Please Note: Local PDM Plans are located in each of our member town's documents page. To access these pages use the "member towns" link in the toolbar to the left.
Hazard mitigation means any sustained action that reduces or eliminates long-term risk to people and property from future natural or human-caused hazards and their effects. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has come to recognize that it is less expensive (and certainly less heartbreaking) to prevent disasters than to repeatedly repair damage after a disaster has struck. This change in thinking has led FEMA to direct funding to communities for pre-disaster mitigation to address hazards before they strike. To be eligible for mitigation funds, towns must have a pre-disaster mitigation plan. Such a plan also enables towns to apply for limited grants from the State of Vermont and reduces local match requirements in some programs. Besides funding possibilities, pre-disaster mitigation planning is also a good, basic step in protecting citizens and their property.
TRORC has developed a Regional Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan, with local annexes developed in cooperation with each town, that will serve as both a town and regional level pre-disaster mitigation plan. Part of this plan is a vulnerability analysis that asks and answers three basic questions:
This has resulted in a hazard ranking at the regional scale (see Hazards Risk Matrix below), which serves as the initial ranking for our towns in general. Local annexes then adjust these risks for individual hazards if needed depending upon particular local circumstances.
A pre-disaster mitigation plan also puts forward mitigation activities. Examples of potential actions are: awareness campaigns about smoke detectors, improving local floodplain regulations, or upsizing culverts to better handle stormwater. Regional-level actions were developed by the Commission and any local actions by local officials with assistance from Commission staff. Please note that this document is currently in draft format.
TRORC has adopted a policy that mitigation actions should:
To find out more about mitigation planning, contact Kevin Geiger.