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Public Education And Community Outreach Programs

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There are five strategies that should be established to help mitigate future damage and loss from lahars: 1) public education and community outreach programs, 2) early warning systems to direct and assist evacuations, 3) avoiding or discouraging expansion in lahar-prone areas through land use planning, 4) building engineered protection structures to divert and decelerate potential lahars, and 5) funded response and recovery plans in the event of a disaster. Accomplishing any of the above five strategies requires recognition of any limitations and applicability of the model, accurate perception and evaluation of the lahar hazard, and thorough planning for various scenarios. It is critical for scientists to be actively engaged and equitable in their educational, interpretive, and advisory roles with elected officials, emergency managers, and susceptible populace during emergency and nonemergency situations. The most important hazard mitigation strategy is to inform the community about the risk associated with the nature of the hazards surrounding their locale, along with educating and motivating them to diminish societal risk by taking risk-reducing action. It is critical for scientists to play a role in active hazard education by keeping the officials and the general public aware of realistic hazard situations by assisting in risk-reduction evaluation strategies, engaging in informative hazard reduction dialogue with public officials and community leaders, and by

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