Every year, disasters take the lives of hundreds of people, injure thousands more, and significantly impact communities. Many natural disasters are predictable and much of the damage resulting from these events can be alleviated or potentially avoided with proper multihazard mitigation planning.
About Hazard Mitigation Plans
FEMA defines hazard mitigation as: “any sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to human life and property from natural hazards, such as flooding, storms, high winds, hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, etc.” Such efforts minimize damages to buildings and infrastructure, such as water supplies, sewers, utility transmission lines.
Hazard mitigation plans are documents that can be developed as an integrated component of a community’s local comprehensive plan. Hazard mitigation plans can address a range of natural and human-caused hazards. They can be developed for a single community or as a multi-jurisdictional plan.
They typically include 4 key elements:
1) Risk assessment
2) Compatibility assessment
3) Mitigation strategy
4) Plan maintenance procedures.
Hazard mitigation plans are oriented towards anticipating and preparing for the future, rather than responding to events as they occur. There are a variety of methods and practices applied to the development of hazard mitigation plans, but they should be prepared in conformance with the latest regulations and guidance from FEMA.
When developed and implemented in tandem with other local planning mechanisms, mitigation plans can be a powerful way to reduce community vulnerability to known hazards. They can become critical documents for guiding future decision and policy making. Effective mitigation planning assists in minimizing post-disaster downtime, accelerates recovery time, and reduces disaster response and recovery costs.
The Importance Of Multihazard Mitigation Planning
Planning makes mitigation a proactive process, emphasizing actions that can be taken before a natural disaster occurs. Potential future loss of life and property damage can be reduced or prevented by mitigation programs that address the unique geography, demography, economy, and land use of a community within the context of each of the specific potential natural hazards that may threaten that specific community.
Appropriate planning can reduce or eliminate long-term risk to human life and property from natural hazards, such as earthquakes or wildfires. Hazard mitigation is a process that identifies natural disaster risks and vulnerabilities common in the specific area, as well as critical infrastructure and communities.
Once these risks are identified, these plans develop strategies to reduce the effects of those hazards in order to protect people and property. As FEMA says, “Mitigation plans are key to breaking the cycle of disaster damage and reconstruction.” Plan maintenance procedures are an essential part of effective plans that work, as well.
They address different hazards and what recovery may look like. They serve as starting places to limit potential loss of life, property damage, and environmental harm from natural disasters, as well as economic recovery from these disasters.
When Is A Hazard Mitigation Plan Needed?
Emergency response planning for multihazards is essential for all governmental and private sector entities so that they can manage the variety of natural hazards that may come.
The circumstances under which hazard mitigation plans are needed vary. Approved and adopted hazard mitigation plans may be required to be eligible for certain types of non-emergency disaster assistance, such as funding for mitigation projects. Such plans also must be updated and resubmitted every five years in order to remain eligible for funding.
The National Hazard Mitigation Planning Program partnered with the Emergency Management Institute to offer a series of trainings to help entities create effective hazard mitigation plans to meet FEMA’s requirements and reduce risk in communities. As state, local, tribal, and territorial governments all have different requirements, their trainings vary.
Employing the expertise of a structural engineer experienced in multihazard mitigation improves plan accuracy for specific needs and efficiency.
How Emergency Response Planning Benefits Entities
While no one wants to deal with natural hazards, having an emergency response plan in place protects the life-safety of individuals and helps recovery after such an event be a smoother process. The most important benefit of emergency response planning is prioritizing life-safety through addressing risks that could further endanger individuals in a structure. After life-safety, successful plans address vulnerabilities and mitigate the extent of damage after a natural hazard.
The goals of a multihazard mitigation plan are to safeguard lives by reducing the loss of life, injuries, and illnesses caused by natural disasters, with a focus on protecting those most at risk.
They also:
- Preserve property and infrastructure.
- Protect public and private assets, such as homes, businesses, and essential infrastructure, which is crucial to the well-being of all community members.
- Build resilient communities, foster long-term planning to minimize future disaster risks and strengthen the community’s ability to support all residents.
Hazard mitigation planning can enable communities to become more sustainable and resilient through identifying risks and appropriate mitigation actions.
Obtaining Funding For Multihazard Mitigation Planning
Preparing a mitigation plan before a disaster can save the community money and facilitate post-disaster funding. Costly repairs or replacement of buildings and infrastructure, as well as the high cost of providing emergency services and rescue/recovery operations, can be significantly lessened if a community implements the mitigation measures detailed in the plan.
While HMPs don’t provide direct funding, they are essential for accessing various grant opportunities to implement protective measures and build community resilience. Comprehensive reviews and revisions every 5 years ensure communities are best prepared for future disasters. By developing a comprehensive plan, communities become eligible for essential federal funding to implement protective measures, such as tornado safe rooms and flood buyouts. This funding helps build resilience and safeguard lives and property.
VIE recently posted a blog, How To Fund Seismic Retrofit Now That FEMA Grants Are Currently On Hold, that delves deeper into this topic. Such funding includes: bonds, capital improvement plans, grants from non-public organizations, state of municipality funding, and more.
VIE’s Expertise In Multihazard Mitigation Planning
VIE has worked on FEMA-approved multihazard for over 40 years and successfully gotten most plans approved by FEMA. Although FEMA isn’t issuing grants right now, it still makes sense to fund a multihazard plan and to have one in place for protection, such as from property damage, loss of life, etc. If an entity already has a hazard mitigation plan, they will want to keep it up to date, for optimal planning for hazards such as fires, floods, earthquakes etc.
VIE can help with owner-specific hazard mitigation plans. VIE’s plans do not just fulfill a government requirement, but are written in such a way as to enable future mitigation projects funded.
If you would like to discuss your current multihazard mitigation plan or generate a new plan, please contact VIE for a no-obligation discussion.
