"As a direct result of the disasters of the early 1990s, in particular the Midwest Floods of 1993, the U.S. Congress directed FEMA to place its highest priority on working with State and local agencies to mitigate the impacts of future natural hazard events. This marked a fundamental shift in policy: rather than placing primary emphasis on response and recovery, FEMA's focus broadened to incorporate mitigation as the foundation of emergency management....In keeping with congressional directive....FEMA....led the development of the National Mitigation Strategy. FEMA derived 10 fundamental principles for the framework and objectives of the National Mitigation Strategy. (1) Risk reduction measures ensure long-term economic success for the community as a whole rather than short-term benefits for special interests. (2) Risk reduction measures for one natural hazard must be compatible with risk reduction measures for other natural hazards. (3) Risk reduction measures must be evaluated to achieve the best mix for a given location. (4) Risk reduction measures for natural hazards must be compatible with risk reduction measures for technological hazards and vice versa. (5) All mitigation is local. (6) Disaster costs and the impacts of natural hazards can be reduced by emphasizing proactive mitigation before emergency response; both pre-disaster (preventive) and postdisaster (corrective) mitigation is needed. (7) Hazard identification and risk assessment are the cornerstones of mitigation. (8) Building new Federal-State-local partnerships and public-private partnerships is the most effective means of implementing measures to reduce the impacts of natural hazards. (9) Those who knowingly choose to assume greater risk must accept responsibility for that choice. (10) Risk reduction measures for natural hazards must be compatible with the protection of natural and cultural resources". (FEMA, Multi Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment: A Cornerstone of the National Mitigation Strategy, 1997, pp. xxii and xxv) [The National Mitigation Strategy was discontinued shortly after the incorporation of FEMA into the DHS]