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Hazard Mitigation Planning News and Events

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NEW! Local Mitigation Plan Review Process

The Local Mitigation Plan Review Guide (released October 1, 2011) is available now, and it contains several significant changes from the current local mitigation planning guidance:

The revised Local Mitigation Plan Review Guide is available for any State to use as of October 1, 2011.  Implementation will be phased over the course of a year and the Local Mitigation Plan Review Guide will become effective on October 1, 2012 to allow stakeholders at the State and local level to prepare for the change. Many communities are presently in the process of developing local mitigation plans, and all communities currently reference the Local Multi-Hazard Mitigation Planning Guidance (June, 2008) and the corresponding Plan Review Crosswalk.  In FY12, new guidance will also be released for local plan developers. During this time, it is important to remember that the mitigation planning regulations have not changed; the plan requirements remain the same.

The Plan Review Training for Local Mitigation Plans, a 90 minute webinar and separate slide presentation, is now available from the FEMA Library. 

FEMA and EPA Partner to Help Communities with Mitigation and Recovery Planning

In 2010, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed the FEMA-EPA Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the two agencies to work together to help communities become safer, healthier, and more resilient. The two agencies will collaborate to help communities that have been hit by disasters to recover and mitigate in ways that protect the environment, create long-term economic prosperity, and enhance neighborhoods.  FEMA and EPA will also help communities incorporate smart growth and climate adaptation strategies to improve quality of life and direct development away from vulnerable areas.

Communities frequently put the most attention to natural hazards only after a disaster has occurred through recovery and rebuilding efforts.  Disaster preparedness and recovery planning as described in FEMA’s National Disaster Recovery Framework can and should integrate mitigation measures to help reduce or eliminate the risk of future damages from disasters.  Mitigation planning incorporates risk-based decision making with local strategies to effectively drive down risk to life and property, and ensure more sustainable social, economic, natural and built systems in the community.

How and where growth occurs, both in the short term and the long term, can have a major impact on how resilient communities are from natural disasters.  In addition to addressing mitigation post-disaster, integrating smart growth into preparedness and recovery can change this dynamic.  Smart growth strategies like creating flexible land use policies, targeting public investment to catalyze private investment, and engaging the entire community in making decisions about the future can help communities to recover from a disaster in a more resilient way, rebuild according to a shared community vision, and be prepared for the next natural disaster.

Read about some of the joint FEMA-EPA projects on EPA’s Smart Growth web pages.

Last Modified: Thursday, 12-Jan-2012 15:21:19 EST

Fast Facts

As of August 31, 2011, all 50 States, the District of Columbia,
5 Territories, and 93 Tribes have approved Mitigation Plans. Over 19,800 local jurisdictions currently have approved (or approvable pending adoption) Local Mitigation Plans that cover approximately 71% of the nation's population.