City of Irvine Local Hazard Mitigation Plan
CONTENT FOR ONLINE AND MEDIA ENGAGEMENT
The following material can be used for the online and media engagement components of the community engagement strategy. It can also be adapted and revised as the project proceeds and specifics change. PROJECT WEBSITE CONTENT LOCAL HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN The City of Irvine is preparing a Local Hazard Mitigation Plan, or LHMP. This plan will help create a safer community for residents, businesses, and visitors. The LHMP allows public safety officials and city staff, elected officials, and members of the public to understand the threats from natural and human-caused hazards in our community. The plan will also recommend specific actions to proactively decrease these threats before disasters occur.
WHY HAVE AN LHMP?
An LHMP will let Irvine better plan for future emergencies. Usually, after a disaster occurs, communities take steps to recover from the emergency and rebuild. An LHMP is a way for the City to better prepare in advance of these disasters, so when they do occur, less damage occurs and recovery is easier. Our community can use LHMP strategies to reduce instances of property damage, injury, and loss of life from disasters. Besides protecting public health and safety, this approach can save money. Studies estimate that every dollar spent on mitigation saves an average of four dollars on response and recovery costs. An LHMP can also help strengthen the mission of public safety officers, such as police and fire department staff, providing them with clear roles and responsibilities to build a safer community. Besides helping to protect Irvine, our LHMP will make the City eligible for grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that can be used to further improve safety and preparedness in the community. Having an adopted LHMP can also make Irvine eligible to receive more financial assistance from the State when disasters do occur.
WHAT IS IN OUR LHMP?
The City of Irvine LHMP includes four main sections: • A summary of the natural and human-caused hazards that pose a risk to our community. This will include descriptions of past disaster events and the chances of these disasters occurring in the future. • An assessment of the threat to Irvine, which will describe how our community is vulnerable to future disasters. The plan will look at the threat to important buildings and infrastructure, such as police and fire stations, hospitals, roads, and utility lines. It will also look at the threat to community members, particularly vulnerable populations. • A hazard mitigation strategy, which will lay out specific policy recommendations for Irvine to carry out over the next five years. These recommendations will help reduce the threat that our community faces from hazard events. • A section on maintaining the plan, which will help ensure that our LHMP is kept up-to-date. This will make it easier for us to continue to proactively protect ourselves, and will also keep the City eligible for additional funding.
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