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On October 30, FEMA announced the projects that have been selected for
funding support as part of the Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) and Flood
Mitigation Assistance (FMA). Following submissions that were required to be
submitted by August 28, 2015, FEMA reviewed the applications to ensure they
were eligible, cost-effective, technically feasible and effective in reducing
the impacts of hazards.
FEMA’s
priorities for funding PDM projects included
selecting applications that would fulfill required set asides for the
statutory, tribal, and mitigation planning and for projects that limit duplication of other HMA grant programs. For the FMA program, priorities included funding
for mitigation planning applications, mitigation of severe repetitive loss
properties, and mitigation of repetitive loss properties.
The PDM program is designed to implement a sustained
pre-disaster natural hazard mitigation program to reduce overall risk to the
population and structures from future hazard events, while also reducing
reliance on federal funding in future disasters. The FMA program is designed
to promote the goal of reducing or eliminating claims under the National Flood
Insurance Program (NFIP) through long-term cost effective mitigation actions. The
National Flood Insurance Fund provides the funding for the FMA program. FEMA
also provides for a set aside for eligible tribal governments to help fund
eligible mitigation activities under the PDM program.
Fiscal Year 2015
(FY15) projects selected for the PDM and FMA programs were based on agency priorities identified on the Funding Opportunity Announcement. These included:
- 246 PDM subapplications from 64 applicants: 206 planning and 40
projects and associated management costs for $29.5 million.
- 91 FMA subapplications from 21 applicants: 9 planning, 79
projects, 3 technical assistance and associated applicant management costs for
$150 million.
- 17 planning applications totaling $2.3 million from Indian tribal governments under the PDM program.
To review the
selected projects and review an updated status of
each FY15 application online, visit www.fema.gov/pre-disaster-mitigation-program-fy-2015-subapplication-status
for PDM projects or www.fema.gov/flood-mitigation-assistance-fy-2015-subapplication-status for FMA projects.
FEMA will work
with applicants to conduct programmatic reviews of the selected applications identified
for further review before making a final decision. Grant applicants should
contact their FEMA Regional
Office for additional information. Further information
is available at www.fema.gov/hazard-mitigation-assistance.
Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month, observed in
the month of November, builds awareness and appreciation of the
importance of critical infrastructure and reaffirms the nationwide
commitment to keep our critical infrastructure and our communities safe
and secure. Securing the nation's infrastructure, which includes both
the physical facilities that supply our communities with goods and
services, like water, transportation, and fuel, and the communication
and cyber technology that connects people and supports the critical
infrastructure systems we rely on daily, is a national priority that
requires planning and coordination across the whole community.
During November, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) focuses on engaging and educating
public and private sector partners about the systems and resources that
support our daily lives. DHS calls on partners, stakeholders, and
communities to serve as force multipliers of this message. By raising
awareness of the importance of securing the assets, systems, and
networks we count on every day, we can build on the great work of this
public-private partnership and further enhance the security and
resilience of our critical infrastructure.
An important part of Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month is the continued work on implementing the National Infrastructure Protection Plan
to safeguard both cyber and physical systems through collaborative
public-private partnerships at all levels of government and industry
from local, regional, national, and international perspectives.
This year, DHS is highlighting the 2015 Sector-Specific Plans,
which supplement the National Infrastructure Protection Plan.
Throughout the year, the public and private sectors collaborated on
updating these specific plans to address the unique capabilities,
characteristics, and risk profiles of their respective infrastructure
sectors. The Sector-Specific Plans set the strategic direction for
voluntary, collaborative efforts to reduce risk and build resilience
over the next four years.
More information on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month is available at www.dhs.gov/critical-infrastructure-security-resilience-month.
Just like the day-to-day
efforts to secure and protect infrastructure, building awareness and
understanding of the importance of critical infrastructure requires a nationwide
effort, with the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) and partners across
federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments and private sector
owners and operators working together.
The DHS Office of
Infrastructure Protection (IP) developed several courses to train and educate
the critical infrastructure community, and support implementation of the
National Infrastructure Protection Plan. IP developed these courses
collaboratively with critical infrastructure stakeholders including federal, state,
local, tribal, and territorial government partners, critical infrastructure
owners and operators, and private sector partners.
These online training
courses are available at EMI’s independent study program. More information can
be found at www.training.fema.gov/is/cisr.aspx.
FEMA seeks comments from state, local, tribal, and territorial emergency management practitioners on the draft FEMA Damage Assessment Operating Manual. The manual establishes national damage assessment standards developed from historic lessons learned and best-practices already in use by federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial, emergency management agencies.
The FEMA Damage Assessment Operating Manual is built using a framework that encourages local information collection, state, tribal or territorial verification, and federal validation. This document better highlights and provides guidance to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments on their role in the assessment. This version of the PDA manual also clarifies the types of damage that will qualify under the descriptors of destroyed, major damage, minor damage, or affected.
The draft manual and comment matrix is posted in the FEMA library. Comments should be added into the comment matrix and submitted to Mr. Ryan Buras, Senior Program Advisor, Public Assistance, Recovery Directorate, by 11:59 p.m. EST on November 14, 2015. FEMA asks that comments on the manual be sent either by email to PDAmanual@fema.dhs.gov or by mail with a November 14 postmark to Mr. Ryan Buras, Senior Program Advisor, Public Assistance, Recovery Directorate, FEMA, 500 C Street, SW, Mail Stop 3163, Washington, DC 20472.
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