Hazard Mitigation Strategies
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and state agencies have come to recognize that it is less expensive to prevent disasters than to repeatedly repair damage after a disaster has struck. The Town of Jackson works with these agencies to update their Hazardous Mitigation Plan (HMP) on a regular basis. The purpose of this plan is to identify hazards facing the town and to develop strategies to begin reducing risks from those hazards. Mitigation planning is a process for states and communities to identify policies, activities, and tools to implement mitigation actions. Mitigation is any sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to life and property from a hazard event. The hazards that may affect our community include the following events:
- Severe Winter Weather
- Severe Wind & Tornado
- Flood
- Thunderstorms & Lightning
- Wildfire
- Drought
- Earthquake
- Erosion
- Extreme Temperatures
- Hailstorm
- Landslide
- Man-Made Hazards
Jackson’s HMP recognizes that our community has opportunities to identify mitigation strategies and measures during all of the other phases of emergency management – preparedness, response and recovery. Hazards cannot be eliminated, but it is possible to determine what the hazards are, where the hazards are most severe and identify local actions that can be taken to reduce the severity of the hazard.
Hazard mitigation strategies and measures alter the hazard by eliminating or reducing the frequency of occurrence, averting the hazard by redirecting the impact by means of a structure or land treatment, adapt to the hazard by modifying structures or standards or avoid the hazard by stopping or limiting development, and could include projects such as:
- Flood-proofing structures
- Tying down propane/fuel tanks in flood-prone areas
- Elevating furnaces and water heaters
- Identifying and modifying high traffic incident locations and routes
- Ensuring adequate water supply
- Elevating structures or utilities above flood levels
- Identifying and upgrading undersized culverts
- Proactive land use planning for floodplains and other natural hazard areas
- Proper road maintenance and construction
- Ensuring critical facilities are safely located
- Public information
In order to better prepare our community to deal with these hazards, we encourage residents to review these links to resources, ideas and tips for mitigating your home or business from the affects of future disasters:
https://www.fema.gov/mitigation-ideas-andtips-rebuilding