CONCEPT: Mitigation

Mitigation: As McLoughlin (1985 170-71) sees it, mitigation involves measures or activities intended to prevent or, as a minimum, reduce the magnitude of “long-term risk” or actual harm (or damage) to “human life and property from natural or [human-caused] hazards” or events. Such measures include “building codes, disaster insurance, land-use management [principles/rules], risk mapping, safety codes, and tax incentives or disincentives.” We may add to these armed escort/security, surveillance or monitoring devices, quality assurance measures or processes, and “flow”-control installations or infrastructure. 

Ericson (1999: 243) adds that mitigation includes a range of measures whose effect is to prevent, control and contain, and minimize risk. For him, mitigation measures serve two ends: (a) hazard reduction: that is, minimizing potential harm or damage from “any substance, situation, or condition”; and, (b) risk reduction: that is, minimizing exposure to specified hazards (Ericson, 1999: 239).  

In general, argues Ericson (1999: 239-243), the goals of a mitigation undertaking are to: (a) minimize the number of incidents that require an emergency response by managers and regulatory agencies, (b) “minimize the magnitude of incidents”, (c) prevent “natural disasters from becoming human-made disasters”, and (d) collate and distil experience-based evidence for purposes of teaching emergency managers how to enhance their effectiveness against future emergencies.