Emergency Planning: Hazard Mitigation Response Paper

I’m trying to study for my Environmental Science course and I need some help to understand this question.

Emergency Planning: Hazard Mitigation
Response Paper Instructions

Note: This is a two part assignment with
requested modifications after professor’s approval, comments and critiques. Price is for completion of both assignments.

Must us “Hazard Mitigation Template” for this assignment
(see attachment).

This assignment is intended to
grasp your insight into the numerous potential and man-made disasters for which
emergency planners must be prepared to deal. Emergency management is a quickly
evolving profession with many opportunities for individuals who wish to pursue
it as a career. This exercise will offer insights into the scope and
responsibilities of individuals in the profession. 

You will be provided a “Hazard
Mitigation Template” (see above), from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management
Agency. You will be asked to complete the five exercises in the worksheet for
your community, or a community of your choice, as the focus for the mitigation
study. This exercise requires a deal of research and analysis on their part.
After doing the research required to complete each of the five sections of
the worksheet, you must also final report which thoroughly examines the risks,
preparedness, and response capabilities of the
community. 

Assignment Part 1:  Due 10 March, you will develop an outline and a course
of action for the exercise.  After instructor approval and comments, then you
may continue with final report.  

Assignment Part
2:  For the final report, due 25 March, you should also include suggestions on
how to mitigate the risks and improve response capabilities. You may also
include relevant charts, graphs, and other illustrations to support, supplement
and/or clarify. 

Thorough data collection for this
exercise requires time. You should start data collection immediately in order to
have enough time to collect, synthesize and report on the
data. 

Some possible resources for data
include: 

• Emergency management web sites of the community the students have selected. 
• Police and fire websites. 
• Their local emergency management department. Often communities of size have
  an emergency management department. In smaller communities it is often the fire
  chief who is the designated emergency manager. 
• The community’s Streets Department or Traffic Engineering Department. 
• Local utility companies. 
• Other internet sources. 

Outside readings for this
project include: 

• The Hazard Mitigation Planning Template itself is a great source of
  information. 
• The Hazard Mitigation Planning Tools and Techniques Guide, (see attachment).
• The community’s planning department. 
• The community’s budget department. 

You must remember when doing the
exercise to also consider surrounding communities because their disasters can
also affect your community and become your responsibility. Consider industrial
manufacturing using toxic substances, military bases, large scale utility sites,
etc. that may be close by. This exercise is a chance for you to develop a
mitigation plan for the community you have chosen. 

View this exercise as if you are
the newly appointed emergency manager of the community. Prepare a written report
to the governmental entity to which you are accountable, i.e. city council,
county board of supervisors, or other legislative bodies. Prepare a thorough
report to provide to them as part of your first meeting with this group. The
report should be thorough, professional, and audience appropriate. The report
can also include charts, graphs, and other illustrations for
clarification. 

The final document must comply with
the writing guidelines established for this course. It will be a minimum of
seven (7) pages, not including the cover and reference pages. A thorough
exercise, particularly one including charts and graphs, will exceed this minimum
by several pages. The students must include in-text citations indicating where
they obtained data and information. Also they must remember to support their
findings and recommendations with references from relevant
sources. 

Hazard Mitigation Plan
Outline

1.
Introduction 

• The community’s disaster history. 
• What is mitigation and why is a mitigation plan necessary? 
• How was the plan prepared? 
• How did you obtain your information? 
• The goals and objectives of the mitigation plan? 

2. Community and Hazard Exposure
Profile (part 2 of the template) 

• Community population 
• Miles of roads 
• Airports 
• Manufacturing plants 
• Military bases 
• Hospitals 
• Dams 
• Schools 
• Etc. 

3. List of possible community
hazards (part 1 of the template). For each hazard discuss: 

• Hazard description 
• impact on property 
• Impact on safety and health 
• Any other community considerations 

4. Hazard Vulnerability analysis
and frequency chart (part 3 of the template) 

• Explanation of a hazard vulnerability analysis 
• Your chart or list matrix 

5. Your community’s capability
assessment (part 4 of the worksheet) 

• Community response capabilities 
• Description of local law enforcement response capabilities (size,
  capability, etc.) 
• Description of local fire agencies and response capabilities 
• EMS capabilities, ambulance services, hospitals, etc. 
• Physical resources 
• Technical resources (example: early warning systems) 
• Information resources (radio, TV, etc.) 
• Financial resources (emergency funds in the community, grants, state funds,
  etc.) 

6. Recommended Mitigation Measures
(part 5 of the template). For each measure include information such
as: 

• Description 
• Objectives supported 
• Who is responsible 
• When must it be done 
• Who can help 
• Budget 

7. Conclusion 

• Their overall assessment of response capabilities 
• Their recommendations for implementing priority mitigation projects for the
  community 
• Their overall assessment of the community’s vulnerability and response
  capabilities 

8. Any additional charts, graphs,
illustrations, etc. 

• They may include charts, graphs, and illustrations in the mitigation plan
  itself to assist with clarification and explanation. They must remember to
  include source citations if they copied items and/or for the information
  provided in the item if they created the chart or graph. 

9. Cover page and reference
page 

• The cover page and reference page must be included. Remember these pages are
  not to be counted as part of the seven (7) page minimum.