Unit IV: Research Paper
Los Angeles Hazard Mitigation Plan
Introduction
Hazard mitigation encompasses actions tailored towards the alleviation of losses such as property damage, deaths, and injuries resulting from disasters. In alignment with the United States Disaster Management Act (DMA) and as stipulated in Title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations (44CFR), the Los Angeles city formed the Local Hazard Mitigation Plan that was adopted and approved in 2011 (City of Los Angeles, 2018). The plan was suited to assist the City to be prepared before hazards occurred through coordination of mitigation activities throughout Los Angeles. The program was also aimed to help the City in the continued reception of federal funding on disaster reduction through mitigation. Also, the local hazard mitigation plan was aimed at benefiting all the Los Angeles residents engaged in work, visiting the City, or residing within the City.
Completeness of the Plan in Identifying Hazards in LA
The LA Local Hazard Mitigation Plan provides an analysis of the past disasters that have affected the City for the last decades alongside their rating scores of occurrence. This provides insights on which risks are prevalent in the community to enable efficient mitigation (City of Los Angeles, 2018). More so, there have been constant updates on the plan since its adoption and approval in 2011. For instance, an update was conducted in 2018 and 2019, which incorporates new measures on disaster prevention as well as identifying new hazards that the face may face (City of Los Angeles, 2018). To prove its validity, the Los Angeles Hazard Mitigation Plan ensured the involvement of a steering committee and coordinated with other agencies such as the California Office of Emergency Services and the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Services for further guidelines and integration of resources. Also, the program covers the geographical and physical settings of LA, which allows oversight of possible inequities arising from these settings. For instance, it states that LA is located around floodplains and mountains, which increase its susceptibility to risks such as floods. Also, the flat basins around San Gabriel and Santa Monica act as flooding areas.
How Mitigation Activities from Various Sectors Support the Approach
Through coordination and integration of resources from various sectors, the Los Angeles Hazard Mitigation Plan has been successful in disaster control and management. For instance, the City of Los Angeles Floodplain Management Act of 2015 provides the City with an overview of means of flood risk reduction (City of Los Angeles, 2018). It also avails insights on ways of managing the urban drainage systems, dam failure, and the tsunami hazards upon their identification. More so, it helps the Local Flood Control District in preparing for further global climatic changes that may cause flooding. Additionally, the City Emergency Management Department plays a substantial role in ensuring the objectives of the plan are fully achieved. The department engages in the maintenance of a citywide planning and training exercise alongside coordinated efforts towards prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery from multiple hazards (City of Los Angeles, 2018). It also avails disaster awareness and the need for emergency preparedness information to the public. Likewise, the LA Department of Building and Safety is involved in the identification of mud-prone and landslide areas that are deemed disastrous regions to enable the public works personnel to clean up the debris that is often disastrous to communities. The department of Public Works, on the other hand, helps in the identification of areas that require maintenance of the flood control strategies. Cooperation between these sectors and many others has ensured the effective execution and achievement of the plan’s objectives.
The commitment of Los Angeles to Keep the Plan up-to-date
As stipulated by Title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations, hazard mitigation plans must be formed in a way that allows for evaluation, monitoring, and consistent updates depending on the environment and change of other factors. In line with this provision, Los Angeles County has maintained a routine update of its hazard mitigation plan since its enactment in 2011 (City of Los Angeles, 2018). For instance, the 2018 plan update saw the inclusion of new threats that were prevalent in the society, such as risks on critical infrastructure, high-occupancy building fires, terrorism, and cyberattacks that were not initially in the old plan. The update also constitutes a more simplified structure of the project with three primary sectors-planning process, risk assessment, and hazard prevention strategies (City of Los Angeles, 2018). Additionally, through the involvement of the steering committee and the entire public, LA has managed an update of the 2018 plan to an All-Hazards Mitigation Plan of 2019 (2019 AHMP). The new 2019 AHMP has further provided an inclusion of other factors that contribute to disaster prevention (County of Los Angeles, 2019). It incorporates other fields such as plan review, evaluation, and implementation and plan adoption (County of Los Angeles, 2019). These constant updates have allowed for flexibility and convenience of the plan to meet its objectives.
Improvements to the Plan and Role of Government and Private Sector in Risk Management
The LA hazard mitigation plan is a beautiful and generous technique to assist the county and its residents to prevent, prepare, and deal with various disasters. However, particular areas require modification to increase the efficacy of the plan. I believe the program may incorporate more mitigation strategies due to the constant fluctuations of various disasters. This will help cultivate a more resilient community. Also, it should expand its cooperation to further sectors such as the state bodies to advance its resources aimed at preventing disasters.
On the other hand, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is a collaborative role that calls for interaction between the private and public sectors for satisfactory outcomes to be realized and ensure that the objectives of the Disaster Management Act (DMA) have been achieved. In this light, the US government cooperates with the private sector, mainly for financing and ongoing resilience in development (Kousky & Kunreuther, 2018). This partnership assists in the coordination of resources in cases where challenges exist in terms of resources available. More so, the alliance ensures coordinated efforts towards preparedness and gives priority to recovery efforts as well (Kousky & Kunreuther, 2018). Further, the collaboration ensures a reduction in competition between the private and public sectors, which ensures the unification of resources towards a common goal. These two sectors provide financial resources to disaster-prone areas during response and recovery (Kousky & Kunreuther, 2018). Also, they are involved in developing plans and protocols for emergency response and resource-sharing. Additionally, they share critical information during the disaster management process as well as ensuring effective and efficient use of the available resources during an emergency response.
References
The City of Los Angeles. (2018). Local Hazard Mitigation Plan. Retrieved From. https://emergency.lacity.org/sites/g/files/wph496/f/2018
County of Los Angeles. (2019). All-Hazards Mitigation Plan. Retrieved From. http://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/lac/1062614
Kousky, C., & Kunreuther, H. (2018). Risk management roles of the public and private sectors. Risk Management and Insurance Review, 21(1), 181-204.