THE ESCALATING COSTS
U. OF. I LIBRARY AT
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Much of the nation’s most sought-after real estate offers spectacular views of oceans, mountains, and valleys—and lies directly in the paths of natural disasters. As the U.S. population continues to gravitate toward these high-risk areas, and as the frequency of extreme weather events increases, the costs of responding to and recovering from catastrophic events are spinning out of control, and the potential for catastrophic losses of lives is increasing daily.
Where 20 years ago the impacts of natural disasters
were predominantly local, today they extend nationally and even internationally. For example, if Hurricane Andrew had made a direct hit on Miami, the banking industry in the U.S. and much of Latin America would have suffered severely, and the insurance industry would have been seriously compromised. Property losses would have been more than double the record $30 billion reported, and the number of homeless would have soared from the record 350,000 to 1.6 million people.
The potential for catastrophic losses of lives is increasing daily.OF NATURAL DISASTERS
A snapshot of weather-related costs borne by a sampling of U.S. industries illustrates the economic toll of natural disasters.
Airlines: Weather-related accidents cost the industry an average $1.9 billion a year.
Railroads: Each weather-related derailment costs the industry $1-5 million.
Maritime Commerce: Weather-related shipping losses averaged $2 billion in 1985.
Oil & Gas: When hurricanes threaten the Gulf, production shutdowns can cost the industry and the U.S. treasury combined as much as $15 million a day.
Insurance: A single hurricane can cost the industry $50 billion.
Communications: Solar flares and similar electromagnetic interference can knock $250-million satellite communication systems out of operation.
Agriculture: Weather-related crop damages average $2 billion a year.RISK/BENEFIT
DEVELOPMENT
-
’romoting the adoption of next-generation technologies for mitigating, forecasting, and responding to natural disasters.
Facilitating the export of U.S. technologies and products to countries concerned with preparing for and mitigating the effects of natural disasters within their own borders.
ASSESSMENT
STANDARDS AND CODES FOR
BUILDINGS
AND
LIFELINES
/iding via the Internet an accurate, up-to-date national shoreline that depicts extensively developed, vulnerable coastlines and environmentally sensitive areas.
KEEPING PEOPLE AND PROPERTY OUT OF HARM'S WAY...
In the crisis atmosphere immediately following a natural disaster, communities frequently rebuild exactly as before, thus perpetuating their vulnerability. To survive, communities must be prepared for and more resilient to the effects of natural disasters, so they can take preemptive action to save lives and minimize losses and recover quickly and systematically.
■ Developing and maintaining the standards and codes for designing and building the nation’s infrastructure, with an aim toward strengthening the resistance of buildings, communications and transportation systems, and electric, gas, sewage, and water lines to extreme winds, earthquakes, and fire.
■ Providing the next-generation technologies for assessing the pre-disaster vulnerability and post-disas-ter condition of buildings and lifelines.
Compiling Census data for identifying and assessing the risk of communities vulnerable to natural hazards.
\ssessing the economic impacts of natural disasters and the costs and benefits of alternative disaster mitigation, response, and recovery technologies.Because of its geography, climate, and interdependent infrastructure, the United States is increasingly at risk from weather-related and geophysical hazards. Many of these extreme weather events, previously thought to occur only once in a century, are now recurring far more frequently. This map shows the regions of the country that are vulnerable to these hazards, while the table inset lists the costliest disasters over the past 15 years in some of the major natural hazard categories.
Alaska
—William B. Daley, Secretary of Commerce
Hawaii
“Two-thirds of federal disaster aid is weather related.”
PEOPLE AND PROPERTY AT RISK IN THE U.S.
1960 1100M 1,98M 94.5M 1100M
1980
Continuing population growth along the U.S. coast •••
1990 More and more Americans are 131.6M choosing to live in coastal areas that are vulnerable to hurricanes, mud slides, earthquakes, and other natural disasters.COSTLIEST NATURAL DISASTERS
Event	Year Cost
1997
1995
1994
1994
1993
1993
1992
1992
1991
1988
1983
$1 B
$3 B $20 B $3 B $20 B $6B $27 B $.001B $1.5 B $40 B
$2 B
T
floods earthquakes hurricanes, tornadoes tropical storms
$ te hail storms	landslides	wild fires
ice storms
blizzards,
severe cold
volcanic	tsunamis
eruptions
Mississippi and Ohio Valley Tornadoes
California Coastal Flooding
Northridge Earthquake
Southeast Ice Storm
Midwest River Flooding
Eastern U.S. Blizzard
Hurricane Andrew
Spurr, Alaska, Volcano
Oakland Firestorm
Central/Eastern U.S. Drought/Heat Wave
Florida Freeze
$54.3 Billion
$22 Billion
$13 Billion I
l
increases the value of property at risk • ••
As the lure of the coast intensifies, the inventory and value of property at risk from natural disasters are skyrocketing. In only five years, the value of coastal residential and commercial property nearly doubled.
$4.5 Billion
I
1970 1997
and the cost of U.S. natural disasters.
The soaring costs of natural disasters both along the coast and throughout the nation clearly indicate the urgency to keep people and property out of harm's way.WITH END-TO-END DELIVERY OF SERVICES.
Through its Natural Disaster Reduction Initiative, the Department of Commerce is applying the unique tools of several DoC bureaus to ensure that people and property either are not in the path of natural hazards in the first place or are more resilient to them when they occur.
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
Providing the geographic information system (GIS) data bases that strengthen emergency management information systems nationwide.
Ensuring timely delivery of industrial materials, equipment, and services needed to mitigate the effects of anticipated disasters or to help communities recover from natural disasters.
ing grants to support business and job recovery and to
I	new infrastructure after a natural disaster has occurred.
Developing sample statutes and ordinances for addressing land-use issues (e.g., beach and dune protection and shoreline-hardening prohibitions), which will mitigate the impacts of atural hazards.
elping states and communities establish : necessary resources and incentives— insurance, tax, mortgage, and other financial policies—that reduce the costs of natural disasters by discouraging building in floodplains, surf zones, and other high-risk areas.
ing local capital investment in infra-ructure in low-risk areas to insulate economies and jobs from the impacts of future natural disasters.
ing grants to state and local govern-ents to implement projects and programs to reduce natural hazards.
■	Using radars and upper-air and satellite observation systems to observe, measure, and forecast extreme conditions that could produce natural disasters. Forecast capabilities range from a few minutes (e.g., tornadoes) to several months (El Nino) in advance.
■	Communicating critical information during extreme weather events. For example, the new Gulf Stream Jet monitors upper-air conditions during hurricanes, and advanced systems in U.S. rivers, offshore waters, and the Great Lakes measure real-time water levels during floods and hazardous tidal surges.
■	Identifying trends in the frequency, intensity, and location of extreme weather events ranging from decades to centuries, such as changes in global climate and rising sea levels.END-TO-END DELIVERY OF SERVICES
■ Prevention and Risk Reduction
■	Forecasts and Warnings
■ Preparedness and Mitigation
■	Response and Recovery
Bureau of the Census Bureau of Economic Analysis Bureau of Export Administration Economic Development Administration International Trade Administration National Institute of Standards and Technology National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration