See the updated Operation Fresh Start Web site for the latest sustainable disaster planning information. Operation Fresh Start is designed to empower individuals and communities as they recover from hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and other natural disasters by providing resources and tools that can help rebuild communities, businesses, and homes using sustainable principles and technologies.

Natural disasters are a dramatic example of people living in conflict with the environment. Televised scenes of wind-ravaged subdivisions, flooded main streets, and burned-out homes give us pause. We feel for those forced by nature to start over.

Such disasters have become all too common in recent years, and their frequency continues to escalate. From 1990 to 1996, the insurance industry paid out $48 billion worldwide for claims from weather-related losses. Claims payments totaled just $14 billion for the entire decade of the 1980s!

Acts of nature are not inherently catastrophic. Hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, floods and the like are simply natural occurrences. They only become disasters when they conflict with people and property. The more development in a hazard area, the more disastrous the consequences. 

Unfortunately, few parts of the U.S. are hazard-free. The Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates that as much as 75 percent of the nation’s housing stock is susceptible to natural hazards. An estimated 10 million homes are at risk from flooding--25 million from wind hazards, and 2 million from coastal storm surges. About 50 million homes are in counties with significant earthquake risk. 

Development continues unabated in the riskiest of areas, along the coasts and floodplains in the U.S. Communities in these high-risk regions, by definition, are not sustainable. Residents cannot count on the communities’ survival for generations to come. Some live in fear that the next rain or wind storm could mean the end of normal life. These are people and communities at risk, locked in a costly, life-threatening gamble with the environment. 

Sustainable development offers a way out. For some communities, the only solution is relocation, moving entirely off the floodplain, out of harm’s way. For others, sustainable development means restricting new construction in particularly vulnerable areas, elevating structures to remove the threat of flooding, or building smarter, stronger buildings that are more hazard-resistant. Post-disaster evidence and inspections following Hurricane Andrew revealed that insurance losses could have been reduced in some cases by as much as 50 percent if building codes had been properly enforced. Adopting more stringent codes shows promise to reduce losses even further. 

Sustainable development can help prevent acts of nature from becoming disasters. Just as industries around the country are finding it smarter to prevent pollution rather than clean it or attempt to control it, disaster-prone communities are starting to embrace sustainable development as a means to remove – or at least mitigate – their conflict with the environment.

There’s a bigger-picture side to this, as well. Sustainable development implies not only disaster-resistance but also resource efficiency – the prudent use of energy, water, and materials to ensure supplies for future generations. While at first glance this facet of sustainable development may seem unrelated to disaster prevention, in truth they’re intricately tied. An increasing body of evidence points to human energy use – specifically the burning of fossil fuels – as a factor in global climate change. Global climate change, in turn, may be at least partially responsible for the increased number and severity of storms. By making efficient use of energy resources, disaster-prone communities that employ sustainable development are also doing their part to slow global warming and temper the very storms that threaten them.

Striving for sustainability is a daunting task, even for those communities that aren't disaster-prone. Changing the way we use resources and approach development is slow-going and often frustrating. But steps are being taken throughout the U.S. that, when tallied, amount to a promising shift away from business as usual. Disaster-prone communities are waking up to new scenarios that offer hope and stability, not risk and destruction. The information that follows will inform you of those steps and will describe the resources available to help further sustainable development and disaster reduction. 

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