An Assessment of Hazard Mitigation Plans

Abstract

This chapter introduces and discusses hazard mitigation planning and plans as a critical step in mobilizing a community to increase disaster resiliency. Hazard mitigation plans are in many respects a recent policy tool. Introduced by the federal government, hazard mitigation plans are an approach to help communities better understand their disaster vulnerability, identify strategies and actions the community can use to help lessen their vulnerabilities, and develop priorities for funding these mitigation actions and projects. The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 began the process of encouraging local jurisdictions to develop local hazard mitigation plans if the local jurisdiction wanted to gain federal funding to help implement mitigation projects and actions. By mid-2007 approximately 14,000 of these plans had been approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) throughout the United States. As of 2011, there were more than 26,000 approved plans.