The linked page from the Sunday New York Times is illustrative: www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/11/24/opinion/sunday/what-could-disappear.html
Play with these maps even for a few minutes and you see an inevitable future: our coasts are changing rapidly and we can no longer afford to continue rebuilding in low lying areas. At least, not the way we have in the past.
We need to stop having a reactive emergency response to major hurricanes, floods and tsunamis and begin a proactive federal and state plan geared at moving people inland until such time as the coastal areas are considered more stable.
1. Begin by acknowledging Global Climate Change and begin an aggressive educational campaign about what is likely to occur over the next 10-50 years.
2. Establish a federal moratorium on all permitted construction in areas likely to flood in the next five years.
3. Property completely destroyed in a hurricane, especially on barrier islands should be condemned and a federal program enacted to compensate owners for their loss and help them relocate inland.
4. There should be a federal plan to proactively buy-out owners of property on Barrier Islands and other river delta areas which are deemed likely to suffer catastrophic flooding, and convert the land to public use: National Parks, public marinas. We should be planting trees and sedge grass and oyster beds; building sea walls and wind farms in these areas. It would cost less in lives and property to buy people out and relocate them inland than it does to rebuild exactly where everything is likely to be destroyed.
5. Where rebuilding is deemed desirable and necessary there should be aggressive federal and state programs to bury infrastructure, like power lines, and new standards which state that any repair of infrastructure must be brought up to 21st century standards. All new construction should be to green building standards and not only should be built to codes to withstand Category 3 and 4 storms but should insist on including the highest standard of insulation to reduce greenhouse gases, solar panels, and all public accommodations should include hook-ups for electric vehicles. If we must rebuild, then lets rebuild with 21st century technology and needs at the forefront.
I'm not suggesting these steps from the safety of the middle of the country either. I live in Seattle and would be directly affected by all of these measures. And I still think they are only the beginning of what we need to do to safeguard our country and our lives.