Creating a Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan

A multi-hazard mitigation plan:

1. Identifies potential natural hazard threats to your community (such as areas likely to suffer flooding or erosion) through a risk analysis.
2. Determines likely impacts of those hazards.
3. Sets mitigation goals.
4. Determines, prioritizes, and implements strategies to lessen the impacts of these hazards on your community.

NOTE: If your community doesn't have an approved multi-hazard mitigation plan, it will not be eligible for federal post-disaster mitigation grants.

For further information:

• Check the State's Local Planning page to see if your community has an approved plan. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) also maintains a plan status list.
• Talk to the designated emergency manager for your community regarding current status and plans for enhancing or updating the plan, and opportunities to get more involved in the process.
• See Natural Hazards Mitigation Planning: A Community Guide (PDF, 1.1 MB) for specific information about developing a plan in Massachusetts.
• For instructions on how to conduct a comprehensive risk review, see chapter 4 of FEMA's Understanding Your Risks: Identifying Hazards and Estimating Losses.
• FEMA's Mitigation Planning Guidance page provides a step-by-step approach for creating a multi-hazard mitigation plan.
• If your community has the technical resources, FEMA and the National Institute of Building Sciences has developed a methodology (called HAZUS) to assess a community's hazard exposure. See the HAZUS web site.
• Contact the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency's Hazard Mitigation Planner, Sarah White at Sarah.White@state.ma.us or (508) 820-1435.