ABSTRACT
Humanity is confronted with the need to take much greater responsibility for mitigating the impacts of natural hazards that lead to disaster-level impacts. Although the United States began to promote mitigation with the passage of the National Flood Insurance Program a half-century ago, the approach has relied heavily on indemnifying impacts after they happen rather than preventing them, especially through land use and spatial planning. This is planning for failure rather than safety. Today climate change is amplifying human vulnerability even more and demanding a new direct approach to prevention as presented in the several chapters on mitigation in this handbook.
