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<br />17 <br /> <br />of mitigation measures. This information is critical to any effort to market <br />mitigation to people and their elected officials. It would also provide the <br />federal, state, and local governments with the ammunition they need to <br />convince people that a little mitigation before a disaster is much more cost <br />effective than cleaning up the mess after a disaster occurs <br /> <br />Krimm <br /> <br />l <br /> <br />Limited Resources <br /> <br />Now to the second constraint to implementing hazard mitigation: an <br />extremely limited pool of resources. Ever-shrinking budgets and competing <br />priorities describe the rules of the game we now play at FEMA, and the <br />situation isn't much better at state and local levels. We have entered an era <br />of diminishing government, and the cause of mitigation hasn't been spared <br />the cut of the budget ax. <br />The pie is getting smaller, and FEMA' s ability to fund experimentation <br />and basic research into mitigation is diminishing. As a result, it is more <br />important than ever that we end up with tangible benefits after spending the <br />dollars <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />[ <br /> <br />we still have. <br />This type of budgetary environment requires us to rethink what we are <br />doing with our limited resources to ensure we are getting our dollar's worth. <br />As a result, we need to focus on achieving practical results with our research <br />dollars. Instead of concentrating on basic research, the time has come to take <br />all the technical data and research already out there and turn it into something <br />useful for engineers, city planners, construction companies, and public <br />officials. The research community needs to focus its efforts on how to reduce <br />the costs of disasters and provide data that can be used to fight special interest <br />groups who prefer to ignore mitigation. Although the scientific community <br />must change its focus, it is the only way we can produce the results necessary <br />to maintain mitigation funding in the future <br /> <br />~ <br />~ <br /> <br />Costs and Benefits <br /> <br />macro- <br />b.....efits of <br />