Rebuild Smarter and Stronger

Information and Guidance on Building Safer

Rebuilding homes or businesses after a disaster is the right time to incorporate techniques to prevent future disaster damages. The following resources provide in-depth information on the destructive forces of certain hazards and techniques for building disaster-resistant structures.

Catalog of FEMA Flood and Wind Publications, and Training Courses

This catalog contains a listing with brief descriptions of publications and courses developed by the Building Science Section of FEMA’s Mitigation Directorate. Publications include recovery advisories (hurricane and tornado), Mitigation Assessment Team (MAT) reports (hurricanes and tornadoes), natural hazard Risk Management Series (RMS) publications, technical bulletins, and training courses. The catalog also notes how the documents can be obtained, either online for downloading or through FEMA's Publications Warehouse. Click here for the catalog.

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Protect Your Home or Business

The FEMA How-To Series instructs property owners and contractors about construction techniques to protect your property, home or business from disaster  with short, easy-to-understand pamphlets. The pamphlets provide information on a range of hazards, including fire, flooding, earthquakes, and high winds.

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Review Mitigation Best Practices

FEMA’s Best Practices and Case Studies Portfolio is a web-based repository of stories about individuals who avoided losses and damages during hazard events thanks to sound mitigation planning and projects. The portfolio shares effective mitigation strategies and practices to increase public awareness and to compel citizens to take action and lessen the impact of disasters.

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Mitigation Assessment Team

FEMA’s Mitigation Assessment Team (MAT) assembles quickly to assess the performance of buildings and related infrastructure in the aftermath of disaster. This combination of construction, engineering, and hazard experts determine which construction techniques and materials withstood the forces of the hazard, and which did not. The MAT experts document their findings and recommend building techniques to mitigate future damages in several post-disaster MAT reports.

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Earthquake Mitigation

The National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) seeks to mitigate earthquake losses in the United States through research and implementation activities in the fields of earthquake science and engineering. NEHRP is a collaborative effort of FEMA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Geological Survey to develop effective practices for earthquake loss reduction, to improve seismic hazard identification and risk assessment methods, and to improve the understanding of earthquakes and their effects. NEHRP develops in-depth guidance documents on earthquake-resistant building and infrastructure design to prevent losses to life and property.

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Mitigating Manmade Disasters

FEMA's Risk Management Series (RMS) provides design guidance for mitigating multihazard events, including manmade disasters.  The series provides guidance on how-to reduce physical damage to structural and nonstructural components of buildings and related infrastructure, and to reduce resultant casualties during conventional bomb attacks, chemical, biological, and radiological agents; earthquakes; floods; and high winds.

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Last Modified: Saturday, 13-Sep-2008 08:30:23 EDT

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