That could happen. Proposals were due on July 25 for a federal funding opportunity (FFO) for an engineering laboratory cooperative-agreement program within NIST for disaster resilience of buildings, infrastructure and communities. "I have confidence the FFO will provide a road map to get everyone on the same page," says Robert E. Solomon, the National Fire Protection Association's division manager for codes.

Not everyone supports a resiliency czar. "I am not in favor of making large government even larger," says Dennis J. Wessel, senior vice president at Karpinski Engineering and an ASHRAE director.

Others say there is no need for a czar because Florida and the Gulf Coast states—with Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina—charted the resiliency course by adopting stringent codes, test protocols and guidelines after 1992's Hurricane Andrew and 2005's Katrina. "Lessons learned after Andrew and Katrina are similar to those that [people in] the Northeast are facing, except [the Northeast is] at the epicenter of news media outlets creating news perceived as unique," says Michael Lingerfelt, a private-practice architect in Orlando and 2013 chairman of the American Institute of Architects disaster-assistance committee.

Mechanical engineer Joseph Lstiburek, a principal of Building Science Corp., agrees. "We're pretty good at this already," he says. "Just look at Florida."

But Sandy's surge exposed the never-considered vulnerabilities of commercial buildings and critical facilities and raised the specter of costly retrofits. Businesses in flood-prone areas started looking to design professionals for low-cost ways to protect assets.

This a "critical time," says Cooper Martin, AIA's director of resilient communities. "If designers don't provide solutions, insurance companies are going to drive change by raising rates and driving whole communities out of their homes," he says. Martin calls this "the messiest and most inhumane way to achieve resilience."

Elizabeth English, founder-director of the nonprofit Buoyant Foundation Project, knows about the power of insurance. She has been on a six-year crusade for amphibious houses and retrofits (see facing page). The buildings are currently not eligible for inexpensive National Flood Insurance, administered by the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency, because they are not permanently elevated.

"I haven't given up," says English. "FEMA is interested in [being] more flexible, which is very hopeful."

Making buildings resilient is not rocket science, say Lingerfelt and Lstiburek: Waterproof the foundation, zip up the envelope, tie the roof to the walls, elevate or waterproof critical systems and build at least the first floor from a strong, water-resistant material.

Lingerfelt says there is devastation with each storm because 90% of residential construction in the U.S. is not designed by a licensed professional. The situation is further aggravated by the absence of codes in many places and poor enforcement in others.

"This isn't an engineering problem. It's a code-enforcement problem," Lingerfelt says.