Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan

What is a Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan (NHMP)?

A natural hazards mitigation plan (NHMP) identifies hazards, vulnerabilities, and risks facing a local, state, or tribal government, and prioritizes actions to reduce the risks. An NHMP has two core parts: a risk assessment and a mitigation strategy.

Risk Assessment

The risk assessment involves three main tasks: characterizing each hazard, assessing vulnerabilities, and describing risks. First, a hazard characterization is performed by determining the causes and characteristics of each hazard, documenting past occurrences, and estimating the probability and intensity of future events. Then, a vulnerability assessment is performed by inventorying the existing (or planned) property and population groups exposed to each hazard and evaluating how they will be affected. Finally, the hazard characterization is combined with the vulnerability assessment to provide an understanding of the risk of each hazard to a community. A risk assessment can be performed for local communities, a region, or the state as a whole.

Mitigation Strategy

The mitigation strategy has 4 main parts: mitigation goals, a capability assessment, mitigation actions, and an implementation plan. The risk assessment provides the information needed to establish goals for reducing the identified risks. Mitigation actions are developed to achieve the goals. They may be physical projects, planning projects, education and outreach strategies, or other activities that achieve the risk reduction goals. The capability assessment identifies the jurisdiction's resources available for mitigation and opportunities for considering hazard mitigation in its decision-making processes. The implementation plan shows how the mitigation actions will be achieved. Actions are prioritized. For each action, a leader and assistants are identified; potential funding sources are identified, and the due date is set.

The planning process is as important as the plan itself. A jurisdiction must reach out to all sectors of the community and to neighboring jurisdictions, providing opportunities to participate and to review the plan as it is being drafted. The planning process must be well-documented in the plan.

NHMP UPDATE

Morrow County is working with the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development to update the Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan in 2022.