Hazard Mitigation

Planning Ahead in Case of Disaster

Hazard mitigation is sustained action to alleviate or eliminate risks to life and property from natural or man-made hazard events.  Through such actions as sound land use planning and landscape design, adoption of building codes, property acquisition and relocation outside of floodplains, mitigation activities can protect critical community facilities to assure functionality following an event, reduce exposure to liabilities, and minimize disruptions to the community.  A goal of mitigation is to decrease the need for a response as opposed to increasing the response capability.  In-turn, hazard mitigation activities may reduce post-disaster expenditures across all levels of government and to property owners.

Mitigation can be best implemented through three stages of the disaster cycle: planning, response, and recovery.  Some of the work in the planning stages before a disaster includes building public awareness of mitigation techniques, creating state and local hazard mitigation plans, integrating hazard mitigation criteria into comprehensive plans, and engineering public facilities to withstand the effects of an event.  Immediately following an event, typical response phase activities include evacuation activities and location of emergency equipment and supplies out of high-risk areas.  Through lessons learned, recovery activities following an event may include relocation or retrofitting.          

Much as already been accomplished in the hazard mitigation arena at all levels of government and within the public and private sector.  However, these accomplishments have been replaced by future challenges.  Working with our state, local and private partners we hope to be contributing players in moving our communities towards meeting those challenges.