Other Sources Supported by FEMA

Non-Federal Governmental Groups

For more information, please visit the FEMA website, www.fema.gov, and “search” for the Consortium or Council using the acronym identified within the parentheses.

Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC) in Memphis, Tennessee

FEMA has supported CUSEC since 1983. A principal component of its effort is to provide target audiences throughout the Central Mississippi Valley with training in the implementation of seismic risk reduction.

New England States Emergency Consortium (NESEC)

FEMA provides basic support for the NESEC organization. Acknowledging the moderate probability\high consequence character of natural hazards in New England and New York, the NESEC focuses on multi-hazard mitigation strategies and practices for its membership.

Western States Seismic Policy Council (WSSPC)

FEMA provides basic support for WSSPC. Comprised of state emergency managers and geologists, the WSSPC conducts an annual workshop for its membership.

Information Transfer Mechanisms

Local Community Technical Assistance Visits

Through FEMA’s Regional Offices and cooperative agreements with states, FEMA conducts and funds technical advisory visits to communities to provide detailed recommendations on floodplain management practices and mitigation strategies. These visits would typically include a review of local codes, a critique of local permitting procedures, an assessment of flood hazard mapping tools, an evaluation of development trends in floodplain areas, and the provision of various publications.

Mitigation Outreach Workshops

Through FEMA Regional Offices and cooperative agreements with states, FEMA supports a host of technical workshops for local government partners on floodplain management planning techniques. These workshops may be on an invitational basis or initiated by FEMA.

FEMA/State Mitigation Partnership Training Workshops

FEMA convenes an annual training workshop for the officially designated State Hazard Mitigation Officers and National Flood Insurance Program State Coordinators. This forum brings together representatives from all states, all FEMA Regional Offices and the FEMA National Office to exchange information about new mitigation opportunities and to critique current practices.

Insurance Program State Coordinators

This forum brings together representatives from all states, all FEMA Regional Offices and the FEMA National Office to exchange information about new mitigation opportunities and critique current practices.

Associations and Organizations

For more information, please visit the FEMA website www.fema.gov, and “search” for the association or organization using the acronym identified within parentheses.

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)

ASCE has a rich history of promoting natural hazards mitigation. FEMA has a strong partnership with ASCE; they work together to transfer state-of-the-art mitigation technology to 120,000 member engineers. ASCE is approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to develop national consensus standards. FEMA has provided technical and financial support to develop and maintain standards related to flood and earthquake protective design. In addition to developing standards, ASCE has numerous expert committees that advise FEMA on a broad range of mitigation related issues. In addition, FEMA has cosponsored various meetings and conferences with ASCE to promote mitigation and transfer state-of-the-art mitigation to practitioners.

Model Building Code Organizations (ICBO, ICC)

FEMA has been working with the Building Officials and Code Administrators, International Conference of Building Officials (ICBO), and the Southern Building Code Congress International to promote natural hazards mitigation for many years. FEMA has funded the development of training programs to transfer mitigation information to local building officials and has worked closely with all three code groups to include natural hazards mitigation within the three model building codes. Currently, FEMA is working with the three model code groups and their umbrella organization, the International Code Council (ICO), to ensure that the new unified building codes presently under development provide for natural hazard mitigation to the maximum extent possible.

American Institute of Architects (AIA)

AIA and FEMA have a growing working relationship to promote natural hazards mitigation. Recently, with financial support from FEMA, AIA developed, and has made available to its members, materials on designing mitigation into buildings.

Association of State Flood Plain Managers (ASFPM)

FEMA and the ASFPM have had a strong partnership since the inception of ASFPM. FEMA works closely with ASFPM on a broad range of initiatives such as being a sponsor of the annual ASFPM convention and FEMA seeks ASFPM’s counsel on floodplain management issues.

Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI)

FEMA has provided funding, through a cooperative agreement, for a wide range of activities. These include conducting forums on earthquake issues, producing publications, supporting professionals, presenting post-earthquake briefings to Congress, providing professional development activities, etc. EERI is a non-profit, private organization that provides its membership with seismic risk reduction information. Among other activities, FEMA supports their lessons-learned workshops, seismic design publications, and an annual fellowship for practitioners to develop implementation solutions.

Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC)

In addition to its work on the development of seismic design and construction standards, BSSC carries out a considerable amount of technology transfer in its workshops, publications, and annual meetings. Dissemination of the NEHRP provisions is a key element of their agreement with FEMA.

American Planning Association (APA)

FEMA has been working with the American Planning Association (APA) to incorporate the principles of hazard mitigation into technical guidance reports for planners, planning legislation models, and land use modeling systems. Specifically, the Mitigation Directorate is working with APA to complete a Planning Advisory Service Report, “Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction” (funded by the Directorate). The Directorate is one of several federal sponsors of APA’s

“Growing Smart” initiative, a multi-year effort to modernize state planning legislation. It also serves as one of several agencies sponsoring the development of a Land-Based Classification System, an effort to modernize a national land use classification model developed in the 1960s.

International City/County Management Association (ICMA)

FEMA has also been working with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) to survey city and county administrators on state-of-the-art local hazard mitigation practices.