kirshen. mitigation can as we know, be very cost effective in reducing lives lost and damages caused by natural disasters. we've had a lot of success with mitigation in delaware in part because of the fellas that are sitting here in front of us today. i think we've done it with a relatively small investment saving our state a lot of money and i would just ask a question if we could, dr. kirshen, and secretary o'mara. based, dr. kirshen on your research, how beneficial is extreme weather mitigation especially long-term plan when it comes to saving money? >> well, i think as i said earlier, we're getting extraordinary cost benefit ratios. if you look at the benefits of adaptation versus doing nothing, benefit cost ratios of 4 up to 30 in some cases. so it's extremely beneficial to do this. and i think communities realize this. when i'm working with quite a few local communities in massachusetts and new hampshire on adaptation. they do get it because they're in charge of infrastructure and they a

kirshen. mitigation can, as we know, be very cost effective in reducing lives lost and damages caused by natural disasters. we've had a lot of success with mitigation in delaware in part because of the fellas that are sitting here in front of us today. i think we've done it with a relatively small investment saving our state a lot of money and i would just ask a question if we could, dr. kirshen, and secretary o'mara. based, dr. kirshen, on your research, how beneficial is extreme weather mitigation, especially long-term plan when it comes to saving money? >> well, i think as i said earlier, we're getting extraordinary cost benefit ratios. if you look at the benefits of adaptation versus doing nothing, benefit cost ratios of 4 up to 30 in some cases. so it's extremely beneficial to do this. and i think communities realize this. when i'm working with quite a few local communities in massachusetts and new hampshire on adaptation. they do get it because they're in charge of infrastructure and the

kirshen. >> i'm not an expert in insurance. it's important we send the right market signals for climate change prepared us as well. i also want to say that i think the engineering and the science community and social science community we need to send the right signals to market people to give us the opportunity to work with stakeholders. >> thank you all for your testimony and thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you. i just asked my staff to doublecheck to see when we passed the omnibus of progression bill if there is a one-year stay on the effective implementation of the flood insurance changes to the law that vigor waters legislation and my understanding is that expires at the end of this fiscal year. it's a great opportunity for us as you sit here today and with the administration to work with especially this committee and to see if we can't make sure we are properly aligning the incentives to advise folks to do what they need to do. i noticed in the audience tony pratt reference them by name

paul, is it kirshen? dr. kirshen, research professor at the university of new hampshire. what is your mascot there? >> wildcats. >> wildcats, yes. we've had some rough football saturdays against the wildcats and the blue hens. we're all the happy to welcome you here. i understand your research focuses on engineering and management as well as climate change, vulnerability assessment, adaptation, planning. it's a mouth full but we're happy you could join us. thanks so much for coming. lindene patton, my mother was a patton, chief climate product officer for zurich international group. in this role ms. patton, i'm told, is responsible for policy and risk management related to climate change. remember my staff said you might have a member of your family here or two? is that true? would you put down your mic? introduce your family. they'll stand up. >> my daughters, amelia and zoe. >> amelia, would you raise your hand? >> hi, amelia. zoey, would you raise your hand? who's in the middle? >> a friend of hers, sharon. >> all right, sharon. nice to come. >> and our aupere, gosha.