Help with the Piedmont Hazard Mitigation Plan
Get involved! Public participation is needed.
HELP PIEDMONT BE HAZARD-READY!
A Local Hazard Mitigation Plan is currently being developed by the City of Piedmont.
Fires, drought, earthquakes, and severe weather are just a few of the hazards to be addressed in the plan.
While hazards such as these cannot be prevented, a Hazard Mitigation Plan forms the foundation for a community’s long-term strategy to reduce disaster losses by breaking the repeated cycle of disaster damage and reconstruction. Additionally, only communities with a FEMA-approved Hazard Mitigation Plan are eligible to apply for both pre- and post-disaster mitigation grant funding.
Nationwide, taxpayers pay billions of dollars annually helping communities, organizations, businesses, and individuals recover from disaster. Some disasters are predictable and, in many cases, much of the damage can be reduced or even eliminated through hazard mitigation planning.
The people most aware of potential hazards are the people that live and work in the affected community. In addition to plan participation by local, state and federal agencies, the community is seeking all interested community members to hear more about our Local Hazard Mitigation Planning project. The City encourages attendance and participation from the general public at an upcoming public meeting:
Thursday, December 6, 2018
Public Meeting: 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Piedmont Community Hall
711 Highland Avenue
Piedmont, CA 94611For additional information, please contact Chris Yeager at (510) 420-3067 or email at CYeager@piedmont.ca.gov.
Of the three hazards – earthquake, wildfire, flooding- earthquake has the highest probability of causing community-wide impact. That hazard tough to mitigate against. Since the community response to earthquake is “shelter in place” the city should focus on securing key infrastructure like water and utility lines and communication channels. The fires and floods are horrific but highest hazard risk in Piedmont is earthquake.
Piedmont residents should be encouraged to retrofit homes. Waive permit fee, require inspection. Those who have retrofitted without permit should be forgiven permit fee/fines, require inspection and be signed off.
Retrofit is the most basic mitigation for our most probable disaster event.