Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 118.djvu/1707

 118 STAT. 1677 PUBLIC LAW 108–360—OCT. 25, 2004 Atmospheric Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other Federal agencies as appropriate. The Director shall designate an agency to serve as Chair of the Working Group and be respon sible for the planning, management, and coordination of the Pro gram, including budget coordination. Specific agency roles and responsibilities under the Program shall be defined in the implementation plan required under subsection (e). General agency responsibilities shall include the following: (1) The National Institute of Standards and Technology shall support research and development to improve building codes and standards and practices for design and construction of buildings, structures, and lifelines. (2) The National Science Foundation shall support research in engineering and the atmospheric sciences to improve the understanding of the behavior of windstorms and their impact on buildings, structures, and lifelines. (3) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall support atmospheric sciences research to improve the understanding of the behavior of windstorms and their impact on buildings, structures, and lifelines. (4) The Federal Emergency Management Agency shall sup port the development of risk assessment tools and effective mitigation techniques, windstorm related data collection and analysis, public outreach, information dissemination, and implementation of mitigation measures consistent with the Agency’s all hazards approach. (d) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.— (1) IN GENERAL.—The Program shall consist of three pri mary mitigation components: improved understanding of wind storms, windstorm impact assessment, and windstorm impact reduction. The components shall be implemented through activities such as data collection and analysis, risk assessment, outreach, technology transfer, and research and development. To the extent practicable, research activities authorized under this title shall be peer reviewed, and the components shall be designed to be complementary to, and avoid duplication of, other public and private hazard reduction efforts. (2) UNDERSTANDING OF WINDSTORMS.—Activities to enhance the understanding of windstorms shall include research to improve knowledge of and data collection on the impact of severe wind on buildings, structures, and infrastructure. (3) WINDSTORM IMPACT ASSESSMENT.—Activities to improve windstorm impact assessment shall include— (A) development of mechanisms for collecting and inventorying information on the performance of buildings, structures, and infrastructure in windstorms and improved collection of pertinent information from sources, including the design and construction industry, insurance companies, and building officials; (B) research, development, and technology transfer to improve loss estimation and risk assessment systems; and (C) research, development, and technology transfer to improve simulation and computational modeling of wind storm impacts. (4) WINDSTORM IMPACT REDUCTION.—Activities to reduce windstorm impacts shall include—

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