level in the states. FEMA works with various bodies in hazard mitigation programs including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Economic Development Administration (EDA), and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development among others. This paper aims to discuss the various federal mitigation programs in the United States.
According to Haddow et al. (2014), the programs under FEMA include National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program (PDM), the Flood Mitigation Assistance Program and others. The National Flood Insurance Program provides insurance at reduced costs against floods and to reduce the effects of flooding in areas under the threat of flooding. The program, apart from offering insurance to property owners, they urge societies to implement and enforce regulations to manage floodplains. NFIP works closely with Flood Map Assistance Program to help mitigate the effects of floods in the floodplains. Communities with permitted Flood Mitigation Plans and participating in NFIP apply for grants to help in flood mitigation. The grants awarded to states and the NFIP-compliant communities help in reducing the impact of floods through policy implementation.
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NFIP works mostly in vulnerable regions, and in the communities where flood insurance is necessary and serves more than five million in the United States (Canton, 2019). The insurance rates in NFIP depend on the Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM). FIRMs determine the applicable rates depending on the vulnerability of the region to floods. FIRM is used as the hazard assessment tool by NFIP to measure the likelihood of floods in an area. The regions get ranks from low to high probability, and the rates applied are higher in areas highly likely to experience flooding. When covered by the NFIP, the impact of floods on socio-economic losses get reduced significantly.
The Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), according to FEMA (n.d.), is a program responsible for helping people to implement mitigation measures against hazards. The program resulted from a request by the Governor of the President Major Disaster Declaration in states, tribe or territories. The program is under section 404 authorization of Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of Robert T. Sanford. HMGP’s primary responsibility is to endorse measures towards the mitigation of risk reduction of life and property loss from prospective disasters. The program uses the HMA guidance for its implementation process. The program receives limited funds, and thus the functioning and use of the funds are based on the most effective manner in mitigation. The funding is mostly from FEMA at 75% of the total grant and the rest from other minor funders.
HMGP provides support geared towards risk reduction through working together with businesses, homeowners, and the community to make decisions on the mitigation project suitable for the property (FEMA, n.d.). Then the program officials follow up on the implementation to ensure the community supports the application for inclusion of the property. HMGP then collects evidence inform of photographs of the damaged property. HMGP then through the community helps in the application of the grant. They then pay a portion of the cost incurred by a request from the community. Once the tribe or state carious out property assessment, they help push through compensation plans from HMGP. Under FEMA, HMGP monitors the progress of the project to ensure it complies with the set standards of the award. After completion of the project, HMGP makes sure that the damage from the hazard is not repetitive by ensuring that property purchased is not at risk of damage again.
The Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant Program (FMA), is a program under the National Flood Insurance Act enacted in 1968 to reduce and eliminate claims under NFIP (FEMA, n.d.). FMA helps in hazard mitigation through the provision of funds to states, tribes recognized by the federal government, and communities for projects insured by NFIP. The funding aims at reducing or eliminating the risk of long-term destruction of NFIP insured structures. Congress approves the funding of FMA every year and helps in the management of insured structures. FMA works with the state, tribes, and the local governments to come up and pick up hazard mitigation measure to enable them to receive non-emergency hazard assistance like the HMA projects.
According to FEMA (n.d.), homeowners, businesses, and private entities apply for FMA funding via the qualified sub-applicants. The sub-applicants which include tribes recognized under the federal government, agencies of the state, tribal agencies, HMGP, and the local governments and communities. The sub-applicants then submit the applications to the applicants who include territories, tribes federally recognized and states who then submit the application to FEMA for approval. After the approval, funding goes to FMA who then give the money to the applicants: state, territories and the federally-approved tribes.
References
Canton, L. G. (2019). Emergency management : concepts and strategies foreffective programs (second). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=-rKMDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP13&dq=FEMA+programs&ots=5OKcR5e2pZ&sig=KbcP_TSu2mlQFq7eiMZ8MmHZ7zE&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=FEMA programs&f=false
FEMA. (n.d.-a). Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant Program | FEMA.gov. Retrieved September 28, 2019, from https://www.fema.gov/flood-mitigation-assistance-grant-program
FEMA. (n.d.-b). Hazard Mitigation Grant Program | FEMA.gov. Retrieved September 28, 2019, from https://www.fema.gov/hazard-mitigation-grant-program
Haddow, G. D., Bullock, J. A., & Coppola, D. P. (2014). Introduction to emergency management (5th ed.). Waltham, MA: Butterwoth-Heinemann, Elsevier. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=cQowAAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=federal+mitigation+programs&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=federal mitigation programs&f=false
