How does America solve the problem of natural disasters?

The United States is a country with a high incidence of natural disasters, and the disasters it suffers mainly include river floods, storm surges, tsunamis, earthquakes, typhoons and strong winds, expansive soil and landslides. Due to the high concentration of material wealth caused by economic development, every serious natural disaster will cause huge economic losses. In order to effectively manage and control natural disasters and minimize the losses caused by disasters. The federal, state and local governments in the United States have established a complete disaster management system and policy system, and played an extremely important role in it.

First of all, the natural disaster management system in the United States

Under the current federal system in the United States, the main authority to deal with various natural disasters is at the state level and delegated to state-owned cities through special authorization. Some states also grant important powers to counties, towns and special zones. The state government engages in a wide range of natural disaster management activities through taxation and increasing public welfare funds, including building reservoirs, dams and seawalls, and investing in dividing disaster risk areas, drawing risk maps, disaster prediction and social education plans. In addition, the state government can also engage in a series of disaster management activities by exercising public security rights, such as compiling land use planning, establishing and implementing land management rules and real estate transaction regulations, and formulating norms and standards for houses and other buildings.

The ability of state government to manage natural disasters is often restricted by geophysical, ecological environment and social and political factors, so state and local government departments have always relied mainly on federal agencies such as the US Army Corps of Engineers to do related work. Corps is mainly engaged in large-scale engineering construction to prevent floods in rivers and coastal areas; The United States Geological Survey is responsible for drawing various maps. Basic research on natural disasters and other related activities is mainly the responsibility of federal government agencies. On this basis, a disaster management model of interdependence among governments at all levels has been formed. In addition, private insurance companies, credit institutions and various groups composed of government or private individuals also play an important role in disaster reduction. There is also an interdependent relationship between public and private institutions.

Due to the duplication of functions between governments at all levels and private organizations in the United States, the distribution of responsibilities and rights in disaster management will inevitably be complicated. People gradually realize that the management of plans involving multiple departments by a single organization will obviously improve efficiency. Therefore, in 1979, the U.S. government established the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which merged the original five departments: the National Fire Management Agency, the Federal Insurance Administration, the Civil Defence Reserve Agency, the Federal Disaster Relief Administration and the Federal Defense Agency into one. At the same time, the President of the United States authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be the main responsible institution for all disaster prevention and mitigation work. The agency follows four principles: (1) the federal power to deal with major domestic emergencies is exercised by an official who is directly responsible to the president; (2) An efficient civil defense system needs to make the most effective use of all emergency resources; (3) Whenever possible, the responsibility for emergency response should be borne by formal federal agencies; (4) Federal disaster reduction activities should be combined with emergency preparedness and response functions.

FEMA is also in charge of the Federal Emergency Warning System, the Federal Dam Safety Program and other federal disaster assistance programs, which are designed to help local governments make preparedness plans for meteorological disasters, including floods, typhoons and tornadoes. It is also responsible for managing the early warning system of natural disasters and nuclear disasters and implementing disaster preparedness plans to mitigate the consequences of major malignant events.

II. Policies, institutions and plans for natural disaster management in the United States

The disaster management policies of governments at all levels in the United States can be divided into ten types, namely: ① mandatory policies, which are formulated by high-level governments and force grass-roots governments to carry out disaster reduction activities; (2) Reminder policy, also known as alert policy, aims to alert the public, organizations and governments to pay attention to the losses caused by natural disasters, and urges countries, localities and individuals to take the initiative to take measures to reduce losses; (3) Restoration policy, which aims to help individuals, families, villages and towns, prefectures and counties rebuild their homes and resume production; (4) Technology development policy, which is devoted to developing new knowledge and technology to support disaster reduction policy; ⑤ Technology extension policy: This kind of policy focuses on imparting disaster reduction knowledge to individuals, governments at all levels, and the long-term (such as disaster analysis plan) and short-term (such as disaster early warning) application of this knowledge; ⑥ Rules and policies are designed to standardize the decisions and behaviors of private institutions and government agencies, so as to reduce the losses caused by natural disasters. Such policies may force disaster prevention, building reinforcement, site treatment and other disaster reduction measures; ⑦ Investment and cost-sharing policy, which aims to determine the control conditions for financing and cost-sharing of various disaster reduction activities. These policies determine when, where, for what purpose, how much money to invest and who will bear the cost; (8) Systematic management policies aimed at clarifying responsibilities; Determine the measures taken and the principles followed in formulating the disaster reduction plan; Pet-name ruby system optimization strategy, this kind of strategy aims to ensure the effectiveness of other strategies, make them consistent with the system objectives, and have internal coordination; Attending the guiding policy, which aims to guide the government to implement a certain policy, such as infrastructure or building relocation (immigration) policy.

The American federal government's natural disaster management policy is mainly implemented through a series of specific federal agencies and according to some specific plans. There are many federal policies to assist relevant agencies to formulate natural disaster management plans and carry out disaster reduction activities. It can be roughly divided into two categories: pre-disaster disaster reduction plan and post-disaster relief plan. In the first kind of plans, including the "river basin protection and flood control loan plan" under the responsibility of the farmhouse administration; Plans such as "resource protection and development" and "watershed protection and flood control" under the responsibility of the Soil Conservation Bureau; National flood insurance plan managed by the Federal Insurance Administration. As well as state disaster prevention grants, earthquake and typhoon emergency plans and emergency management service plans under the responsibility of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The prediction and early warning plans for various natural disasters are implemented by the US Geological Survey, the National Weather Service, the National Meteorological Center, the National Rainstorm Forecasting Center, the Radar Information and Early Warning Network and the National Typhoon Center.

The second type of plan mainly includes the emergency loan plan under the responsibility of the Nongjiale Administration; Emergency protection measures under the responsibility of the Agricultural Stable Production and Maintenance Bureau; Plans for flood control works, flood control and disaster relief activities, emergency protection of dikes, etc. under the responsibility of the Office of the War Department. In addition, there are the emergency medical plan of the Public Health Bureau, the victim mortgage insurance of the Housing Protection and Mortgage Loan Department, the disaster assistance and emergency management service plan of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the power emergency plan of the National Defense Electric Power Administration and the crop insurance plan of the Federal Crop Insurance Company.

Three, the United States federal government's natural disaster legislation

The disaster management of the US federal government is also guaranteed by legislation. A series of natural disaster laws promulgated by the federal government all involve the above ten types of disaster reduction policies. Among them, the most involved in legislation is the technology promotion and reminder policy. The most important ones are as follows:

Flood disaster legislation

Among the nine natural disasters, river flood is the most concerned by the government, and the legislation to prevent flood disaster includes: (1) 1936 Flood Control Law and its supplement; (2) 1968 National Flood Insurance Law; (3)1973 Flood, Disaster and Defense Law; (4)1972 National Dam Monitoring Law; (5) Presidential decrees 1 1988 and 1 1990. The promulgation of the first law marks the beginning of large-scale flood control projects such as dam construction and river regulation invested by the federal government. The flood insurance and flood disaster prevention law contributed to the policy change. 1968 one of the purposes of the flood insurance law is to solve the problems brought about by the continuous development of flood areas. The law authorizes the establishment of a national flood insurance fund worth $250 million, and stipulates that the maximum amount of insurance compensation is $2.5 billion, and for the first time, it covers a quarter of families and small businesses in flood-stricken areas. According to the law, only existing buildings in flooded areas can receive subsidies, and new structures must be insured according to the actual insurance premium. The condition of buying flood insurance subsidized by the federal government is that the whole community takes appropriate measures to manage the flood area.

1973 "Flood Disaster Prevention Law" expanded the scope of flood insurance plan and increased the insurance for coastal erosion and collapse losses. The loss compensation for residents and enterprises will be doubled compared with the past, and the insurance for single-family houses and their internal properties will be authorized to be as high as $35,000 and10,000 respectively, and the insurance for other residential buildings and their internal properties will be provided with100,000 and10,000 respectively. The second part of the law also stipulates the requirements for disaster reduction. After 1973 law was passed, the insurance plan progressed smoothly. By the end of 1979,1800,000 insurance policies had come into effect, and the insured property amounted to $73 billion.

(2) Disaster Relief Law

1974 disaster relief law makes federal disaster assistance; The management of disaster relief work is entrusted to the President's Office, which authorizes the federal government to provide assistance to public and private groups affected by disasters. It also stipulates that long-term recovery plans should be formulated and implemented in major disaster areas. Although the law is mainly aimed at post-disaster relief, it also involves some disaster reduction measures. For example, the law includes the use of civil defense or other communication systems to formulate timely and effective early warning plans, as well as provisions aimed at making pre-authorized disaster relief services more coordinated and timely. The law also encourages states, localities and individuals to supplement or replace government assistance through insurance. The Disaster Relief Law also requires or authorizes the appointment of a federal coordinator to carry out management work in disaster risk areas; Mobilize federal officials to form an emergency rescue team to assist federal specialized agencies in distributing food, materials and medicines; Engaged in assistance and rehabilitation work; Provide fair and reasonable disaster assistance; Repair traffic facilities; Provide temporary housing; Increase unemployment benefits to help resettle; Calm people, allocate funds and loans to support local economic recovery.

(3) Seismic method

1977 promulgated the Earthquake Law, which holds that the earthquake is one of the major natural disasters, and comprehensive disaster prevention and mitigation measures are needed for defense. It authorized to allocate 250 million US dollars within three years to develop more advanced earthquake prediction technology for earthquake risk areas, and to formulate more perfect building regulations and land use guidelines. The main objectives of seismic methods include: putting forward the seismic structure and seismic design methods of public facilities and high-rise buildings in earthquake danger areas; Designing programs to identify earthquake disasters and predict destructive earthquakes; Carry out earthquake risk information exchange in land use decision-making and construction activities; Develop advanced methods to reduce earthquake risk, and make plans for post-earthquake recovery and reconstruction.

(4) Coastal Zone Management Law

The Coastal Area Management Law aimed at reducing natural disasters in coastal areas was promulgated in 1976. In the coastal area management plan proposed by this law, flood control, coastal erosion, soil stability, climate and meteorology are highlighted. In order to qualify for federal assistance according to law, coastal States need to submit a proposed management plan. At the same time, the law also requires state governments to adopt the following land and water resources utilization management measures in their plans, that is, (1) States should formulate, review and implement various norms and guidelines that must be implemented locally; (two) to guide the planning and management of water and soil resources utilization in this state; (3) States evaluate the coordination of all development plans, projects and land and water resources utilization management programs through administrative means to strengthen the implementation of legislation.