HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0221.007 1998-2000 County Naws. February 15.1999
New FEMA rule: Adopt building
codes before disaster strikes
Fads won't pay for pricey upgrades unless new code's in place
Br M1fAxr Ann B.sxron arises:' he said. bar two, tae put unnecessary and
scnma sr4rr wanrn Quinune stressed ihu preparing really unusual pressure on state and
' Don't expert the fads u pay for building codes tdus time. 7fie up- local jovemmenu to do something
pricey upgedes to wiped-out public daledeodes after Hurricane Amlrew very fast without a lot of proper
buildings-uNesaYOUrcaunryedopte were not In place until 1994. "We iNddngaM planing."
updatetl building<odes before the di- needed to do rceearch and tee if It Soren to the iuue v • po11Uu1
seater hin, a new fetkael rule says. was adequate, to see how much a hot pouts. - ~
TheFederalEmvgency Mumge- window could absorb before it "77rishes been verycontroversial
ment Agency (FEMA) pays 75 per- broke." for a lot of people;' says Sheri Cot- r
cent of the cost of regrUding public lames Lee Witt. FEMA director, fin, who writes a newsletter for Ne Q[{FJ1/~ Sl~
buildings wiped out by disastps. l.o- spells out Ne new role in a letter lntemetional Association of Emer- B
cal and suu government picks updre asking governors to spread iheword gency Managers.
real of the ub. to counties: "Building codes are very polio- 9
As FEMA's Robert Adamcik ex- '„fie role sates Ibat we will share cal, they're costly...it's the whole C.O1/01y ~•O{I11CU
plains it local and state governmm~n the cosn associaud with state and miUgatlonissue:'shesaid."IL's abort ~
in ue past have said"'Ca, we went local repay a replacement codes or sperdingmoney.Ifihe dueatdcesn't
you to rebuild the entire building and smrdards only it dwse consWCtion appear to be inuninent, ii s{{easy to
make it twice ac strong az before.' codes orsterdards ate rcasonble.arc pal it off. FEMAis trying tgchange
And instead of cosdng $100,000 m in writing and have ban formally human nature."
repaiq dlis is going to rnst$100 mil- adopted and implemented by slate Quinuna, director of building
Iion.And that's nln exaggeudon;' and local govemmem prior to ue code compliance for Miami-Dade
he said. presidential disaster dalaration." County, says that FEMA is on the
In all. FEMA spends about $1.3 Adameik said the change was right ttack,
billion per year for its public azsis- made for two reasons. "Lessons have been [aught not
tarlttpmgmm,whichindudesmbuild- "We were hutling ourselves, be- only from Hurricane Andrew but
ing, debris removal, emergency pro- cause we said'Well, when you have also from Hugo and others;'he said.
lective meazures, roads and bridges a disaster, ihaYs the time to put a "I wouldn't mind That even commu-
atd water treatment. code in place and i(you get the code nines drat aren't directly impacted
Underihenew mle(fustpubhshed in real faz6 we'll honor uat'We make revisions of their own regula-
Feb.5.i998),whichwentintoef(a[ delayed funding the lcounty rebuild- Lions and codes to makethemslricmr.
(or local govemmenn Jan. I,FEMA ingl projects for an inordinate period It is foolish to wail until a naluml
will only pay to rebuild according m of time;' he said, noting ue paper- disaster once you know you have a
ihebuildingcodethatis already onNe work tha[had io be donesince some problem. It isagood ideam address
books. The ndegceshrloeHatJn.1, codes weren't in place."And tram- it before tie nod arias:'
2IX10 for state governments.
U nder the old rnle, FEMA allowed
new building codes to be adapted ~ O ~ ~ ~ A
after a disaster. C
Slates and local govemmenn
might present a code to FEMA that is
Avery highcode which requires ahigh "THE WJSDOM TO KNOW AND THE
upgrade atasubstntial cost involved COURAGE TO DEPEND THE PUBLICINTEREST"
to upgrade a structure just baauu Prcrtdem: Betty Lou wars
FEMA is paying the bill;' said Pnnfi:Go: Larry Nanke
Adamcik,de ut azawiatedirectorof Punur Agan.Oirmo-rr: iron fopaman ,
P Y Edi,or: Beverly Anne SeMMmrbeck
FEMA's Response and Recovery
Duatorate. ednnnm smp~
"We say, ' Weih wail a minute, Mary Anv Barron, unimxaBwm
Revln Wllroa, sen,nr.ta~x~ ilerer
you haven't appliedthatcodetoyour lay beddatarapnir an++,
own buildings that you build with P.Wck son, n~unr9mpmo nnist
your own money: he said. ndnent,in9 smB~
Many counties don'[ upgrade Beverly SrJdonerbeck, rmdnnalamounn nprerrrnmicr
building codes until shat disaster vlewria Vkkers, Job am.tn .rprearnmeivr
- strikes. After Hurricane Andrew hit 202N42-425fi • FA%20ba9J-x630 1.
south Miami-Dade County in 1992, PoblishN mwerkly nupl August try:
the CoOnfy upgraded its building Nvno,ul AssaN.nwol l.'oundes Rexamh FwadMlon.lnr.
codes, said Prank Quintana, director 410 Flrst Slner, N.W.
w'aabinalan, D.C, 311001-2090
of building aide compliance for the
county. The damage was mainly l0 20x•J9}fi226 PA%20A J914610
null: rocwa@naro.arg
private residential buildings and not nnhne addax www.naro.orrfpuba2newslwrrem
guvemment buildings. Mvr,ey„s„~iy,.d wbemnoKnu'nu,.•nn.nm,n.•rv+~r~m~pP,nn.nww,N.nm nv
"As long as you don't have a ,Iw rv~'~ an. mm.mcowem i«..ym aw Amara. ~ a •s va.m~.ra I DlJ ~7
r.d.a~m,w«.ermme w.w.n~nc =ro.ax. ~ma• IDFiI. No. ll~~'' 1
natural disaster, You think that what ~ ,F SVa w,n>~~.+w,,,•~n'-.a sss w.r•+e...„-~i..n.,, w.M~~•r ~n.~~~•.~A••
you have is good and then you're up rn..wl~.w.,w..,.nsnmra.,..,w.n„-a..w.~,n•vrw~•~n,w..„r~~~Krn..n.u wv~. k Cy n. n'
L~
forarou hawakenin one der and """"""""`""n,.wwxu„.,,u r„•s~xw,w.,n.,r„„.ur nuavuxn rl (]e ~0 C
6 B Y r,.w.w..,r.n.+M..v...~ur rM...w~,.~m men~.r,n,
then yen, revisit all the codes and ,.nr..,r.r„~ ,,,_,„,,.r ,wo,.mn
._...e„_. „ C.U ~ ~ l -
regulatlons and ycu make adjust- "'sw n"-no^'.,n<v. ^'u.'.^' Refer T01
,rrv.,,,.an„.,.o~,o,,,ro.,.,,,„, x,...,,n,,,..e„~~..
menu and improvements as the need ~ ~ '
Ref. Da d!N 2 3 1`~Sy
t