Mitigation Efforts Post-Disaster Are Not a Foregone Conclusion

Before a disaster, it is difficult to have people become interested in pre-disaster mitigation. The common belief is that post-disaster, after people and organizations have experienced death and destruction, that willingness to mitigate another such event is a given — not so fast, grasshopper!

See this article, Houston Passes First Post-Harvey Rules to Reduce Flood Damage. The title of this article is illustrative of why you need to read beyond the headline. I think a better one might have been, Houston Narrowly Endorses Disaster Mitigation for Flooding

What are the possible objections — here is my guess:

• An aversion to government regulation
• Those who think we have had "the big one" so it is not necessary
• Lobbying from interest groups who see this as negatively impacting their financial interests
• Harris County did it, thus it must be bad (?)
• It is easier to hurl barbs than it is to be positive!!

I'm sure there are more and those that are directly associated with this specific issue and jurisdiction.