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<br />learned can be valuable to other communities who might suffer similar trauma. Research <br />might show how these lessons can be transferred effectively. <br /> <br />Vulnerability of university. Colorado State University was extremely vulnerable to the <br />flood. Although the university responded and recovered well, study of its preparation for <br />such a flood might help universities in their facility planning. Critical facilities such as <br />faculty offices, heating plants, utilities and libraries may need more than IOO-year <br />protection. <br /> <br />Growth management in a hazardous environment. Fort Collins is a rapidly-growing <br />community. The flood hit in older parts oftown, but if it had hit in newer developments, <br />it would have provided a test of land-use and urban facilities planning. Lessons might <br />show how to build a sustainable community that is resilient to natural hazards, <br /> <br />Mitigation versus response. Fort Collins had made substantial investments in flood <br />mitigation. Astudy of the yields from these investments, compared to the effectiveness <br />of the flood responses, shows clearly that mitigation is very effective in reducing flood <br />losses. Pre-disaster mitigation is highly desirable, as an alternative to disaster response, <br />and it is necessary to promote floodplain management, hazard identification and risk <br />assessment to build disaster resistant communities, a current goal of the Federal <br />Emergency Management Agency. <br /> <br />Communicating risk to public officials and citizens. Officials in Fort Collins and at <br />Colorado State University were shocked at the severity of the flood. Although the City <br />had made significant investments in storm drainage improvements, the impact on citizens <br />was dramatic, and some citizens wondered what their money had gone for. The flood <br />reminded us of the continuing challenge in educating the public and officials about flood <br />risk, <br /> <br />Handling large influxes of donations. A remarkable discovery was the extraordinary <br />generosity of donors. Officials stated that they were surprised by the large influxes of <br />donations, both for the city and universitY, Should modifications to response plans be <br />made to accommodate donations? <br /> <br />Perhaps the best summary of the overall impact of the flood was by Mayor Ann Azari <br />who said at the conference: "...you can talk about data... My perception is all about <br />people...oftrailers in the middle of College Avenue, offamilies scared to death, of people <br />not knowing where someone else was, of children still afraid to go to sleep at night for <br />fear they're going to be in water, of organizations trying to figure out how we're going to <br />help those families..." "My perception of the flood is that it may be very microscopic in <br />the history of ,.. Fort Collins ..." "It might show up on some red line on somebody's <br />graphs..." "My perception is we have to do as good ajob as we can and learn to live on <br />the high plains of Colorado." <br /> <br />19 <br />