Flood

Wealthy developed nations have a much easier time rebounding from major natural disasters than developing ones. A mature insurance market and high insurance penetration rates are among the mechanisms that add considerably to their resilience by making available financial resources from a source other than the government to help homeowners and businesses rebuild.

Team WXY/West8 has been designing a system of constructed offshore islands that could significantly reduce the height of storm surges (Source: Rebuild by Design) As a participant, I have to agree with CNN that the Rebuild by Design contest really was one of the ten best ideas of 2013.

You’d have to be living under a rock not to know that the NFIP is $24 billion under water and that the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012, intended to make the program more financially stable, has been gutted. The Biggert-Waters could require the NFIP to increase rates significantly for some older properties in high-risk areas. The resulting outcry has led to proposals to delay or eliminate many of the increases.