This page tells you about mitigation and what it takes for mitigation to be effective.
![EMA mitigation specialists meet with a contractor that has raised this home to mitigate flooding. Image of FEMA mitigation specialists meet with a contractor that has raised this home to mitigate flooding.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20161122171857im_/https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/styles/rotator_large/fema/22369.jpg)
Effective mitigation requires that we all understand local risks, address the hard choices and invest in long-term [community] well-being.
By incorporating the latest advancements in building design and technology – and by applying lessons learned from prior disasters – we can create safer, stronger, more resilient communities. Professionals in a variety of disciplines provide the expertise to make communities safer. Engineers, architects, hydrologists, geologists, urban planners, digital cartographers and others all play vital roles.
![Denise Rosado, a volunteer FEMA mitigation specialist helps local residents impacted by Hurricane Wilma fill out information at the Disaster Recovery Center set up next to the City Hall. Denise Rosado, a volunteer FEMA mitigation specialist helps local residents impacted by Hurricane Wilma fill out information at the Disaster Recovery Center set up next to the City Hall.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20161122171857im_/https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/images/18676.jpg)
Creating resilient communities – that are able to not only survive hazards but come through them safely, quickly and securely – requires investment. Building safe rooms, making seismic retrofits for earthquake resistance, constructing floodwalls and planning other structures to protect lives is important work. But investment in mitigation is not just a focus on bricks and mortar. It’s also: investing in technology and analyzing risks; applying proven principles of floodplain management; creating stronger building codes and guiding smarter development; building strong relationships with communities and much more. Mitigation investment is, ultimately, a commitment to devote human and financial capital to strengthen a community – and prevent hazards from becoming disasters.
- FEMA works with communities to shape hazard mitigation plans that will support long-term decision making and resilience.
- Communities, in turn, adopt and enforce local building codes, floodplain ordinances and actively encourage their residents to be more resilient to disasters.
- FEMA provides technical guidance and expertise to support smart, safe building practices in earthquake, high-wind, and flood-prone areas.
- NFIP communities must adopt and enforce ordinances that meet or exceed FEMA requirements to reduce the risk of flooding.
- FEMA also works with communities to regularly update flood hazard maps to reflect local changes impacting the likelihood of flooding and to put the best in new technology to work.