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Emergency Management Services of King County

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• Why mitigate hazards?
• Hazard Mitigation Information and Resources for Regional Partners
• Approved Hazard Mitigation Plan
• Public Review Process

In 2003, King County developed its first Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan (RHMP) in partnership with participating cities, school districts, utility districts and emergency service providers. Approximately 29 jurisdictions participated in the creation of the initial document. This plan was submitted to Washington State Emergency Management in January 2004, before being reviewed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) who approved it on June 8, 2004. This effort was one of the steps in creating a community more resilient to natural, technological and societal hazard events and disasters. Several new agencies have submitted annexes and had them approved by FEMA.  Subsequent local adoption of those annexes brings the total number of signatory agencies to 36.  Five additional are in the process of completing their annex submissions.  We expect plan revisions and new jurisdictions to be added periodically over time.

This on-going process involves four basic steps:

Step 1:  Coordinating a countywide planning process that promotes participation from a wide variety of organizations, disciplines and representatives of the community.

Step 2:  Identifying the hazards that can occur in our region and analyze the impact and our vulnerability to these events.

Step 3:  Developing a local mitigation strategy we can use to build upon and establish priorities and activities to reduce our vulnerability to the impact of hazards.

Step 4:  Seizing opportunities to carry out mitigation strategies and activities that benefit participating agencies and the region.

Mitigation grant programs application windows now open - NEW - November, 2007

FEMA recently published its FY2008 program guidance and opened the application windows for Pre-Disaster Mitigation, Flood Mitigation Assistance, and Repetitive Flood Claims mitigation grant programs. Only those agencies with FEMA approved and governing body adopted hazard mitigtion plans or annexs may apply.

For an overview of the program see the following documents:

• Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program Overview (PDF, 272K)
• Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) Program Overview (PDF, 109K)
• Repetative Flood Claims (RFC) Program Overview (PDF, 131K)

For more information on these programs, contact Program Manager Rich Tokarzewski, 206-205-4066.

Contact information:
 

		Web	www.metrokc.gov/prepare/programs/hazmit.aspx
		Call	206-296-3830
		Toll Free	1-800-523-5044
		TTY	206-205-7516
		Fax	206-205-4056
		E-mail	ecc.kc@kingcounty.gov
		Address	King County Office of Emergency Management
			Program Manager: Rich Tokarzewski
			Renton, Washington
			Office hours: 8:00 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.