Industry professionals poured out their passion at a conference in Washington, D.C., about the nation’s need to step up efforts to mitigate natural hazards through more resilient design and construction. Earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and wildfires are known natural hazards with risks that vary by location, but speakers at the event agreed that these risks can be mitigated by building in resilience. Codes, land-use planning and insurance programs all should be part of the solution.

“We can’t wait a year or six months. We have to do something tomorrow about this,” said Trumbell, Conn.-based architect Don Watson. “If we locked the doors, the people in this room could come up with an action plan,” he said, looking around at the government representatives, code officials, association leaders, engineers and owners in attendance.