Disaster Prevention and
the Red Cross has estimated
Mitigation
Mitigation means to reduce the
severity of the human and material
damage caused by the disaster.
Prevention is to ensure that human
action or natural phenomena do not
result in disaster or emergency. The
objective of prevention is to reduce the
risk of being affected by a disaster.
Prevention and mitigation measures
are the things we do to prevent an
emergency from happening and, if it
does, to reduce or eliminate the
impact.
The Importance of Prevention &
Mitigation
There is international agreement that
investment in prevention and
mitigation before an emergency will
reduce the cost
of recovering afterwards.
 Australia has estimated that
every dollar spent on disaster
mitigation saves at least three
dollars in economic and social
recovery.
 The International Federation of
that if US $40 billion had been
invested in mitigation
measures in the 1990s,
worldwide economic losses of
US $280 billion (resulting from
disasters) would have been
avoided.
 The World Bank has estimated
that spending 1% of a
structure’s value on
vulnerability reduction
measures can reduce probable
maximum loss from hurricanes
by one third (on average).
Disaster Preparedness
Disaster preparedness refers to
measures taken to prepare for and
reduce the effects of disasters. That is,
to predict and, where possible, prevent
disasters, mitigate their impact on
vulnerable populations, and respond
to and effectively cope with their
consequences.
The goal of disaster preparedness is
to lessen the impact of disasters on
vulnerable populations, to ready an
organization for an influx of activity,
and to design a coordinated plan that
reduces the waste of resources, time,
and efforts.
Be ready at home- Prepare, plan and
practice. It is important for individuals
and families to increase their
awareness, get educated, engage in
preparedness conversations and stay
informed. Visit ready.gov for toolkits
and downloadable emergency plans.
Inform your plan with statistics- Did
you know that the most recurring and
expensive disaster is flooding?
Reduce disaster risks and build
resilience by understanding key data.