James Oberstar: “Mitigation is the cornerstone of emergency management. Mitigation simply means efforts to lessen the impact of disasters…”

“Mitigation is the cornerstone of emergency management. Mitigation simply means efforts to lessen the impact of disasters on people and property. It keeps homes out of floodplains, designs bridges to withstand earthquakes, creates and enforces building codes to protect property from hurricanes, and many such creative initiatives all across the land. It helps communities adapt their public facilities before disaster strikes in order to save lives, buildings and homes. The gentlewoman has so well cited the case of Seattle, Washington. It has been a Project Impact city since 1997. Everyone participated in retrofitting homes, developing mapping projects for landslides and seismic vulnerability. Schools received funds to remove structural hazards and we saw what a success all of that was in the aftermath of the earthquake. I understand that the issue of funding was not created by the chairman of the subcommittee. It is the Office of Management and Budget that chose to strike this funding from the budget in a move I just simply cannot understand.”