Ask any emergency planner, and they will tell you. Hazard Mitigation Planning (HMP), though crucial to their jurisdiction, school district or campus, is the most complicated, and oftentimes dreaded, of all the phases of emergency management. As such, it is commonly set to the side and only dealt with when absolutely necessary, becoming the so-called “elephant in the room” for a number of good reasons.
For starters, developing the initial hazard mitigation plan can be a grueling exercise. The process consumes valuable time, resources and money, none of which is readily available these days. Secondly, the plan requires full buy-in from all key stakeholders, which can present some interesting challenges on its own. Last, but not least, the plan must be meticulously documented, as well as reviewed and updated on a regular basis.
According to FEMA, there are four core steps in the general process of completing a hazard mitigation plan, or plan update. They are:
- Organize the planning process and resources
- Assess risks
- Develop a mitigation strategy
- Adopt and implement the plan
Easier said than done, these four activities (even with the assistance of others) can take the most experienced emergency planner months upon months to complete. And, time is not always on their side. This is especially true if FEMA’s required five-year review is looming, and certain conditions must be met in order to receive various FEMA funds