Mitigate
Etymology
From Latin “mitigare,” to soften or make mild, from “mitis” (mild, gentle) and “agere” (to make, to drive). The whole word means, in effect, to make gentle. It is often confused with “militate,” an unrelated word from military roots meaning to weigh against.
verb · /MIT-uh-gayt/
To make something bad less severe, serious, or painful.
What it names
Harm-reduction precisely — not preventing a problem but blunting how much it hurts.
Example
Sandbags won’t stop the flood, but they mitigate the damage to the ground floor.
Related idea
To mitigate is to reduce a harm; to exacerbate is to worsen it. The two are exact opposites, and a good plan mitigates the risks it cannot exacerbate.