Homeowners, renters, and homebuyers can take different steps to mitigate risks and protect their family and property. This page shows you information about different options for preparing for hazards and their costs, as well as links to recovery tips and national and local hazard-related advocacy organizations.

How can I prepare for risks as a...

• Homeowner?

  As a homeowner, there are many things you can do to make your home more hazard resilient. Start by learning about the hazards that are most likely to affect your home, and then learn about how sturdy your home is. Purchase homeowner's and flood insurance. Then, you can look at the options you have to mitigate hazards and make your home more resilient here .

• Renter?

  As a renter, you may have fewer options to take to make your home more secure, but there are still actions you can take to protect yourself and your possessions. The three most important things you can do are to purchase renter's insurance for your belongings (along with separate renter's insurance for flooding, if needed), learn about the hazard history of the building you are living in, and become familiar with things you can do when a hazard threatens. We have more information on mitigation options for renters here .

• Homebuyer?

  As a homebuyer, you can prepare for risks by learning more about the hazard history of the home you're thinking of buying, as well as the hazard history of the community, and by investigating whether the home was built using hazard-resilient construction. See our homebuyer checklist here . Once you have purchased a home, be sure to get both homeowner's and flood insurance, as well as look at what mitigation options you have for making the home more secure. We have more information on mitigation options here .

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Tips and Resources to Build Resilience

Getting help after a disaster

• Visit FEMA
• Apply for federal disaster assistance
• Clean-up and safety information

Nationwide Advocacy Groups and Organizations

• Inspect To Protect: Find the current building code adopted in your community at Inspect To Protect .
• Anthropocene Alliance: The Anthropocene Alliance is the nation’s largest coalition of frontline communities fighting for climate and environmental justice.
• Buy-In: Buy-In Community Planning works with individuals, community organizations, and governments to find human-centered solutions to flood risk.
• Climate Cost Project: The Climate Cost Project is a data and documentary project to help uncover, understand, and visualize the costs of climate change to American communities.
• Climigration: The Climigration Network brings community leaders and practitioners together to generate equitable, just, community-led approaches to relocation for people most affected by the worsening impacts of climate change – those who are now finding it impossible to live safely in place.
• Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety: In 2010, IBHS Research Center came to life to advance the scientific understanding of severe weather perils and their interaction with the homes and businesses at real scale. It’s located on a 90-acre parcel of land in Chester County, South Carolina, about 45 minutes south of Charlotte, North Carolina.
• Natural Resources Defense Council: The NDRC combines the power of more than three million members and online activists with the expertise of some 700 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild.
• Thriving Earth Exchange: AGU's Thriving Earth Exchange advances community solutions. We help scientists, community leaders and sponsors work together to solve local challenges related to natural resources, climate change and natural hazards.

Local Advocacy Groups and Organizations

• The Invading Sea, FL: Florida and The Invading Sea is a collaboration of 26 Florida news organizations – 25 daily newspapers and WLRN Public Media, South Florida’s public radio station. The site features editorials from our newspaper partners and opinion pieces by scientists, academics, activists, and citizens interested in Florida and the threats posed by climate change.
• Pensacola, FL: Higher Ground is the largest flood survivor organization in the country. It was set up by the 501c3 nonprofit initiative of Anthropocene Alliance.
• Pensacola, FL: The Panhandle Watershed Alliance (PWA) develops and enhances a holistic and regional water quality approach for six northwest Florida and south Alabama watersheds from the Perdido to St. Andrew Bay.
• Miami, FL: The CLEO Institute is the only women-led nonprofit, nonpartisan organization in Florida exclusively dedicated to climate education, advocacy, and engagement.
• Orleans, LA: A Community Voice (ACV) is an affiliate of ACORN and a non-profit community organization comprised of working, poor, elderly, women, children, and families. ACV provides a community voice for its members and constituencies in the everyday issues that affect their daily lives.
• Houston, TX: Bayou City Waterkeeper has a long history of working for the Lower Galveston Bay Watershed on issues such as wetland protection, regional and local stormwater permits and infrastructure, and water quality concerns and compliance under the Clean Water Act.
• Houston, TX: Residents Against Flooding (RAF) is the oldest 501(c)3 nonprofit in Houston focusing on policy matters to make the area more resilient to flooding.
• Port Arthur, TX: The Community In-Power and Development Association (CIDA) Inc. is a non-profit (501 (C)(3) status) that works to empower residents in low-income communities in Port Arthur, Texas. CIDA helps organize and educate local residents on how to take action to keep big industries from polluting air, land, and water.
• Lafayette, LA: One Acadiana provides flood recovery information for Louisiana businesses.