Mitigation
As the costs of disasters continue to rise, it is necessary to take sustained action to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk to people and property from hazards and their effects. These sustained actions are also known as mitigation.

Mitigation is the initial phase of emergency management and should be considered before a disaster or emergency occurs. Mitigation, however, should also be a continuing activity that is integrated with each of the other phases of emergency management to employ a long-range, community-based approach to mitigation.

The goals of mitigation activities are to:

· Protect people and structures.

· Reduce the costs of response and recovery.

Mitigation is accomplished in conjunction with a hazard analysis, which helps to identify:

· What events can occur in and around the community.

· The likelihood that an event will occur.

· The consequences of the event in terms of casualties, destruction, disruption to critical services, and costs of recovery.

To be successful, mitigation measures must be developed into an overall mitigation strategy that considers ways to reduce hazard losses together with the overall risk from specific hazards and other community goals.

Mitigation measures can be developed and implemented at the local or State level.