September 15, 2006—By clear margins, Americans are rallying around the comprehensive plan for enhanced emergency preparedness, stronger building codes, and an end to taxpayer subsidies for catastrophe recovery being advanced by ProtectingAmerica.org, a nationwide organization of first responders, leading disaster recovery experts, small and large businesses, and the nation’s largest writers of homeowners’ insurance.
According to an August 2006 survey by the Insurance Research Council (IRC), two-thirds of Americans support stronger building codes even when such codes would add to the cost of a home, and only a slight majority (58%) of survey respondents believes that emergency responders have adequate resources to help in time of need.
ProtectingAmerica.org has been calling for the enactment of legislation on the state and national level that directly addresses these issues by creating a stable source of funding for improved mitigation and code enforcement efforts, enhanced resources for first responders, better land use planning and improved emergency planning.
ProtectingAmerica.org was founded in 2005 and is co-chaired by former FEMA Director James Lee Witt and former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Admiral James Loy. The organization’s mission includes the establishment of a comprehensive, integrated national catastrophe management solution that will better prepare and protect American families, communities, consumers and the American economy from catastrophe.
For more information, see the Web site.
