As you are no doubt aware, Nassau County is susceptible to a number of different natural hazards. These natural hazards have the potential to cause property loss, loss of life, economic hardship, and threats to public health and safety. While an important aspect of emergency management deals with disaster recovery – those actions that a community must take to repair damages and make itself whole in the wake of a natural disaster – an equally important aspect of emergency management involves hazard mitigation. Hazard mitigation measures are efforts taken before a disaster happens to lessen the impact that future disasters of that type will have on people and property in the community. They are things you do today to be more protected in the future. Hazard mitigation actions taken in advance of a hazard event are essential to breaking the typical disaster cycle of damage, reconstruction, and repeated damage. With careful selection, hazard mitigation actions can be long-term, cost-effective means of reducing the risk of loss and help create a more disaster-resistant and sustainable community.
What is a Hazard Mitigation Plan?
A Hazard Mitigation Plan is a well-organized and well-documented evaluation of the hazards that a jurisdiction is susceptible to, and the extent to which these events will occur. Hazard Mitigation Plans identify an area’s vulnerability to the effects of the natural hazards typically present in a certain area, as well as the goals, objectives, and actions required for minimizing future loss of life and property damage as a result of hazard events. The primary purpose of mitigation planning is to systematically identify policies, actions, and tools that can be used to implement those actions. Mitigation planning has four steps: organizing resources, assessing risks, developing a mitigation plan, and implementing the plan and monitoring progress.
Hazard Mitigation Planning Versus Emergency Response Planning
It is important to note the distinction between hazard mitigation planning and emergency response planning.
Hazard mitigation planning is identifying community policies, actions, and tools for implementation in the long-term that result in a reduction of risk and potential for future losses BEFORE a disaster strikes. Hazard mitigation plans are continually applied by the governing body to development decisions, and the actions described in a mitigation plan are implemented on an ongoing basis, as resources and local politics allow.
On the other hand, emergency response planning is done to minimize the impacts of a disaster AFTER it has occurred and entails the development of things such as evacuation plans, hazardous material response and containment plans, and plans for the provision of basic services. To say that emergency response planning is important would be an understatement. However, the differences between emergency response planning and hazard mitigation planning are equally important to recognize.
The Nassau County Hazard Mitigation Planning Effort
On October 30, 2000, the President signed into law the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000). This Act mandates that all states and local governments must have DMA 2000 compliant hazard mitigation plans approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be eligible for certain types of federal disaster assistance funding.
Recognizing the risks that natural hazards pose to Nassau County, and the benefits of having a DMA 2000-compliant hazard mitigation plan in place, the Nassau County Office of Emergency Management submitted an application, and was approved for, Fiscal Year 2003 Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) grant monies from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to be used to develop a multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan for the County. At this time, Nassau County will be preparing a plan that focuses solely on natural hazards. Incorporation of human-caused hazards can be evaluated in future updates of the plan, as it is a “living document” which will be evaluated and updated regularly.
While Nassau County is preparing a multi-jurisdictional County-wide plan, any jurisdiction that is located within Nassau County who wishes to be recognized by FEMA as being compliant with DMA 2000 must either: (a) participate with the County in the multi-jurisdictional plan development process and formally adopt the final plan, or (b) prepare its own hazard mitigation plan.
Elected and appointed government officials, business leaders, volunteers of non-profit organizations, citizens, and other stakeholders have been invited to participate and will be part of our Nassau County Hazard Mitigation Planning Group (the “Planning Group”). The overall Planning Group will be divided into a Core Planning Group and Three Town Teams to ensure that meeting sizes are kept to productive numbers (click here to see our organizational chart). The eventual success of our Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan will rest on the decisions and directions set by our Planning Group members throughout the plan development process.
While natural disasters cannot be prevented from occurring, the continued implementation of our hazard mitigation plan over the long-term will gradually, but steadily, lessen the impacts associated with hazard events in our county.
Why Prepare A Hazard Mitigation Plan?
Eligibility to apply for Federal aid for technical assistance and certain types of pre- and post-disaster project funding (i.e., project grants under FEMA 's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP, competitive state-wide after a Federal disaster declaration); FEMA's Pre Disaster Mitigation competitive program (PDMc, competitive nationwide, annual appropriation)).
Leads to judicious selection of risk reduction actions.
Contributes to more sustainable and disaster-resistant communities through selecting the most appropriate mitigation measures, based on the knowledge gained in the hazard identification and loss estimation process.
Builds partnerships.
Establishes funding priorities before disaster strikes.
Improves the safety and economic well-being of constituents.
Mitigation actions identified during the planning process can reduce the costs of a disaster.
It simply costs too much to address the effects of a disasters only after they happen.
State and federal aid is often insufficient to cover the extent of physical and economic damages resulting from disasters.
A surprising amount of damage from hazards can be prevented by taking the time to anticipate where and how they occur.
Planning can lessen the impact and speed the overall response and recovery processes.
Hazard mitigation can be incorporated as in integral component of daily business.
Allows participants to focus their efforts on the hazard areas most important to them by incorporation the concept of determining and setting priorities for mitigation planning efforts.
Why Participate in a Multi-Juristictional Hazard Mitigation Planning Process?
Can save money by providing a forum for engaging in partnerships that could provide technical, financial, and/or staff resources in your effort to reduce the effects, and hence the costs, of hazards.
Smaller jurisdictions can benefit from the additional resources and expertise that collaboration can bring.
Multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plans are practical for addressing issues best dealt with on a larger scale, which do not recognize political boundaries.
Takes advantage of existing planning mechanisms, such as regional planning organizations.
Creates economies of scale and enables pooling of limited resources.
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