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Last modified
February 2006
 
  AHMP Overview
 
The Middle Peninsula All-Hazard Mitigation Plan will address a wide range of hazards facing the region, with emphasis on natural hazards such as floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, winter storms and drought, and interruption of communications and utility outages often associated with these events.
By developing our plan as a region and working together on common hazards, risks and solutions, the proposed planning process will eliminate the need for each local jurisdiction to devise its own approach. The planning effort will result in valuable techniques that will enable the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to better understand the vulnerability of our area and evaluate future hazard mitigation projects and policies.
The initiative is made possible through funding from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.
 
  Governing Legislation
 
Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000
The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, also known as “The 2000 Stafford Act Amendments,” was approved by Congress and signed into law (Public Law 106-390) by the President in October 2000. The DMA 2000 is one component of the Federal government’s attempt to reduce the rising cost of disasters.
The Act emphasizes the importance of mitigation planning and planning for disasters before they occur. It also establishes a pre-disaster hazard mitigation program and new requirements for the national post-disaster Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP).
DMA 2000 encourages and rewards local and state pre-disaster planning and promotes sustainability as a strategy for disaster resistance.
Section 322: Mitigation Planning
Section 322 of the DMA 2000 specifically addresses mitigation planning at the state and local levels by:
Requiring local governments to develop and submit mitigation plans to qualify for the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) project funds
Increasing the amount of HMGP funds available to states meeting enhanced planning criteria
Allowing HMGP funds to be used for planning activities.
Interim Final Rule
As part of the process of implementing the DMA 2000, FEMA prepared an Interim Final Rule (the Rule) to clearly establish the mitigation planning criteria for States and local communities. This Rule was published in the Federal Register on February 26, 2002, at 44 CFR Part 201.
Local mitigation planning requirements are found in Part 201 of the Rule, Section 201.6, which includes an introductory paragraph that describes the local mitigation plan as:
  “the jurisdiction’s commitment to reduce risk from natural hazards, serving as a guide for decision makers as they commit resources to reducing the effects of natural hazards.”
The Rule refers only to natural hazards because the DMA 2000 only addresses natural hazards. This is why the Middle Peninsula All-Hazard Mitigation Plan will emphasize natural hazards.
Following the introduction, section 201.6 is divided into four topics:
Plan requirement: For disasters declared after November 1, 2003, a local government must have a mitigation plan approved by FEMA in order to receive HMGP project grants and other forms of non-emergency disaster assistance.
Planning process: Describes the requirements for a planning process that involves all concerned parties.
Plan content: Describes what must be included in each required component including documentation of planning process, risk assessment, mitigation strategy, plan maintenance process and documentation of plan adoption.
Plan review: Describes the process for initial State review and final FEMA review.
State and Local Plan Criteria
To further help States and local governments meet the new DMA 2000 planning requirements, FEMA has prepared the Multi-Hazard Mitigation Planning Guidance Under the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (links posted below).
This guidance document was prepared with two major objectives in mind:
To help Federal and State reviewers evaluate mitigation plans from different jurisdictions in a fair and consistent manner; and
To help States and local jurisdictions develop new mitigation plans or modify existing ones in accordance with the criteria of Section 322.
FEMA's Multihazard Mitigation Guidance Document:
  introduction, TOC Part 1 (140K)   Local Mitigation Plans

Part 4 (422K)

  
Standard State Plans Part 2 (495K) Plan Review Guidance Part 5
(15K)
Enhanced State Plans Part 3 (136K) Plan Review Guidance Worksheets Part 6 (307K)
 
 
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