The National Academies of Sciences recently announced a $3.4 million grant to LSU faculty and Louisiana Sea Grant College Program researchers to study how developers and homeowners can better deal with natural disasters.
Carol Friedland, associate professor of construction management, and fellow researchers Jim Wilkins, Niki Pace and Melissa Trosclair Daigle with the Louisiana Sea Grant Law & Policy Program will use the grant to help Louisiana residents make smarter housing decisions based on hazard risks and mitigation of those risks, according to an LSU announcement.
“The first line of defense in reducing risk to human life and property is residing in a home protected from natural hazards and its impacts. Safe housing should be equitably available, not just accessible to those knowledgeable enough to seek out information or wealthy enough to build fortified homes,” Friedland says. The grant is part of a total of $10.7 million in funding awarded to four disaster research projects across the Gulf Coast.
Friedland says many residents are unaware the building codes and zoning regulations meant to protect them in a disaster have likely become outdated as environmental stressors, local development patterns and construction practices have changed over time.
Additionally, in recent decades, Gulf Coast communities have dealt with more frequent and severe impacts from climate-sensitive hazards, extreme weather and human-caused disasters. The capacity to recover from these disasters can vary from one community to the next, depending on a range of social, economic, environmental and other factors. Read the full LSU announcement.