Deschutes Co. seeks input on natural hazards plan update
Deschutes County is the process of updating its Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan, and a draft is being made available for public review and comment.
This work is being performed in cooperation with the University of Oregon’s Community Service Center – Oregon Partnership for Disaster Resilience and the Oregon Military Department’s Office of Emergency Management utilizing funds obtained from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program.
With re-adoption of the plan, Deschutes County will maintain its eligibility to apply for federal funding towards natural hazard mitigation projects.
This local planning process includes a wide range of representatives from city and county government, emergency management personnel, non-governmental organizations and outreach to members of the public in the form of an electronic survey. This NHMP also affects the cities of Bend, La Pine, Redmond, and Sisters.
A natural hazards mitigation plan provides communities with a set of goals, action items, and resources designed to reduce risk from future natural disaster events. Engaging in mitigation activities provides jurisdictions with a number of benefits, including reduced loss of life, property, essential services, critical facilities, and economic hardship; reduced short-term and long-term recovery and reconstruction costs; increased cooperation and communication within the community through the planning process; and increased potential for state and federal funding for recovery and reconstruction projects.
An electronic version of the updated draft Deschutes County NHMP will be available for formal public comment beginning Friday. To view the draft, please visit
http://csc.uoregon.edu/opdr/deschutes.
If you have any questions regarding the Deschutes County NHMP or the update process in general, please contact: Nathan Garibay, Deschutes County Emergency Services Manager at (541) 617-3303 or Nathan.Garibay@deschutes.org; or Michael Howard, Project Specialist for the Oregon Partnership for Disaster Resilience at (541) 346-8413 or mrhoward@uoregon.edu.
