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Last week, Congress passed and the President signed an appropriations bill funding the Department of Homeland Security for the entire Fiscal Year 2015. Secretary Jeh Johnson's statement on the passage of the bill can be found on DHS.gov.
FEMA announced the release of the new State Mitigation Plan Review Guide
(“Guide”). The updated Guide clarifies
federal regulations that apply to FEMA; policy; and guidance around state
hazard mitigation plan for state agencies and other officials developing
mitigation plans. The Guide helps ensure a consistent plan review process for
FEMA and the states that aim to improve the analysis and integration of
evolving risks, such as climate change. The Guide will go into effect in
approximately one year on March 6, 2016, for all state mitigation plans
submitted to FEMA for review and approval. The transitional period allows time
for FEMA and the states to work together to support their familiarity and
understanding of the updated Guide. Indian tribal governments should follow the “Tribal
Multi-Hazard Mitigation Planning Guidance.”
Mitigation plans help state, tribal, and local governments
identify risks and vulnerabilities associated with natural disasters and
establish a long-term strategy for protecting people and property in future
hazards events. The Stafford Act
requires an approved hazard mitigation plan as a condition for receiving
certain types of non-emergency disaster assistance, including funding for
mitigation projects.
Some of the most recent updates to the Guide include the
following:
- States must continue to enhance risk assessments by
considering how future risk and vulnerability may be affected by changing
climatic conditions, new community development patterns, and population growth.
- To better reduce risk and enhance resilience, states must take
a holistic approach and include not only emergency management, but also the
sectors of economic development, land use and development, housing, health and
social services, infrastructure, and natural and cultural resources, in their
planning process and mitigation program, where practicable.
- Hazard mitigation plans must now be adopted by the highest
elected official or designee in the state.
- A mitigation program consultation will be available to states
to promote dialogue between FEMA and the state and to identify progress and
challenges, as well as specific needs and opportunities for achieving
mitigation goals.
- The updated Guide also sets forth the standard operating
procedures for the submission and review of both the standard and enhanced
state mitigation plans.
- Lastly, the Guide’s requirements section have been streamlined
and a state mitigation plan review “tool” has been developed to offer an
opportunity to provide more comprehensive feedback to the state during the
review process.
Visit www.fema.gov/multi-hazard-mitigation-planning to
view the Guide and for additional resources to support states in updating state
mitigation plans as well as building and maintaining statewide mitigation
programs.
FEMA’s Office of Disability Integration and Coordination (ODIC), the
National Exercise Division (NED) and a team of fellows from the Partnership for
Public Service Excellence in Government Fellows program conducted a Tabletop
Exercise on Thursday, February 17.
The exercise was the culmination of a project the fellows led to advance the
use of performance measurement during disaster situations to ensure the needs
of all disaster survivors are met, especially people with disabilities and
others with access and functional needs. The team worked with ODIC to develop a tool
named RAPTOR—Rapid Assessment Performance Tracking for Optimizing
Resources tool—to measure disability inclusion performance in FEMA's emergency
management efforts. During the exercise, ODIC tested four different data
collection procedures in areas of physical, program, and effective
communication accessibility.
The team exercised the RAPTOR tool during disaster response and recovery
associated with a Category 4 hurricane, which caused widespread damage on the
Carolina coast. Much of the exercise focused on accessibility data collection
at Disaster Recovery Centers (DRCs), which are one-stop centers in communities
where disaster survivors can obtain information about recovery resources.
Celebrating it’s 5th year, ODIC leads FEMA’s commitment to whole community
emergency preparedness and the integration of individuals with disabilities
into every aspect of emergency management. More information about ODIC can be
found at www.fema.gov/office-disability-integration-and-coordination
and the FEMA library.
Floods are the most common hazard in the United States. However, not
all floods are alike. Floods typically occur when too much rain falls
or snow melts too quickly. Chunks of ice from a thawing river can block
its normal flow and force water out of its banks. While some floods
develop slowly, flash floods develop suddenly. Hurricanes can bring
flooding to areas far inland from where they first hit the coast.
There
are simple steps citizens can take today to reduce their risk to all
types of floods. The Ready Campaign's flood safety toolkit contains social media shareables to help promote flood safety awareness.
FEMA Region II
serves New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and eight
federally recognized Tribal Nations in their on-going efforts to prepare for,
protect against, respond to, recover from and mitigate disasters. Located in
New York, NY, the Region II office has roughly 130 fulltime employees who carry
out the FEMA mission on a daily basis. Jerome Hatfield
serves as the regional administrator.
FEMA Region II
has experienced 29 major disaster declarations since 2010, including Hurricane
Sandy, the second costliest disaster in FEMA history.
FEMA Region II
has a population of approximately 32 million people with New Jersey and
New York among the nation’s most densely populated states. From the offices in
New York City and the Caribbean Area Division Office in San Juan, Puerto Rico,
the region coordinates with state, local and tribal emergency management officials, as
well as non-governmental and private sector partners, to administer FEMA programs.
Collectively, Region II is
threatened by various hazards of natural, technological, and terrorism
categories. More information about FEMA Region II is available online.
FEMA will be hosting three webinars to discuss the Fiscal Year 2015 Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) Program Guidance changes: March 12, 1:30-2:45 p.m. ET; March 18, 10:30-11:45 a.m. ET; and March 19, 1:30-2:45 p.m. ET. Participants can dial-in using conference number 800-320-4330 and 031-155 for the conference PIN and join the webinar via Adobe Connect.
The
HMA Guidance consolidates each program’s eligibility information, outlines the
common elements, and spells out the unique requirements among the programs so
that federal, state, federally recognized
tribal, territorial, and local officials can easily identify key similarities between
the various programs. For more information, visit www.fema.gov/hazard-mitigation-assistance.
FEMA and federal
partners are providing a series of listening sessions on the implementation guidelines of the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS).
These sessions provide the opportunity to learn more about the Standard, ask
questions, and provide feedback on how federal agencies implement the Standard. Upcoming sessions will be held in Mather, California;
Norfolk, Virginia; and Fairfax, Virginia; with additional sessions to be announced soon. Listening
session dates and locations are available online.
Due to
space constraints of the facilities, seating may be limited. To reserve a
seat in advance, please provide a request via email at least three days in
advance with the contact information of the participant (including name,
mailing address, and e-mail address), and the meeting to be attended to FEMA-FFRMS@fema.dhs.gov and include the
subject/attention line: Reservation Request for FFRMS. For
anyone attending the meetings who is hearing or visually impaired, or who
requires special assistance or accommodations, please also contact FEMA-FFRMS@fema.dhs.gov.
For those unable to attend a listening session, there will be an FFRMS webinar on March 25, 3-6 p.m. ET. The webinar address will be provided after an RSVP is submitted to FEMA-FFRMS@fema.dhs.gov.
A draft version
of Implementing Guidelines is open for comment until April 6,
2015. Questions and comments may be submitted to FEMA-FFRMS@fema.dhs.gov.
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