Appendicies

Appendix A Glossary

Acquisition: Local governments can acquire lands in high hazard areas
through conservation easements, purchase of development rights, or
outright purchase of property.

Asset: Any manmade or natural feature that has value, including, but not
limited to people; buildings; infrastructure like bridges, roads, and
sewer and water systems; lifelines like electricity and communication
resources; or environmental, cultural, or recreational features like
parks, dunes, wetlands, or landmarks.

Building: A structure that is walled and roofed, principally above
ground and permanently affixed to a site. The term includes a
manufactured home on a permanent foundation on which the wheels and
axles carry no weight.

Coastal Zone: The area along the shore where the ocean meets the land as
the surface of the land rises above the ocean. This land/water interface
includes barrier islands, estuaries, beaches, coastal wetlands, and land
areas having direct drainage to the ocean.

Community Rating System (CRS): CRS is a program that provides incentives
for National Flood Insurance Program communities to complete activities
that reduce flood hazard risk. When the community completes specified
activities, the insurance premiums of the policyholders in those
communities are reduced.

Contour: A line of equal ground elevation on a topographic (contour)
map.

Debris: The scattered remains of assets broken or destroyed in a hazard
event. Debris caused by a wind or water hazard event can cause
additional damage to other assets.

Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000): DMA 2000 (Public Law
106-390) is the latest legislation to improve the planning process. It
was signed into law on October 10, 2000. This new legislation reinforces
the importance of mitigation planning and emphasizes planning for
disasters before they occur.

Earthquake: A sudden motion or trembling that is caused by a release of
strain accumulated within or along the edge of earth\'s tectonic plates.

Erosion: Wearing away of the land surface by detachment and movement of
soil and rock fragments, during a flood or storm or over a period of
years, through the action of wind, water, or other geologic processes.

Extent: The size of an area affected by a hazard or hazard event.

Fault: A fracture in the continuity of a rock formation caused by a
shifting or dislodging of the earth\'s crust, in which adjacent surfaces
are differentially displaced parallel to the plane of fracture.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): Independent agency created
in 1979 to provide a single point of accountability for all federal
activities related to disaster mitigation and emergency preparedness,
response, and recovery.

Flood Depth: Height of the flood water surface above the ground surface.

Flood Hazard Area: The area shown to be inundated by a flood of a given
magnitude on a map.

Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM): Map of a community, prepared by FEMA,
shows both the special flood hazard areas and the risk premium zones
applicable to the community under the National Flood Insurance Program.

Flood Zone: A geographical area shown on a FIRM that reflects the
severity or type of flooding in the area.

Floodplain: Any land area, including watercourse, susceptible to partial
or complete inundation by water from any source.

Hazard: A source of potential danger or adverse condition.

Hazard Event: A specific occurrence of a particular type of hazard.

Hazard Identification: The process of identifying hazards that threaten
an area.

Hazard Mitigation: Sustained actions taken to reduce or eliminate
long-term risk from hazards and their effects.

HAZUS (Hazards U.S.): A GIS-based, nationally standardized, loss
estimation tool developed by FEMA.

Hurricane: An intense tropical cyclone, formed in the atmosphere over
warm ocean areas, in which wind speeds reach 74 miles per hour or more
and blow in a large spiral around a relatively calm center or \"eye.\"
Hurricanes develop over the north Atlantic Ocean, northeast Pacific
Ocean, or the south Pacific Ocean east of 1600E longitude. Hurricane
circulation is counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and
clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

Infrastructure: Refers to the public services of a community that have a
direct impact on the quality of life. Infrastructure includes
communication technology such as phone lines or Internet access, vital
services such as public water supplies and sewer treatment facilities,
and includes an area\'s transportation system such as airports,
heliports, highways, bridges, tunnels, roadbeds, overpasses, railways,
bridges, rail yards, depots; and waterways, canals, locks, seaports,
ferries, harbors, drydocks, piers, and regional dams.

Landslide: Downward movement of a slope and materials under the force of
gravity.

Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC): LEPCs consist of community
representatives and are appointed by the State Emergency Response
Commissions (SERCs), as required by Superfund Amendments and
Reauthorization Act (SARA), Title III. They develop an emergency plan to
prepare for and respond to chemical emergencies. They are also
responsible for coordinating with local facilities to find out what they
are doing to reduce hazards, prepare for accidents, and reduce hazardous
inventories and releases. The LEPC serves as a focal point in the
community for information and discussions about hazardous substances,
emergency planning, and health and environmental risks.

Magnitude: A measure of the strength of a hazard event. The magnitude
(also referred to as severity) of a given hazard event is usually
determined using technical measures specific to the hazard.

Mitigate: To cause something to become less harsh or hostile, to make
less severe or painful.

Mitigation Plan: Systematically evaluating community policies, actions,
and tools, and setting goals for implementation over the long term that
will result in a reduction in risk and minimize future losses
community-wide.

National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP): Federal program created by
Congress in 1968 that makes flood insurance available in communities
that enact minimum floodplain management regulations as indicated in 44
CFR §60.3.

National Weather Service (NWS): Prepares and issues flood, severe
weather, and coastal storm warnings and can provide technical assistance
to federal and state entities in preparing weather and flood warning
plans.

Planning: The act or process of making or carrying out plans; the
establishment of goals, policies, and procedures for a social or
economic unit.

Preparedness: Actions that strengthen the capability of government,
citizens, and communities to respond to disasters.

Probability: A statistical measure of the likelihood that a hazard event
will occur.

Recovery: The actions taken by an individual or community after a
catastrophic event to restore order and lifelines in a community.

Regulatory Power: Local jurisdictions have the authority to regulate
certain activities in their jurisdiction. With respect to mitigation
planning, the focus is on such things as regulating land use development
and construction through zoning, subdivision regulations, design
standards, and floodplain regulations.

Response: The actions taken during an event to address immediate life
and safety needs and to minimize further damage to properties.

Risk: The estimated impact that a hazard would have on people, services,
facilities, and structures in a community; the likelihood of a hazard
event resulting in an adverse condition that causes injury or damage.
Risk is often expressed in relative terms such as a high, moderate, or
low likelihood of sustaining damage above a particular threshold due to
a specific type of hazard event. It also can be expressed in terms of
potential monetary losses associated with the intensity of the hazard.

Scale: A proportion used in determining a dimensional relationship; the
ratio of the distance between two points on a map and the actual
distance between the two points on the earth\'s surface.

Stafford Act: The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency
Assistance Act, PL 100-107 was signed into law November 23, 1988 and
amended the Disaster Relief Act of 1974, PL 93-288. The Stafford Act is
the statutory authority for most federal disaster response activities,
especially as they pertain to FEMA and its programs.

Stakeholder: Individual or group that will be affected in any way by an
action or policy. They include businesses, private organizations, and
citizens.

State Hazard Mitigation Officer (SHMO): The representative of state
government who is the primary point of contact with FEMA, other state
and federal agencies, and local units of government in the planning and
implementation of pre- and post-disaster mitigation activities.

Substantial Damage: Damage of any origin sustained by a structure in a
Special Flood Hazard Area whereby the cost of restoring the structure to
its before-damaged condition would equal or exceed 50 percent of the
market value of the structure before the damage.

Tectonic Plate: Torsionally rigid, thin segments of the earth\'s
lithosphere that may be assumed to move horizontally and adjoin other
plates. It is the friction between plate boundaries that cause seismic
activity.

Topographic: Characterizes maps that show manmade features and indicate
the physical shape of the land using contour lines.

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air extending from a
thunderstorm to the ground.

Tropical Cyclone: A generic term for a cyclonic, low-pressure system
over tropical or sub-tropical waters.

Tropical Storm: A tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds greater
than 39 mph and less than 74 mph.

Tsunami: Great sea wave produced by submarine earth movement or volcanic
eruption.

Vulnerability: Describes how exposed or susceptible to damage an asset
is. Vulnerability depends on an asset\'s construction, contents, and the
economic value of its functions. Like indirect damages, the
vulnerability of one element of the community is often related to the
vulnerability of another. For example, since many businesses depend on
uninterrupted electrical power, if an electric substation is flooded it
will affect not only the substation itself, but a number of businesses
as well. Often, indirect effects can be much more widespread and
damaging than direct ones.

Vulnerability Assessment: The extent of injury and damage that may
result from a hazard event of a given intensity in a given area. The
vulnerability assessment should address impacts of hazard events on the
existing and future built environment.

Wildfire: An uncontrolled fire spreading through vegetative fuels,
exposing and possibly consuming structures.