New professional association - Natural Hazard Mitigation Association

Feb. 16, 2009 - PRLog -- The new Natural Hazard Mitigation Association (NHMA) has been formed to support and encourage long-term actions to reduce disaster losses.

“Hazard mitigation makes communities and people safer from disasters,” said the group’s president, Jane E. Rovins, CEM, FPEM, a Florida-based hazards researcher and consultant. “NHMA is joining together people who are interested in building disaster-resilient organizations and communities.”

“NHMA cuts across the spectrum of hazards to unite people who want to make a difference and work together to stem the rising toll of death and destruction from floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other disasters,” said Bob Roberts, a Tulsa disaster safety and business continuity planner.

NHMA was created in the fall of 2008.  The group has elected a 15-member board of directors, obtained its nonprofit 501-C-3 status, adopted goals and objectives, and established a website and work program, said Alessandra Jerolleman, NHMA executive director. NHMA headquarters is in Kenner, LA.

Membership is open to anyone interested in supporting the goal of reducing disaster losses, including mitigation managers, experts, professionals, students, government officials, community activists, academics, and others who are working in the field of hazard mitigation. A membership form is available on the website http://nhma.info

Goals adopted at the group’s first conference held Nov 2008 in Tulsa, include the following:
•   To create a forum for professionals working in Hazard Mitigation to share their ideas and experiences.
•   To establish Hazard Mitigation as a profession in its own right.
•   To serve as a source of training and technical information to those working in the field.
•   To function as a professional and unified voice for Hazard Mitigation managers in the public marketplace of ideas and the political arena.
•   To achieve greater awareness of the social component of Hazard Mitigation decisions.
•   To develop more effective mitigation programs which benefit the community as a whole
•   To help ingrain Hazard Mitigation as a part of our communities’ culture.


Contact: Alessandra Jerolleman
   NHMA Executive Director
   504-914-6648 phone
504-468-9963 fax
www.nhma.info