Emergency Management Services of King County
What is Mitigation Planning?
Mitigation planning is the first of the four "phases of emergency management" followed by preparedness, response and recovery. This "prevention" related concept of emergency management often gets the least attention, yet it is one of the most important steps in creating a disaster-resistant community.
Mitigation is defined as any sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to life and property from a hazard event. Mitigation planning is the systematic process of learning about the hazards that can affect the community, setting clear goals, identifying appropriate actions and following through with an effective mitigation strategy. Mitigation encourages long-term reduction of hazard vulnerability and can reduce the enormous cost of disasters to property owners and all levels of government. Mitigation can also protect critical community facilities, reduce exposure to liability, and minimize community disruption.
Why Mitigate?
As a result of the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, mitigation funding may depend on it! In October 2002, the Federal government passed legislation requiring states, local communities and tribal governments to have mitigation plans in place by November 2004 in order to receive future hazard mitigation assistance under the Stafford Act. In general, for all disasters declared on or after November 1, 2004, eligible applicants must have a FEMA approved local mitigation plan or strategy in accordance with 44 CFR 201.6 as a condition of receiving a grant from the state's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). The King County Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan was approved by Washington State, and then by FEMA on June 8, 2004. The Washington State Hazard Mitigation Plan was approved by Governor Locke and FEMA on July 1, 2004. The state developed an "enhanced" plan seeking significant higher funding for the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program following Presidential-declared disasters (20 percent of federal disaster expenditures versus 7.5 percent with a standard plan).
Aside from the federal requirement to develop a hazard mitigation plan, there are many other benefits that support this effort. Natural hazard mitigation plans help communities to reduce their risk from natural and manmade hazards by identifying vulnerabilities and developing strategies to lessen and sometimes even eliminate hazards. Here are some of the benefits for agencies within King County:
- Leads to a judicious selection of risk reduction actions that reduce the effects of losses from future disasters.
- Builds partnerships to enhance collaboration and gain support among the parties whose interests may be affected by hazard losses.
- Encourages a broad range of stakeholders to forge partnerships to achieve a common vision to ensure the most appropriate and equitable mitigation projects are undertaken.
- Contributes to sustainable communities, ensuring future generations will continue to enjoy the same or improved quality of life that we do.
- Establishes funding priorities so agencies can better articulate their needs to state and federal offices when funding becomes available.
Most importantly, hazard mitigation "saves lives and and reduces property damage" from natural and manmade hazards through mitigation actions. If we can identify potential hazards in our community and assess potential impacts, then we have the opportunity to develop strategies to help mitigate the impacts before, during and after a hazard event.
For additional information and resources on mitigation planning see the "Information for Partners" section.
External Links