Cooperative Disaster Child Care Program
A volunteer program administered by Church of the Brethren, designated to meet the needs of children of victims of the impacted area in Red Cross service center and the Disaster Application Center.

Disaster Application Center (DAC)
DAC is the common term for a large facility with tables and chairs for the victims and the interviewers where needs and applications for benefits are reviewed.

Applications can also be given by phone through a designated (800) number.  Many agencies will be represented in the DAC.

Some of the groups that will be present:

• Small Business Administration, 
• Employment Security Administration,
• American Red Cross, and
• Cooperative Disaster Child Care Program

Disaster
A natural or human-made occurrence which causes human suffering or creates human need, as well as the opportunity for new growth.

Disaster Welfare Inquiry
A service operated by the Red Cross, usually in cooperation with Radio Emergency Associated Communications Team.

If you have family members in the affected area who cannot be reached, the local Red Cross chapter can be given information and they will make inquires about a family situation.

Employment Security Administration
Assists those who lost jobs or could not get to jobs because of the disaster.
 
 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

If local or state funds cannot care for all the needs of the victims, the governor of the state makes a request to the President of the United States and, if it is approved, a declaration is made.

FEMA staff will move into the disaster area and relief agencies will attend to the victims needs by setting up a DAC.

Individual Family Grant (IFG)
Provides grants of up to $13,400 to survivors who do not qualify for a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan, provided they have applied for an SBA loan and been refused.

Interfaith Response
Local congregations working together for long-term response.

Small Business Administration (SBA)
Provides loans at lower than market rate for:

• Home
• Business Rebuilding
• Personal Property Loss
• Economic Injury Disaster Loans

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DEFINITIONS

Actions Affecting or Affected by Floodplains or Wetlands
Actions which have the potential to result in the long or short term impacts associated with the following:

• the occupancy or modification of floodplains and the direct or indirect support of floodplain development; or

• the destruction and modification of wetlands and the direct or indirect support of new construction in wetlands.

Actuarial Rates or Risk Premium Rates (Insurance)
Those rates established by the Federal Insurance Administrator pursuant to individual community studies and investigations which are undertaken to provide flood insurance in accordance with Section 1307 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, as amended, and the accepted actuarial principles.
 
Affected Structure
A structure that received damage but is usable for its intended purpose.

Agency
The Federal Emergency management Agency (FEMA)

Allocation (Specific) - Resource Management
The authorization and action whereby a facility or all or some of the total anticipated supply of a scarce and critical material, commodity, product, service, or item is assigned or reserved for use by a specified activity or activities during a stated time period.  It permits the claimant activity to procure a specified quantity of the particular controlled goods or services during a stated time period.

Alluvial Fan Flooding
Flooding occurring on the surface of an alluvial fan or similar landform which originates at the apex and is characterized by high velocity flows.

American Red Cross (ARC)
A quasi-governmental agency largely for relief of suffering and welfare activities during war and disaster.  The ARC operates under a Congressional Charter and is supported by the public.  Internationally, it operates in accordance with the Treaty of Geneva.

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Applicant (Relating to a Major Disaster or Emergency)
• For public assistance means the State, local government, or eligible private nonprofit facility submitting a project application or request for direct Federal assistance under the Disaster Relief Act of 1974, as amended, or on whose behalf the Governor's authorized representative takes such action; and

• For individual assistance, means an individual or family who submits an application or request for assistance under the Act.

Associate Director
The head of a directorate of the Federal Emergency Management Agency who has responsibility for a particular activity/function.

Automated Disaster Assistance Management Systems (ADAMS)
Integrated database system providing local processing support for DAP programs in DFO's and at permanent DAP sites.  ADAMS includes separate modules for Individual, Public, and Hazard Mitigation assistance programs, as well as program support activities for management and coordination.

Avalanche
A mass of sliding snow.  Avalanches usually occur in mountainous terrain where snow is deposited on slopes of 20 degrees or more.

Avoidance
To eliminate a hazard through measures such as relocation or prohibition of construction (or by other means) within an area susceptible to risk or danger.

Base Flood
A flood which has 1% chance of being equalled or exceeded in any given year (also known as a 1% annual chance flood or a 100-year flood).  This term is used in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to indicate the minimum standard of protection from flooding to be used by a community in its floodplain management regulations.

Base Floodplain
The 100-year floodplain (1% annual chance floodplain).

Basement
Any area of a building having its floor subgrade (below ground) on all sides.
 

Berm
The horizontal portion of the backshore beach formed by sediments deposited by waves.  Also, earth mounded around the sides of a building to provide barrier shielding against fallout gamma radiation.

Binder
A temporary and preliminary contract of insurance to protect the owner against loss from the occurrence of an insurable event before a policy is issued.  The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) does not issue binders.

Blizzard
Extensive snowfall of considerable density for more than 3 hours, winds of 32 to 44 miles per hour, and visibility of less than 1/4 mile.  Becomes a severe blizzard when winds attain 45 miles per hour, visibility approaches zero, and temperatures drop to 10 degrees F or lower.

Bog
A wetland usually developing in a depression or lake with poor drainage.

Bottomland Hardwoods
Tree species that occur on water-saturated or regularly inundated soils.  Classified as wetland, these areas contain both trees and woody shrubs.

Bulkhead
A vertical wall of wood, steel, concrete, or similar material normally built parallel to the shoreline and designed to deflect waves and control erosion.

Burden
The total time, effort, and/or financial resources required to respond to a collection of information.

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Casualty
A person injured and needing medical treatment or a person killed because of manmade or natural disasters.

Casualty Services
Professional medical help, hospital services, and ambulance services for collecting and treating casualties.

Census Tract
A nonpolitical, geographical subdivision of no standard size but within a city, town, country, or other political jurisdiction.  It is used by he U.S. Bureau of the Census as a convenient and flexible unit for surveying and aggregating population, housing, and other demographic or economic statistics.  In most instances, a tract corresponds to a Standard Location Area.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
The official of the community who is charged with the authority to implement and administer laws, ordinances, and regulation for that community.

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Civil Defense (CD)
All activities and measures designed or undertaken for the following reasons:
• to minimize the effects upon the civilian population caused by, or which would be caused by, an attack upon the United States or by a natural disaster;

• to deal with the immediate emergency conditions which would be created by any such attack or natural disaster; and

• to effectuate emergency repairs to, or the emergency restoration of, vital utilities and facilities destroyed or damaged by any such attack or natural disaster.

Civil Resources
Resources that normally are not controlled by the Government.  These include:

• manpower,
• food and water,
• health resources,
• industrial production
• housing and construction,
• telecommunications,
• energy,
• transportation,
• minerals,
• materials,
• supplies, and
• other essential resources and services.

Clearance Time
The time period required to clear from the roadways all vehicles evacuating in response to a hurricane situation.

Closeout
The process by which all applicable performs, financial, and administrative actions and requirements of an assistance agreement or contract are determined to have been completed.

Co-Insurance
A clause contained in some fire policies requiring the insured to buy insurance equal to a stated percentage of the value of the insured property if losses are to be paid in full up to the limits of the policy.  There is no co-insurance under the NFIP.
 

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Coastal Barriers
A depositional geologic feature such as a bay barrier, tombolo, barrier spit, or barrier island that consists of unconsolidated sedimentary materials, is subject to wave, tidal, and wind energies, and protects landward aquatic habitats from direct wave attack.  As established by the Coastal Barrier Resources Act of 1982, no new flood insurance coverage may be provided on or after October 1, 1983, for any new construction or substantial improvements of structures located on any designated undeveloped coastal barrier with the Coastal Barrier Resources.

Coastal High Hazard Area
Special flood hazard areas along the coasts that have additional hazards due to wind and wave action.

Cognizant Federal Agency (CFA)
The Federal agency that owns, authorizes, regulates or is otherwise deemed responsible for the affected facility, carrier, or cargo in a radiological emergency.

Collection of Information
The obtaining or soliciting of information by an agency from 10 or more persons by means of identical questions, whether such collection of information is mandatory, voluntary, or required to obtain a benefit. 

Community
A political entity which has the authority to adopt and enforce floodplain ordinances for the area under its jurisdiction.  In most cases, the community is either an incorporated city, township or village or unincorporated area of a county.  However, certain states may have land use authorities which vary from this situation.

Comprehensive Emergency Management (CEM)
An integrated approach to the management of emergency programs and activities for all four emergency phases (mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery), for all types of emergencies and disasters (natural, manmade, and attack), and for all levels of government (local, State, and Federal) and the private sector.

Concealment (Insurance)
Withholding of underwriting information from NFIP when applying for insurance or when making a claim.

Construction Practices
Codes, standards, and specifications applicable to repairs, alterations, or new construction of a facility or structure.

Contents Coverage
Insurance to cover loss to personal property or business property.  Contents must be located within an eligible building.  Contents within an eligible building which is not fully enclosed must be secured to prevent flotation out of the building during flooding.

Contiguous
Connected throughout in an unbroken sequence along a boundary.  For NFIP purpose, a row of townhouses.

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Continental U.S. Airborne Reconnaissance for Damage Assessment (CARDA).
A U.S. Air Force program for airborne reconnaissance of the United States to assess damage following a nuclear strike or catastrophic natural disaster.

Contour Line (Floodplain Zoning)
A line on a map representing points of equal ground elevation.  The map is referred to as a topographic map.

Contract
A legal agreement between two or more parties.  An insurance policy is a contract.

Corrections (Insurance)
The act of changing a policy by endorsement, adding or cancelling coverage, or changing the policy terms. 

Coverage (Insurance)
The insurance purchased against specific losses provided under the terms of a policy of insurance.  coverage is frequently used interchangeably with the work protection.  Coverage is also used synonymously with the work "insurance".

Crisis Counseling
The application of individual and group treatment procedures which are designed to ameliorate the mental and emotional crises and their subsequent psychological and behavioral conditions resulting from a major disaster or its aftermath.

Critical Action (Flooding)
An action for which even a slight chance of flooding is too great.  The minimum floodplain of concern for critical actions is the 500-year floodplain, i.e., critical action floodplain.  Critical actions include, but are not limited to, those which create or extend the useful life of such structures or facilities as the following:

• Those which produce, use, or store highly volatile, flammable explosive, toxic, or water-reactive materials;

• Hospitals, nursing homes, and housing for the elderly which are likely to contain occupants who may not be sufficiently mobile to avoid the loss of life or injury during flood and storm events;

• Emergency operation centers or data storage centers which contain records or services that may become lost or inoperative during flood and storm events; and

• Generating plants and other principal points of utility lines.

Curvilinear Line
The border on either a flood Hazard Boundary map (FHBM) or Flood Insurance Rate map (FIRM) that delineates the special flood, mudslides (i.e., mudflow), and/or flood-related erosion hazard areas and consists of a curved or contour line that follows the topography.

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Damage Assessment
The appraisal or determination of the actual effects on human, economic, and natural resources resulting from manmade or natural disasters.

Deductible
For any loss covered by insurance, the deductible is the fixed dollar amount or percentage which is borne by the insured prior to the insurers liability.

Deemer Provision
A provision in a Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) Plan whereby interim coverage for an eligible risk is deemed automatically to attach upon the expiration of a specified period of time after an application for inspection and insurance.

Designated Area
Any emergency or disaster-affected portion of a State which the Associate Director, State and Local Programs and Support Directorate, has determined is eligible for Federal assistance.

Destroyed
A facility or structure which, pursuant to Public Law 93-288, as amended, received severe damage and is no longer technically or economically feasible to repair.

Development
Any manmade change to improved or unimproved real estate, including but not limited to buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation, or drilling operations.

Director
The Director of the Federal Emergency management Agency (FEMA).

Disaster
An occurrence that has resulted in property damage, deaths, and/or injuries to a community.

Disaster Control
Measures taken before, during, or after hostile actions or natural or manmade disasters to reduce the probability of damage, minimize its effects, and initiate recovery.

Disaster Field Office (DFO)
A FEMA office established in disaster areas and staffed with personnel from Federal, State, and private agencies who direct and coordinate relief actions.

Disaster Proofing
Those minimum alterations or modifications to damaged facilities that could be expected to prevent or substantially reduce future damages to the repaired or reconstructed facility or to make it disaster resistant.

Disaster Recover Manager
The person appointed to exercise the authority of a Regional Director for a particular emergency or major disaster.

Disaster Relief Act of 1974
A Federal statute designed to supplement the efforts of the affected States and local governments in expediting the rendering of assistance, emergency services, and the reconstruction and rehabilitation of devastated areas (PL 93-288), as amended.

Disaster Unemployment Assistance
Financial assistance and/or reemployment services to individuals unemployed as result of a major disaster.

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Earned Premium (Insurance)
That portion of the premium which represents coverage already provided.  The NFIP premium is fully earned on the first day of the policy period.

Earthquake
The sudden motion or trembling of the ground produced by abrupt displacement of rock masses, usually within the upper 10 to 20 miles of the Earth.

Earthquake Intensity
A measure of the effects of an earthquake at a particular place.  Intensity is determined from observations of an earthquake's effect on people, structures, and the Earth's surface.

Earthquake Magnitude
A measure of the strength of an earthquake, or the strain of energy released by it, as calculated from the instrumental record made by the event on a calibrated seismograph.

Effective Date (Insurance)
The starting date of a policy and the time at which NFIP protection begins.

Effective Structure
A structure that has been damaged but is usable for its basic purpose.

Eight-Step Decision Making Process
A systematic process developed by the US Water Resources Council as a part of the Guidelines for Implementing Executive Order 11988 - Floodplain Management.

Eligible Community or Participating Community
A community for which the Federal Insurance Administrator has authorized the sale of flood insurance under the NFIP.

Emergency
Any hurricane, tornado, storm, flood, highwater, wind-driven water, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, drought, fire, explosion, nuclear accident, or other natural or manmade catastrophe in any part of the United States.  Any occasion or instance for which, in the determination of the President, Federal assistance is needed to supplement State and local efforts and capabilities to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety or to lessen the threat of a catastrophe in any part of the United States.

Emergency Action Plan (EAP)
A plan of action to be taken to reduce the potential for loss of life and property damage in an area affected by disaster.

Emergency Flood Insurance Program or Emergency Program
Implemented on an emergency basis to provide a first-layer amount of insurance on all insurable structures before the effective date of the initial Flood Insurance Rate Map.

Emergency Management
The organized analysis, planning, decision making, assignment, and coordination of available resources to the mitigation of, preparedness for, response to or recovery from emergencies of any kind, whether from attack, manmade, or natural sources.

Emergency Medical Services (EMS's)
A system which provides personnel, facilities, and equipment for the delivery of medical care services under emergency conditions.

Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)
A person trained to provide emergency medical care.  The EMT may or may not be involved in ambulance service.

Emergency Operating Center (EOC)
The protected site from which civil government officials (municipal, county, State, and Federal) exercise direction and control in an emergency.
 

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Emergency Operations Plan (EOP)
A document that describes actions to be taken in the event of natural disasters, technological accidents, or nuclear attack.  It identifies authorities, relationships, and the actions to be taken by whom, what, when, and where, based on predetermined assumptions, objectives, and existing capabilities.

Emergency Phase
Involves a domestic or national security emergency, up to and including conventional or nuclear war.  During this phase, response actions are taken before, during, and after the onset of the emergency to end the emergency, protect the public, provide critical assistance, limit damage, and reduce the probability of secondary effects.

Emergency Program (Flood Insurance)
See Emergency Flood Insurance Program

Emergency Public Information
Information which is disseminated primarily in anticipation of an emergency or at the actual time of an emergency and, in addition to providing information as such, frequently directs actions, instructs, and transmits direct orders.

Emergency Response Team (ERT)
The FEMA group, composed of a headquarters element and a regional element, that is deployed by the Director, FEMA, to the scene of disaster or extraordinary situation to coordinate the overall Federal response.

Emergency Shelter
A form of mass or other shelter provided for the communal care of individuals or families forced from their homes by  a major disaster or an emergency.

Emergency Support Team (EST)
The FEMA headquarters group that provides program and administrative support to the Director, FEMA, and the senior FEMA official during the response and recovery phases of a disaster or extraordinary situation.

Emergency Work
Work Essential to save lives and protect property and public health and safety or to avert or lessen the threat of a major disaster.

Encroachment
Any fill, structure, building, use, accessory use, or development in the floodway or floodplain.

Endorsement (Insurance)
A request in writing to change an existing policy (e.g., an increase in coverage, change of an insure's mailing address) or the NFIP form used to make the request.

Environmental Hazard
Any hazardous condition that might give rise to loss under an insurance contract, but which is beyond the control of the property owner or tenant.

Epicenter
The point on the earth's surface located vertically above the point of origin of an earthquake.

Erosion
The process of the gradual wearing away of land masses.

Evacuees
All persons removed or moving from areas threatened or struck by a disaster.

Exclusion (Insurance)
That portion of the insurance contract which denies or limits coverage to specified items and under specified circumstances.

Executive Order 10480
This order authorizes the director, FEMA, to coordinate all mobilization activities of the executive branch of the Government.

Executive Order 11988
The Floodplain Management order that requires Federal agencies to adhere to the 100-year base flood standard of the NFIP and ties together the need to protect lives and property with the need to restore and preserve natural and beneficial floodplain values.

Expiration (Insurance)
The date on which insurance in force on a policy will end.

Existing Manufactured Home Park or Subdivision
A manufactured home park or subdivision for which the construction of facilities for servicing the lots on which the manufactured homes are to be affixed is completed before the effective date of the floodplain management regulations adopted by a community.

Extent of Damage
The visible plan area of damage to a target element, usually expressed in units of 1,000 square feet in detailed damage analysis and expressed in approximate percentages in immediate-type damage assessment reports (e.g., 50 percent structural damage).

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Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO)
The person appointed by the Director of FEMA to coordinate Federal assistance in an emergency or a major disaster.

Federal Disaster Assistance
Aid to disaster victims or State and local governments by Federal agencies under provisions of the Disaster relief Act of 1974, as amended.

Federal Preparedness Circulares (FPC)
Broad policy guidance for national security emergency mobilization and planning preparedness from FEMA to Federal departments and agencies.

Federal Resource Agencies
Federal departments and agencies with emergency preparedness responsibility for evaluating specific resources and for regulating or providing direction on incentives to specified sectors of the economy to achieve national objectives in emergency production, distribution, and use of resources.

Financial Assistance
Any for of loan, grant, guaranty, insurance, payment, rebate, subsidy, disaster assistance loan or grant, or other form of direct or indirect Federal assistance other than general or special revenue sharing or formula grant made to States.

Financial Assistance for Acquisition or Construction Purposes
Any form of financial assistance which is intended in whole or in part for the acquisition, reconstruction, repair, or improvement of any publicly- or privately-owned building or mobile home and for any machinery, equipment, fixtures, and furnishings contained or to be contained therein, and shall include the purchase or subsidization of mortgages or mortgage loans, that shall exclude assistance pursuant to the Disaster Relief Act of 1974, as amended, other than assistance under such Act in connection with a flood.  It includes only financial assistance insurable under the Standard Flood Insurance Policy.

Firestorm
Stationary mass fire, generally in built-up urban areas, generating strong, in-rushing winds from all sides; the winds keep the fires from spreading while adding fresh oxygen to increase their intensity.

Fire Suppression Assistance
Assistance authorized under Section 417, Public Law 93-288, as amended to respond to the occurrence of a forest or grassland fire on private or public property, which threatens such destruction as would constitute a major disaster.  Assistance is requested by the Governor, processed by the appropriate FEMA region, and forwarded to the Director, FEMA, for further action and decision.

First-Layer Coverage
The maximum amount of structural and contents insurance coverage available under the emergency Program.

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Flash Flood
Follows a situation in which rainfall is so intense and severe and runoff so rapid that it precludes recording and relating it to stream stages and other information in time to forecast a flood condition.

Flood
A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from the following:

• Overflow of inland or tidal waters;
• Unusual or rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters; and
• Mudslides/mudflows caused by accumulation of water.

Flood Elevation Determination
A determination by the Federal Insurance Administrator of the water surface elevations of the base flood; that is , the flood level that has a 1% or greater chance of occurrence in any given year.

Flood Elevation Study
An examination, evaluation, and determination of flood hazards and, if appropriate, corresponding water surface elevations, or an examination, evaluation, and determination of mudslide (i.e., mudflow) and/or flood-rated erosion hazards.

Flood Fringe
That portion of the floodplain outside of the floodway (often referred to as "floodway Fringe").

Flood Hazard Boundary Map (FHBM)
An official map or plat of a community, for a community in the Emergency Flood Insurance Program, issued or approved by the Federal Insurance Administrator, on which the boundaries of the floodplain, mudslide (i.e., mudflow), and/or flood-related erosion areas having special hazards have been drawn.
 
 

Flood Hazard Management
Encompasses all local, State, and Federal activities taken before, during, and after a flood to reduce flood losses or in response to a flood disaster.

Flood Insurance
The insurance coverage provided under the NFIP.

Flood Insurance Claims Office (FICO)
An office established by the NFIP to speed up the processing of flood insurance claims after severe or widespread flooding occurs.

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Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM)
An official map of a community on which the Federal Insurance Administrator has delineated the area in which flood insurance may be sold under the regular Flood Insurance Program and the actuarial rate zones applicable to such area.

Flood Insurance Study (FIS)
An examination, evaluation, and determination of flood hazards and, if appropriate, corresponding water surface elevations or an examination, evaluation, and determination of mudslide (i.e., mudflow)and/or flood-related erosion hazards.

Floodplain/Flood-Prone Area
Any land area susceptible to being inundated by water from any source.

Floodplain Management Regulations
Zoning ordinances, subdivision regulations, building codes, health regulations, special purpose ordinances (such as floodplain ordinances and erosion control ordinances), and other applications of police power.  The term describes such State and local regulations, in any combination thereof, which provide standards for the purpose of flood damage prevention and reduction.

Floodplain Preservation
Using all practical means, the prevention of modification of the natural floodplain environment or maintenance of the floodplain environment in a condition as close as possible to its natural state.

Floodplain Restoration
The reestablishment of a setting or environment in which the natural functions of the floodplain can again operate.

Floodplain Values
Those natural and beneficial attributes associated with the relatively undisturbed state of the floodplain, including values primarily associated with water, living, and cultural resources.

Floodproofing
The modification of individual structures and facilities, their sites, and their contents to protect against structural failure, to keep water out, or to reduce effects of water entry.

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Flood Protection System
Those physical structural works for which funds have been authorized, appropriated, and expended and which have been constructed specifically to modify flooding in order to reduce the extent of the area within a community subject to a "special flood hazard" and to reduce the depths of associated flooding.  Such a system typically includes hurricane tidal barriers, dams, reservoirs, levees, or dikes.  These specialized flood modifying workings are those constructed in conformance with sound engineering standards.

Flood-Related Erosion Area or Flood-Related Erosion Prone Area
A land area adjoining the shore of a lake or other body of water which, due to the composition of the shoreline or bank and high water levels or wind-driven currents, is likely to suffer flood-related erosion damage.

Flood-Related Erosion Area Management
The operation of an overall program of corrective and preventive measures for reducing flood-related erosion damage including, but not limited to, emergency preparedness plans, flood-related erosion control works, and floodplain management regulations.

Flood Stage
The established gauge height within a given river which the rise in the water reaches above surface level is defined as a flood.  Generally, the flood stage level is based on historical data and is usually set at the level where the river begins to overflow its banks or where it reaches a level which poses a potential hazard.

Flood Tide
Exercise term for Federal civil readiness level, advanced alert.

Floodway
The channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than a designated height.

Floodway Encroachment Lines
The lines marking the limits of floodways on Federal, State, and local floodplain maps.

Forward Liaison Element (FLE)
An element of a regional ERT team that is deployed at an early stage of a potential or developing extraordinary situation to monitor and assess the situation in order to make recommendations on the potential need for an ERT deployment.
 

Freeboard
A factor of safety usually expressed in feet above a flood level for purposes of floodplain management.  "Freeboard" tends to compensate for the many unknown factors that could contribute to flood heights greater than the height calculated for a selected size flood and floodway conditions such as wave action, bridge openings, and the hydrological effect of urbanization of the watershed.

Functionally Dependent Use
For the purposes of the NFIP, the term includes only docking and port facilities that are necessary for the loading and unloading of cargo or passengers and ship building and ship repair facilities; this term does not include long-term storage or related manufacturing facilities.

General Counsel
The head of the legal office of FEMA.

Government Mobilization
The process of marshalling resources of Federal, State, and local governments to carry out the tasks required to manage emergencies.  It involves bringing to the appropriate state of readiness the following leadership:

• Policy making groups and legislative bodies;
• courts;
• and supporting communications, facilities, procedures, and authorities to manage the emergency.

Government mobilization activates and controls other aspects of mobilization.

Governor's Authorized Representative
The person named by the Governor in the Federal-State agreement to execute on the behalf of the State all necessary documents for disaster assistance and evaluate and transmit local government, eligible private/nonprivate facility, and State agency requests for assistance to the Regional Director following a major disaster or emergency declaration.

Habitable Residence
A living unit that has sustained minor or no damage and is safe, sanitary, secure, and habitable.

Hazard Mitigation
Any cost-effective measure which will reduce the potential for damage to a facility from a disaster event.

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Hurricane
A tropical cyclone, formed in the atmosphere over warm ocean areas, in which wind speeds reach 74 miles per hour or more and blow in a large spiral around a relatively calm center or "eye".  Circulation is counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

Imminent Peril to the Public (IPP)
An emergency condition where immediate and possibly serious danger threatens the public and time does not permit fully coordinated response actions.  Under these conditions, a Federal agency may act unilaterally, in conjunction with a State or local government, to take immediate life-protecting actions and coordinate such actions later with other Federal agencies.

Incident (Catastrophe)
Any hurricane, tornado, storm, flood, high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, drought, fire, explosion, or other catastrophe which cases damage or hardship that may result in a Presidential declaration of a major disaster or emergency.

Incident Command System (ICS)
The combination of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures, and communications operating within a common organizational structure with responsibility for management of assigned resources to effectively direct and control the response to an incident.

Incident Period
The time interval stated in the FEMA-State Agreement during which a disaster-causing incident occurs.

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Independent Adjustor (Insurance)
One who adjusts losses on behalf of the NFIP but is not an employee of the NFIP.

Independent Scientific Body
A non-Federal technical or scientific organization involved in the study of land use planning, floodplain management, hydrology, geology, geography, or any other related field of study concerned with flooding.

Individual Assistance
Federal assistance provided to families or individuals following a Presidentially-declared major disaster or emergency.

Individual and Family Grant Program
Federal grants made to States for the purpose of States making grants to individuals or families who, as a result of a major disaster, are unable to meet disaster-related necessary expenses or serious needs.

Inspection Facility
Any rating bureau or other person duly authorized and designed to perform inspections under the Standard Flood Insurance Policy.

Insurable Interest
A potential for financial loss from a flood that a person must have before acquiring flood insurance.

Insurance Adjustment Organization
Any organization or person engaged in the business of adjusting claim losses arising under the Standard Flood Insurance Policy.

Insurable Interest
A potential for financial loss from a flood that a person must have before acquiring flood insurance.

Insurance to Value
The amount of coverage the insured should purchase in order to fully cover the replacement of property.

Insured
The person purchasing the insurance policy from the NFIP.

Insurer
Any property insurance company, any group of companies under common ownership or common management, or a State or political subdivision, that qualifies under the Self-Insurance Program approved by the cognizant Federal agency authorized to engage in the insurance business under the laws of at least one State.

Insuring Agreements
That portion of the insurance contract which states the terms and conditions afforded by the policy.

Joint Damage Assessment
A damage assessment by a team of Federal inspectors, and State or local inspectors, and/or engineers viewing the impact simultaneously.

Landslide
A class of phenomena associated with instability of slopes which result in the downward and outward movement of slope-forming materials:

• rocks,
• soils,
• artificial fills, or
• combinations of these materials.

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Littoral
Of or pertaining to the shore, especially of the sea; coastal.

Littoral Drift
The movement of sand by littoral (long-shore) currents in a direction parallel to the beach along the shore.

Local Government
Any county, city, village, town, district, or political subdivision of any State, any Indian tribe or authorized tribal organization, or any Alaska Native village or organization; and any other public entity for which a request for assistance is made by its State or political subdivision thereof.

Lowest Floor (Insurance)
The lowest floor of the lowest enclosed area (including the basement).  An unfinished or flood resistant enclosure, usable solely for parking of vehicles, building access, or storage in an area other than a basement is not considered a building's lowest floor, provided that such enclosure is not built so as to render the structure in violation of the applicable nonelevation design requirements of Section 60.3 of NFIP regulations.

Landslide Hazard Area
An area susceptible to mudflows and other landslides that is generally identified on the basis of geological field studies and professional judgment.

Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA)
A letter amending a Flood Hazard Boundary Map or a Flood Insurance Rate Map to correct the map for a property that has been inadvertently included in the identified Special Flood Hazard Area.

Letter of Map Revision (LOMR)
A letter from FEMA to a community officially revising its FHBM, FIRM, or Flood Boundary Floodway Map.  The LOMR effects changes in the boundaries of areas of special flood hazard, floodway boundaries, base flood elevations, and/or insurance rate zones, as a result of new, revised, or corrected flood data being provided to or by FEMA.

Liquefaction
A condition whereby soil undergoes continued deformation at a constant low residual stress or with a low residual resistance; this is due to the buildup and maintenance of high pore water pressures that reduces the effective confining pressure to a very low value.  Pore pressure buildup leading to liquefaction may be due either to static or cyclic stress applications, and the possibility of its occurrence will depend on the void ration or relative density of a cohesionless soil and the confining pressure.

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Map Revisions (Insurance)
The FHBM or FIRM for a community may be changed after its initial publication.  The changed map is said to be revised and will show the revision date, but the date used to determine Pre-FIRM and post-FIRM construction is still the initial effective date of the FIRM.

Marsh
A wetland dominated by herbaceous or nonwoody plants often developing in shallow ponds or depressions, river margins, tidal areas, and estuaries.

Mass Fire
A single, massive fire covering a large area, usually occurring in built-up urban districts and generally resulting from the union of many small fires.

Mean Sea Level
The average height of the sea for all stages of the tide at a locality.

Major Damage
A structure which has received substantial damage and will require considerable time to repair, but is technically and economically feasible to repair.

Major Disaster
Any flood, drought, fire, hurricane, earthquake, storm, or other catastrophe in any part of the United States which, in the determination of the President, causes damage of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant major disaster assistance above and beyond emergency services by the Federal Government; this assistance supplements the efforts and available resources of State and local governments and disaster relief organizations in alleviating the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering caused thereby (PL 93-288, as amended).

Mandatory Purchase (Insurance)
Individuals and businesses buying, building, or improving property located in special flood hazard areas within participating communities are required to  purchase flood insurance as a condition for receiving federally related financial assistance.

Manufactured Home
a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which is built on a permanent chassis and is designed for use with or without a permanent foundation when attached to the required utilities.

Manufactured Home Park or Subdivision
A parcel (or contiguous parcels) of land divided into two or more manufactured home lots for rent or sale.

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