This past October delivered two very important messages about the importance of mitigation in the face of increasingly catastrophic weather events. The first message was contained in a photograph that needed no caption. It showed a lone house standing, virtually unscathed, amidst the rubble of Mexico Beach, Florida, which took a direct hit from Hurricane… Read More
As many Americans look forward to taking a break from work this summer, the one hundred senators laboring away on Capitol Hill apparently will not be joining them. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has cancelled the Senate’s traditional August recess, blaming the need to work through Washington’s dog days on what he calls “historic obstruction”… Read More
Resilience is getting an increasing amount of attention in the public policy sphere. Case in point, last week, Jared Blum moderated a briefing on Capitol Hill focused on “Hidden in Plain Sight: Why Resilient Buildings are Critical U.S. Infrastructure.” The briefing explored what makes buildings resilient; why resilience is important for multiple policy challenges; and… Read More
The prestigious National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), empowered by Congress to identify ways to strengthen the built environment, has issued a series of recommendations to the Trump Administration, and resilience is at the top of their agenda. For the past four decades, NIBS, a nonprofit, non-governmental organization, has identified solutions to problems such as removing… Read More
This FEMA Guide provides up-to-date, authoritative information that schools can use to develop a comprehensive strategy for addressing natural hazards and upgrading the resilience of school buildings. It is intended to be used by administrators, facilities managers, emergency managers, emergency planning committees, and teachers. It also provides information that could be of great use to members of… Read More