About the Hazards Caucus Alliance
The Hazards Caucus Alliance is a network of professional, scientific, and engineering societies, relief organizations, academic institutions, trade associations, and private companies that support the efforts of the Congressional Hazards Caucus. The Alliance came together with a common desire to reduce the toll -- both human and financial -- of natural disasters and enhance the nation's ability to recover from those events. The Alliance seeks to provide ways in which local, state, and federal governments and non-governmental organizations can better prepare for and mitigate the costs of natural disasters, and to highlight issues that policymakers should address in order to make the nation more resilient. (Click here for a list of the Alliance members.)
Why A Congressional Hazards Caucus?
Jurisdiction for hazards programs is spread among many committees in Congress, with each committee only handling a piece of the overall efforts to prevent and mitigate hazards. A caucus can provide the "big picture" to interested lawmakers and their staff and give them the opportunity to see how issues within different jurisdictions fit within a larger national effort. Typical caucus events include congressional briefings, roundtable discussions, special forums, receptions, and events targeted to a subgroup of the caucus. Events can be structured so that they also provide a forum for raising the visibility of a hazards-related topic with the media and the public.
A successful caucus reflects a strong partnership between its congressional members and the stakeholder groups and non-governmental organizations that share similar interests. This effort is an outgrowth of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) 2000 forums on public policy issues in natural disaster reduction, a cooperative endeavor of the National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Reduction, the Institute for Business and Home Safety, and other private sector organizations.
Objectives
- Educate Members of Congress and their staff about the natural hazards affecting the nation.
- Improve understanding of the need to mitigate the impacts of those events, including floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, space weather, earthquakes, landslides and land subsidence, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, windstorms, drought, and wildfires.
- Enhance the integration of science and engineering in land-use planning and building code development.
- Strengthen public and private support for efforts to better understand, prevent, and mitigate the impacts of natural hazards by demonstrating how scientific research can be applied to save lives, property, and money.
- Support the implementation of new technologies to address challenges faced by state and local government and the private sector.
For More Information
Please contact the Science Policy Fellow at the Geological Society of America (GSA) at [email protected] with any inquiries or to request to join. We are currently seeking additional Members of Congress to join the Caucus and welcome other organizations interested in joining the Alliance.