Assessing Federal Research and Development for Hazard Loss Reduction

Abstract

PREFACELosses resulting from natural hazards are a large and growing problem in the United States. While attention tends to focus on the problems that immediately follow devastating floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires, the ongoing costs to the U.S. economy are enormous, on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars each week.Broad efforts to address this problem are in place across the federal government. Within the White House, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) plays a key role in coordinating the research and development policies upon which the technical response to hazard losses is based. To support OSTP in this task, RAND carried out a comprehensive analysis of current hazard loss R&D funding, identifying programs and activities that contribute to hazard loss reduction. The analysis addressed the following questions:• What is the distribution of federal R&D funding across various hazards and across areas of focus (prediction, infrastructure improvements, mitigation techniques)?• What criteria determine the allocation of these funds?• How do these R&D efforts contribute to hazard loss reduction?This report presents the analysis and its findings, along with a number of policy recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of current R&D efforts. About the White House Office of Science and Technology PolicyThe Office of Science and Technology Policy was created in 1976 to provide the President with timely policy advice and to coordinate the federal investment in science and technology. About the Science and Technology Policy InstituteOriginally created by Congress in 1991 as the Critical Technologies Institute and renamed in 1998, the Science and Technology Policy Institute is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the National Science Foundation and managed by RAND. The Institute's mission is to help improve public policy by • Helps science and technology decisionmakers understand the likely consequences of their decisions and choose among alternative policies.• Helps improve understanding in both the public and private sectors of the ways in which science and technology can better serve national objectives.In carrying out its mission, the Institute consults broadly with representatives from private industry, institutions of higher education, and other nonprofit institutions. SUMMARYIn recent decades, the United States has experienced a decline in the numbers of lives lost due to natural hazards such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and droughts. At the same time, the associated costs of these events are escalating. Between 1978 and 1989, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) paid out about $7 billion in disaster relief funds. In the next dozen years, however, payouts increased almost fivefold, to over $39 billion. 1 The primary cause of the rise in losses appears to be the growing population in areas that are vulnerable to natural hazards. Demographic changes, most dramatically, the mass human migration to coastal and other high-risk are...

Spatial dependencies in wind-related housing damage

“…The authors see the lack of precise economic loss data as a severe limitation to measuring the effectiveness of national hazard loss research and development. This study helps to fill the research gap described by Meade and Abbott (2003) as the missing metric. In this article, we report the results of traditional ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation of residential market value loss due to tornado.…”

“…Quantified historical information about tornado intensity and loss from tornado events can help catastrophe aid agencies give appropriate responses. The urgency and importance of such research is emphasized by Meade and Abbott (2003) in the RAND report, ''Assessing Federal Research and Development for Hazard Loss Reduction.'' The authors see the lack of precise economic loss data as a severe limitation to measuring the effectiveness of national hazard loss research and development.…”

Reanalysis of U.S. National Weather Service Flood Loss Database

“…The National Research Council (NRC 1999) observes that such loss data are critical for effective policy making related to hazards. And RAND (Meade and Abbott 2003) observes that priority setting for natural hazards-related research would be facilitated with improved data on losses. Until such improved data sets are available, it is important to make the most effective use of available data from the historical record.…”

How Accurate are Disaster Loss Data? The Case of U.S. Flood Damage

“…Several reports have made the case for policy makers to collect disaster loss data in a rigorous and systematic manner (e.g, NRC, 1999;Heinz Center, 2000;Changnon, 2003;Meade and Abbott, 2003). The National Research Council (NRC, 1999) recommends focusing on direct costs, such as property and crop losses and repairs to public infrastructure, which are most tractable for systematic reporting and quantification.…”