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Communities that act now to protect themselves from future hazards like earthquakes, hurricanes, floods听and wildfires can save themselves as much as $11 for every $1 that they initially invest, according to .

The findings are part of an update to 鈥�.鈥� This landmark report was first published in 2005 by the National Institute of Building Sciences and was led by 麻豆免费版下载Boulder鈥檚 Keith Porter, who also spearheaded the most recent findings.

The report examines how homeowners, developers and municipalities might save lives and money in the long term by implementing a variety of mitigation efforts before a disaster strikes. That might mean raising houses above floodplains or strengthening office buildings against earthquakes.听

There鈥檚 a lot to be gained from that kind of forward thinking, said Porter, a research professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering.听

鈥淣atural hazard mitigation saves,鈥� Porter said. 鈥淢itigation can be a costly decision, but this study should help people to make a more informed choice about how to save their property and their wellbeing.鈥澨�

His research shows that communities in the United States stand to save billions of dollars by making sure that new structures meet, or exceed, the International Building Code鈥攁 set of widely-adopted recommendations for designing safe buildings. Such measures could also prevent an estimated 600 deaths and one million injuries at the same time. 听

Porter and his colleagues released their findings this week at the Building Innovation 2019 conference in Washington, D.C.

Staying safe

The report comes after a record-breaking wildfire season in California. This year, one blaze alone鈥攖he Camp Fire鈥攌illed more than 80 people and consumed roughly 14,000 homes in the northern part of the state. 听

It also matters for Colorado, where large numbers of residents are vulnerable to wildfires and flooding. Wildfires burned hundreds of thousands of acres of land in Colorado in 2018鈥攐ne of the worst fire years on record for the state. Historic flash floods in September 2013 destroyed or damaged thousands of homes across the Front Range.

More stringent codes can limit some of the biggest losses from such events, Porter said. 听Most states and communities in the U.S. have requirements for how buildings weather natural hazards. But research suggest that they may not go far enough, and many older buildings still fall short of these codes.

Porter pointed to the case of existing codes that require homes to sit a foot above the 100-year flood level. That is the theoretical height of a severe deluge that might occur only once every 100 years.听

鈥淭hat doesn鈥檛 make your house floodproof. There鈥檚 still a significant chance that a flood would be higher than that,鈥� Porter said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 actually cost-effective in many places to build up to 5 feet above the base flood elevation.鈥�

Saving money

To put numbers on the benefits from such mitigation efforts, Porter and his colleagues turned to a wide range of data to write their 2005 report. That includes records from past disasters and computer simulations that test how buildings might respond to future floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires.听

What they found in the was staggering: While the benefits vary from place to place, communities in the U.S. on average may save $11 in the decades ahead for every $1 they spend now to meet current building codes. Going beyond those codes, too, can bring an extra $4 for every $1 spent.

Those gains come in a variety of forms. When buildings are built to better withstand earthquakes, for example, more stores stay open after a big tremor and fewer people go to the hospital for injuries.听

The new round of numbers, together with a related report published last year, were also the first to look at the benefits that come from safeguarding buildings against wildfires. According to the team鈥檚 calculations, communities living at the edges of forests can save $4 for every $1 they spend to plan ahead for flames. Common recommendations include creating 鈥渄efensible鈥� spaces free of brush and other flammable material around homes.听

鈥淎s we saw from the California wildfires last year, that鈥檚 crucial,鈥� Porter said. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 build for fire resistance, you run a much higher risk of having your home burn down.鈥�

He acknowledges that those sorts of measures can be costly in the short term. But Porter hopes that his group鈥檚 findings will motivate governments and other entities to do more to help home and business owners plan for the inevitable. 听听

鈥淵ou can spend money up front to better prepare for a disaster, and that should save you in the long run,鈥� Porter said.