Emergency Management, Essay Example

Natural hazard has potential to be the reason of property loss, economic difficulties, and danger to health protection and security. Hazard mitigation actions are attempts taken before a disaster appear to mitigate the influence that future disasters of that kind will have on human and in a whole commonality.

Hazard mitigation measure, which is taken before a hazard accident is necessary for breaking the characteristic disaster cycle of losses, damage, and changes. With a help of attentive and careful selection, hazard mitigation measures can be “long-term, cost-effective means of reducing the risk of loss and help create a more disaster-resistant and sustainable community” (Hazard mitigation plan. Monmouth County Multi-Jurisdictional Natural Hazard Mitigation Planning Project).

Mitigation activity can lower influence of a disaster. It contains structural and nonstructural measures. Structural measures are protecting and defending buildings from the water and wind. Nonstructural measures are development rules and corresponding land-use policy. While implementing mitigation measures, local governments are more resulting because they are able to make “regulatory development decisions to achieve the plan’s goals” (American Planning Association 43).

Hazard mitigation plan helps to “reduce or eliminate the long-term risk to human life and property from identified hazards” (American Planning Association 43). The goals of mitigation planning are regularly established actions, tools and policies for implementing those actions. The acceptance and carrying out of a mitigation plan lower the influence connected with hazard events.

Writing and implementing a hazard mitigation plan is a continuous process. After its implementing, it is extremely important to analyze and evaluate progress, to study which measures were successful and which were not. It is significant to track changes in the community. In case, a hazard event strikes the community, some segments of the realization postponed. In that case, post-disaster measures take priority (Develop a mitigation plan 3-41).

Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 is the latest legislation to develop the process of planning. It “reinforces the importance of mitigation planning and emphasizes planning for disasters before they occur” (American Planning Association 43). Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 needs local governments to address natural hazards, such as wind, flooding, tornado, storms and thunderstorms. According to American Planning Association, the main goal of Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 is to assist and make easier the interaction between local and state authorities. It supports and recompenses state and local planning.

According to Hazlet Township article, a hazard mitigation planning process contains several steps. They are investigation of a full range of natural hazard events, determining the necessary hazards on which the plan focuses, describing existing and potential assets. The next step is analyzing vulnerabilities to the recognized hazards and recognizing state, local and federal capacity that approve hazard mitigation. After this, it is necessary to create a mitigation strategy by assessment and prioritizing purposes and hazard mitigation measures. The last steps are accepting the plan, execute it and monitor its progress.

According to American Planning Association, the creation of a hazard mitigation plan uses three processes. The first is a hazard vulnerable analysis. It recognizes all hazards that threaten the jurisdiction and examine them in the jurisdiction environment to define the level of dangerous each poses.

The second process of development of a significant hazard mitigation plan is a creation of a mitigation strategy, when the planners require choosing the “potential range of mitigation options” (American Planning Association 43). The human place a range of options and define which are more efficient in lowering or excluding the risk.

The last process of development of a good hazard mitigation plan is integration with other plans. That means that when creating the mitigation strategy it is necessary to consult and analyze each plan.

According to the article of Federal Emergency Management Agency, there are four main steps in developing a mitigation plan. These steps are created for defending historic and cultural resources “parallel those for creating the hazard mitigation plan to address the other assets in the community” (Develop a mitigation plan 3-1).

The first step is “developing mitigation goals and objectives for historic properties and cultural resources” (Develop a mitigation plan 3-1). It is extremely important to create a set of purposes and principles, before determining mitigation measures for saving cultural resources and historic property in the community. The first thing, which is important to do, is to analyze and review the findings from valuation of risk. It is considerable to create a list of target setting grounded on these findings. It is important to formulate the purposes after analyzing and reviewing the findings from valuation of risk. The basic thing to do is to create suggested purpose statement and “see what common theme runs through them in order to begin formulating goals” (Develop a mitigation plan 3-3). One of the proposed ways to determine the purposes is to turn these targets setting into a positive statement of what it is necessary to make for developing a stronger community. Reviewing subsist plans, other principles and policy documents to define whether the chosen purposes conflict with other plans, are the next action to do during creating mitigation goals and objectives for historic properties and cultural resources. Determining objectives is the next action after determining and formulating the purposes. To determine methods to modify historic properties and cultural resources, and to “promote the use of existing incentive programs” (Develop a mitigation plan 3-4) are the actions needed during determining objectives. After this, it is necessary to gather public input. During of gathering public input, the community members take part in the planning process and help in developing goals and objectives.

The second step in developing a mitigation plan is identifying, evaluating and prioritizing actions. During this step, it is necessary to assess the “levels of finance, staffing, and other resources you can devote to implementing your identified actions” (Develop a mitigation plan 3-6). The first thing, which is important to do, is to identify alternative mitigation measures. Among mitigation measures for historic properties and cultural resources are prevention, resource and property protection, public education and “natural resource protection for historic landscape features and archeological sites” (3-7).

The next step in developing a mitigation plan is preparing an implementation strategy. According to the article Develop a mitigation plan, the implementation strategy determines who is responsible for which actions. It is significant to concentrate on cooperation between interested parties and other historic preservation. To identify the performance of mitigation measures is needed. For realizing these actions, You need to identify parties, determine responsibilities, and verifying partners. Identify resources for performing measure and defining the period for realizing the measures are essential too.

The last step in developing a mitigation plan is “incorporate historic property and cultural resource protection efforts into the hazard mitigation plan” (Develop a mitigation plan 3-40). During this step, all the actions identified above, integrated into convenience sections of the hazard mitigation plan. It is necessary to prepare a summary of the process of planning, the outcomes of valuation of risk, mitigation purposes, objectives and measures. The last thing to be written is realization strategies that detail how the mitigation measures will be realized and performed.

It is necessary to remember that natural disaster cannot be averted and prevented from happening, but the performing of hazard mitigation plan will lessen the influences associated with hazard events.

Works Cited

American Planning Association. Planning and urban design standards. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2006.

“Develop a mitigation plan”. Federal Emergency Management Agency. May 2005. 16 June 2010. < www.fema.gov/pdf/fima/386-6_Phase_3.pdf >.

“Hazard mitigation plan. Monmouth County Multi-Jurisdictional Natural Hazard Mitigation Planning Project”. Hazlet Township. N.d. 14 June 2010. <http://www.hazletoem.com/page/page/5825025.htm>.