What is the Alliance?

Hurricanes are the most devastating and damaging natural hazards impacting the United States and its territories in the Caribbean and Pacific basins. The unavoidable seasonality of hurricanes and the damage they cause underscore our vulnerability to this awesome force of nature. Hurricanes now cause an average of 14 deaths and $5 billion in property damage per year in the United States. Industry data show that 65% of insured losses from natural hazards in the U.S. over the past half century are due to the impact of hurricanes

Extreme hurricane events in recent have, with an increasing sense of urgency, reinforced the proposition that the nation must continue to work on, but also move beyond weather prediction and evacuation to achieve significant damage reduction. Against this background, increasing population and urban development in coastal areas highlight the dynamic nature of our vulnerability to hurricanes and the urgency of the problem. According to the 2000 census, population in the most hurricane vulnerable states has increased by 20% (11.7 million people) in the last ten years, and this trend is predicted to continue.

Mitigation offers the best alternative for reducing potential damages from hurricanes. Merely being prepared to respond to the inevitable damage that will occur from storms does nothing to reduce the ultimate cost of these dangerous events. Effective mitigation can only be achieved through increased research, vulnerability assessments, education and outreach to build a solid foundation for policy-making and building practices. Hurricane mitigation must continue to evolve by including not only a wide range of damage reduction tools such as improved building design and structural engineering methods, new construction technologies and materials, land use strategies, and building codes, but also new methods of data collection, continued social and behavioral research as well as improved communication technology, computer modeling, simulation and visualization.

It is in the national interest, indeed the interest of the Federal government, to support the development and implementation of a rational research strategy, focusing on the reduction of potential hurricane damage. Building upon current programs and other initiatives with shared objectives, this strategy will be based on leading researchers in the State of Florida with the single focused goal of reducing the cost of hurricanes to the federal, state, and local governments, as well as to businesses and households.

To contribute to the development and implementation of a strong, coherent and united research agenda focusing on hurricane loss reduction, the International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC) at Florida International University (FIU) brought together the wealth of existing capabilities and evolving expertise of the public universities in Florida into an integrated multi-year, multidisciplinary cooperative research effort - the Florida Hurricane Alliance. The Alliance is coordinated by the IHRC drawing upon its mission as the Florida Type 1 Center responsible for hurricane research, education and outreach Individual Alliance members will take the lead for specific research projects, on the basis of capabilities and relevant expertise, and working in partnership with other Alliance members through mutual agreements