City Seeks Comments on Northern Virginia Hazard Mitigation Plan Update

FROM THE CITY OF ALEXANDRIA: 

Alexandria’s Office of Emergency Management welcomes public comments on the draft Northern Virginia Hazard Mitigation Plan 2010 Update.  This plan addresses hazards and risks facing Northern Virginia jurisdictions, including the City of Alexandria, as well as planned hazard mitigation actions.  It is hoped that this plan will be a useful tool for all community stakeholders.  You can review and comment on the draft plan at http://alexandriava.gov/49926.

Hazard mitigation is sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and their property from hazards.  State and local governments are required to develop hazard mitigation plans as a condition for receiving certain types of non-emergency disaster assistance. Hazard mitigation plans form the foundation for a community's long-term strategy to reduce disaster losses and break the cycle of disaster damage, reconstruction, and repeated damage.  The planning process is as important as the plan itself.  It creates a framework for risk-based decision making to reduce damages to lives, property, and the economy from future disasters.