| HOUSTON – As part of the adoption process, the City of Houston Office of Emergency Management has published the Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP) for public view. This plan, which is updated every five years, is essential to the City’s eligibility for non-disaster-related federal funding. As part of the plan’s update process, Houston OEM conducted extensive engagement.
The HMP aims to identify the City’s major hazard risks, assess Houston’s vulnerability to those hazards, and identify actions to reduce vulnerability, mitigating the human risk and reducing the cost of recovering from a natural disaster. Mitigation efforts are most effective when they are based on a comprehensive, long-term HMP.
«We didn’t want to simply check the box to ensure compliance. Instead, we visited several of the city’s Complete Communities, where many of the most vulnerable people are constantly caught in the cycle of disaster response and recovery,» said Thomas Muñoz, Deputy Director for the Mayor’s Office of Homeland Security and Public Safety and Emergency Management Coordinator. «This was a collaborative effort across many City departments to ensure that everyone had equal opportunity to have input in the plan.»
Houston OEM attended and participated in meetings across the City, including in Acres Homes, Magnolia Park, Sunnyside, Near Northside, and Gulfton, presenting the information in multiple languages. In addition to the work with City departments, there was also input from several local consulates, and more than 500 people took the Hazard Mitigation public survey.
A public version of the Hazard Mitigation Plan, which does not include sensitive information, can be found here. |
