FEMA to Require Climate Assessment for Funding

NRMCA has been promoting disaster resilience as a strategy to mitigate the impacts of climate change for a number of years in opposition to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) reactionary approach. Soon, FEMA will change its practice and require states to examine the impacts of global warming on their communities as a condition for receiving federal disaster preparedness funding, according to draft guidelines released by the agency earlier this month. Under the guideline update, states hoping to get federal funding for disaster preparedness must conduct a formal analysis of all the risks their communities face from human-caused and natural hazards, as well as potential policies and projects to deal with these risks. The projects must lessen the physical and economic impacts of disasters, such as buying sandbags for floodwaters or retrofitting buildings to withstand earthquakes.

NRMCA members can promote the inherent advantages of concrete by participate in their local analysis as they prepare for potential hazard risks to receive FEMA funding. Written comments to the Draft Guidelines may be submitted electronically to FEMA by sending an e-mail to FEMA-Mitigation-Planning@fema.dhs.gov no later than 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, October 17.