What is Resilience?The Transition from Mitigation to Resilience, What Does It Mean?

ByRob Flaner, CFM, Hazard Mitigation Program Manager

Title of Program – Sponsored by NJAFM

Presented by Presenter's Name

Continuing Education Compliance StatementThis course is being offered as CPC credits to Certified Floodplain Managersand New Jersey Professional Engineers. To be compliant, certain proceduresand record keeping are required by NJAFM.

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Speaker Biography

Rob Flaner, CFM

Tetra Tech, Inc

Office phone number: 208-939-4391

Office fax number: 208-939-4391

Email: rob.flaner@tetratech.com

Presenter profile

30+ Years Experience in Floodplain Management

• Former ISO/CRS Specialist

• Manages Tetra Tech’s Mitigation Sub-practice

• Hazard Mitigation Planning

• Grant Application

• Benefit Cost Analysis

• Community Rating System

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Overview of Presentation

● Where it all Began!

● What is Mitigation?

● The emergence of resilience as a goal

● So, what is Resilience?

● Types of Resilience

● What does it all mean?

● Resilience defined

● Mitigation vs. Resiliency

● Hazard Mitigation Planning and Resilience

● Targets for achieving resilience

● The new norm

● Questions

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Once Upon a Time in FEMAwood!• There was a program called Project Impact!

• Introduced by FEMA in 1997• Helped communities reduce their disaster tolls by building partnerships among

businesses, agencies, churches, neighborhoods and others who worked together on locally based hazard-mitigation activities

• Set priorities and target resources to reduce impact of future disasters

• Introduced/defined/entrenched the term “Mitigation”

• Project Impact was latter replaced by the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000

• Both programs set the Couse for FEMA program directives with an emphasis on “mitigation” for the next 20 years

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What is Mitigation?

“Sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to life and property”

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The Evolution of the Mitigation Focus• Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) - Post Disaster Funding made

available after Presidential Disaster Declaration

• Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program (PDM) - Pre-Disaster funding based on Congressional Appropriation.

• Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant Program (FMA) - Pre-Disaster funding allocated from the Flood Insurance Fund under the National Flood Insurance program

• HUD programs under the CDBG umbrella (DR and MIT) emphasize Mitigation.

• Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC)- the new norm

As the Pendulum Swings!

• Fast forward to today…….

• The new buzz word in town is “RESILIENCE”

• As the frequency and severity of hazard events has increased over the past 10-years, we are seeing the word resilience used more and more.

• But what does it mean to be Resilient?

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Emergence of Resilience as a goal.• 2017 + : Trump – Resilience (supported by both Parties)

• 2009 – 2017: Obama • Mitigation –> Resilience

• 2001 – 2009 – Bush• Mitigation de-emphasized – tied to growth management and land-use

regulations• Risk reduction through response• Resilience not mentioned in post Hurricane reports. • > 2005 Resilience

• 1993 – 2001 – Clinton• Mitigation was the cornerstone of emergency management. • Project Impact• The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 did indeed become a cornerstone.

• < 1993 – Mitigation gains traction• 15 day reports• Mitigation recovery planning • 1973 Carter creates FEMA signs 11988

Resilience indicators: FEMA.gov

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So What is Resilience?

● Root

From the root “resilire” – to

spring back, rebound

● Definitions focus on:

➢ Absorbing shock

➢ Responding and recovering

quickly

➢ Adapting to a changing

environment

➢ Avoiding impacts by proactively

reducing risks

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Concepts of Resilience have been around for a long time

“By nature man hates change; seldom will he quit his old home till it

has actually fallen around his ears.”

- Thomas Carlyle

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising

every time we fall.”

- Nelson Mandela

“Cavemen figured out how to hunt wild beasts many times

their size, build fire to cook the meat harvested from their

hunts, and not die from the hundreds of diseases we still

worry about to this day. That is some serious application

of how not to let the risks posed by the existing natural

hazards negatively impact your livelihood!”

-Morgan Mak,

WA Emergency Management Division

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Types of Resilience

• Engineering Resilience: The speed at which a system can regain some level of stability or equilibrium.

• Ecological Resilience: The ability of an ecosystem to maintain key functions and processes in the face of stresses or pressures, by resisting and then adapting to change. Resilient ecosystems are characterized as adaptable, flexible, and able to deal with change and uncertainty.

• Panarchy: The capacity to reorganize. The capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change so as to still retain essentially the same function, structure and feedbacks, and therefore identity; that is, the capacity to change in order to maintain the same identity.

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Types of Resilience• Engineering Resilience

• Ecological Resilience

• Panarchy

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So What does all of this Mean?

• What is the definition of resilience as it pertains to Emergency Management?

• Don’t you have to define it if you want to set a metric to achieve it?

• Mitigation was clearly defined. What is the clear definition of resilience in the Emergency Management continuum ?

• What is the role of “mitigation” in striving for resilience?

• With the onset of programs like BRIC, will local hazard mitigation plans become community resilience plans?

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Some Possible Answers• Has Resilience been Clearly defined?

• Has it been defined? Yes, Kind of! The term is being used.

• Clearly Defined?No

• In a search of the Strategic Plan’s of 8 federal Agencies, the word “resilience” or resilient principles were in all 8 of them.

• With the exception of FEMA, there was no consistent use of the term, or clear definition in any of them.

Federal Agency Strategic Plans

FEMA

EPA

HUD

NOAA

USACE

NRCS

USFS

USEDA

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There are some Clear Definitions

• 100 RC: the capacity to survive, adapt, and thrive - and even transform - in the face of chronic stresses and acute shocks.

• FEMA: the capacity of people, organizations or systems to adapt to changing conditions and withstand and rapidly recover from disruption due to emergencies.

• National Academies of Science: the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, and more successfully adapt to adverse events.“

• Hazard and Climate Resilience Institute, Boise State University: the capacity of a community to prepare for, respond and adapt to, and recover from an adverse event or condition. The ability for a community to thrive.

• Governance and Social Development Resource Centre: “Disaster resilience is the ability of individuals, communities, organizations, and states to adapt to and recovery from hazards, shocks, or stresses without compromising long-term prospects for development.”

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Common Threads

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Mitigation vs. Resilience

• Is Resilience, now, the new Mitigation?

• The short answer is no!

• Mitigation as we know it today, looks in the rearview mirror

• We use historic hydrographs to map floodplains

• We emphasize historic loss data to measure the cost-effectiveness of mitigation projects.

• We still refer to statistical improbability when we talk about large scale events.

• Mitigation is alive and well, but will need to evolve as we transition to resilience based emergency management

• Mitigation will need to become more forward looking

• Proactive mitigation will be key for local governments looking to become resilient

• How we identify and measure the effectiveness of mitigation actions will need to change

Resilience within the Context of the Phases of Emergency Management, the Panarchy Model

Change

Response

Recovery

Preparedness

2nd Response

Mitigation possible in any phase

Hazard Mitigation Planning

• Can be a cornerstone for Community Resilience

• Promotes proactivity

• Can be the link to a long-term, forward thinking vision by;• Integrating with land use planning

• Supporting Recovery planning

• Providing access to funding

• Communicating Risk

• Building both Political and Public Consensus

• But, to be truly effective in achieving resilience, a local Hazard mitigation plan must consider future conditions!

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Designing a Mitigation/Resiliency Planning Approach

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Philip Berke, and Gavin Smith; Hazard Mitigation, Planning, and Disaster Resiliency: Challenges and Strategic Choices for the 21st Century

Some Targets for Achieving Resilience

A Resilient Community will;

• Make proactive investment and policy decisions;

• Inject long-range thinking into short-range actions;

• Expand their definition of risk (to include future projections);

• Understand its capacity to adapt;

• Communicate risk and vulnerability to the whole community;

• Build public and private sector capabilities and partnerships; and

• Resume normal operations and recover rapidly after hazard events23

The New Norm

• Disasters are getting bigger and more diverse!

• Congress is committed to buying down risk

• BRIC

• CDBG (MIT)

• CDBG (DR)

• EDA Appropriations

• All programs include resilience drivers, and require planning.

• Most of this funding is available post-disaster, which makes it a challenge to be proactive!

• But, it creates an opportunity to integrate mitigation into recovery, which is not the current standard.

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The Floodplain Management Perspective• What can Resilience look like as a Floodplain Manager?

• Varies by your role.• Communities

• Infrastructure

• Habitats

• Common Thoughts• What does the future look like?

• How do we prepare to be resilient?

• As policy and funding shift to resilience…• What is the response?

• What does our Team see?

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The Past• Business as Usual

• Design to current guidelines

• 1% Annual Chance Discharges

• Existing FEMA Mapping

• Existing Hydrology Manual guidelines

• Maintain existing infrastructure

• Maintain existing habitat

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Looking Ahead

• Climate Change Analyses and Application• Consider Hydrology Changes

• Precipitation changes? (Drier or wetter?)

• Sharper hydrographs? (Quick discharge peaks?)

• Habitat changes

• Consider Coastal Sea Level Changes• Higher Storm Surges

• Shore Erosion

• Habitat Loss

• How to look forward?• Resilience guidelines and funding like BRIC will be

the carrot of change

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Looking Ahead

• Designing in the Age of Resilience• …for future discharge regimes

• …for water supply capacity needs

• …for flexible and adaptable habitats

• …for increased disaster occurrences

• Examples• Update hydrology manuals

• Update floodplain mapping

• Raise some dams

• Remove other dams

• Improve flood infrastructure

• Harden infrastructure

• Expand and/or diversify habitat protected 28

Tetra Tech Approach

• Multi-Benefit - Integrated Services• One Water

• Advanced Water and Wastewater Treatment• Flood Protection• Watershed Management

• Modern Energy• Pump Storage• Reservoir Conservation

• Resilient Societies• Disaster preparedness and response • International development • Environmental protection and restoration • Community resilience strengthening

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In a complex world with competing demands for limited resources,

Tetra Tech offers clear solutions made possible with sound science,

understanding, innovation, and industry-leading approaches.

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So, how do you define Resilience?• This is an important

question to ask, and define in this day and age as we deal with changes to climate and society.

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Questions?

Contact Info:

Rob Flaner, CFM, Hazard Mitigation Program Manager

Rob.flaner@tetratech.com

(208)939-4391

COURSE EVALUATION

Title– Sponsored by NJAFM and Presented by Name

As a reminder, to claim the CPC credit, you must registeryour attendance on the NJAFM website and return thetraining evaluation form to greg@njafm.org indicating youare self-certifying your participation. NJAFM will email youa certificate indicating the number of credit hours receivedfor this instruction. A copy of the attendance record will bekept on file with these course credits. This meeting will beavailable to NJAFM membership for future viewing. Theevaluation form has been provided for download withinthe chat with the draft training certificate.