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Executive Summary
Forty-two participants, who were nominated by their peers as experts on specific natural hazards and broad aspects of natural disaster reduction, contributed to a two-day workshop on the "Ten Most Wanted: A Search for Solutions to Reduce Recurring Losses from Natural Hazards." The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) convened the workshop on 21-22 June 2000. The sponso rs were:
1. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Federal agency responsible for the development and application of housing technology.
2. The United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Federal agency responsible for applied research in the geologic, seismological, and hydrological sciences; the monitoring and mapping of natural hazards; and the collaborative development and promotion of loss reduction mea sures.
3. USAA, an insurance and financial enterprise and a member company of IBHS.
The goal was to identify specific areas of research and development for application to residential and commercial buildings as part of the process to reduce recurring and increasing losses from the perils of severe windstorms, earthquakes, floods, hail, wildfire, and winter storms. The objective was to identify and prioritize mitigation measures considered to have the greatest benefit to cost ratio in the shortest period of time. The nature of the challenge is characterized by spiraling economic losses to: a) property and casualty insurers, b) the owners/occupants of homes and commercial buildings, and c) local, state, and Federal governments. The consensus was that holistic solutions are the best ways to meet the challenge faced by insurers and all communities throughout the nation as they seek to reduce well known vulnerabilities in dwellings and commercial buildings. These "thinking out of the box" solutions should integrate research, development, and professional education with improved professional p ractices and public policies.
The consensus was that the trend of rapidly increasing economic losses and societal disruption from natural hazards can be reversed by taking steps to reduce the well-known vulnerabilities in the roofs, envelopes, and structural and foundation systems of existing residential and commercial structures. These same vulnerabilities should be prevented in the planning stage of all new construction.
The experts' general recommendations included the following:
1. Development of a rating system for existing housing and commercial buildings that will help to assess their "as is" condition and provide a sound ba sis for decisions about retrofit.
2. Development of educational programs and training to increase the professional capacity of building sub-contractors and building inspectors. 3. Outreach to promote and increase awareness in all sectors of the public of the problems posed by natural hazards and the need for sustained application over time of cost-effective, loss-reduction measures. The experts recommended ten solution sets and assigned priorities for reducing recurring losses from the disaster agents generated by six kinds of natural ha zards. They are:
Hurricanes and other severe windstorms
1 The highest priority should be given to research and development on the building's load path and on mitigation measures that protect the roof, all the building fa?ade's openings, and on ways to improve quality of construction related to these elements. The top priority should be protection of the roof system , typically the most vulnerable and most expensive component to replace.
2 High priority should be given to protection of windows, garage doors, and the building envelope. Research on promising new and emerging technologies such as window coverings to prevent penetration by deb ris should be accelerated.
Earthquakes
3 The highest priority should be given to research and development of mitigation measures that provide a continuous load path and increase the lateral resistance of the structural system to ground shak ing.
4 High priority should be given to improving methods for increasing the energy dissipation capacity of the structural system, anchoring the house to the foundation, securing mechanical equipment and c ontents, and preventing house-chimney interaction and foundation failure.
5 Research on new and emerging technologies should be continued and accelerated, with a focus on active and passive energy dissipation devices, soil remediation techniques, and composite materials. It should be recognized, however, that the results of these technologies might be more applicable to lar ge commercial structures than to residential buildings.
Floods
6 The highest priority should be given to improving maps of the flood plain and developing land use ordinances to avoid construction in flood-prone locations.
7 Equally important are new ways to secure and elevate important equipment inside a building. Current activities sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Flood Insurance Program and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers have increased public awareness and fostered research and development on flood proofing materials and flood protection techniques for application to the foundation and structural systems. One of the most important lessons is that elevation of the structure to improve flood protection is counter productive in earthquake-prone areas because elevated stru ctures are more vulnerable to damage from ground shaking than non-elevated structures are.
Hail
8 The highest priority should continue to be given to research and development of hail-impact-resistant materials for application to the roof system and the building envelope. These materials should be standardized, readily available off the shelf, and economical.
Wildfires
9 The highest priority should be given to research and development of fire-resistant materials for the building envelope, especially when constructing dwellings and commercial buildings in the urbanwilderness interface well known to be susceptible to wildfires. In such areas, research is needed to increase knowledge on controlled burns and use of fire-retardant vegetation. For fire following earthquake, the greatest need is for technologies to prevent ignition of gas lines and other flammable elements during an event, and, if a fire is ignited, for technologies that will suppress it quickly.
Severe winter storms
10 The highest priority should continue to be given to research and development of materials for use in winterizing exposed elements of residential and commercial structures, recognizing that timely application is critical. Technologies for efficient and effective monitoring of ice damming, freezing pipes, and snow loads on roof systems (especially for flat roofs) are needed. | 