Bergen's Multi-Jurisdictional
Local Hazard Mitigation
Plan
The Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) in accordance with the Disaster Mitigation
Act of 2000 (44 CFR parts 201 & 206) mandated that all jurisdictions
(municipalities and counties) develop comprehensive natural hazard mitigation
plans by November 01, 2003. Jurisdictions that completed a plan are
eligible for Hazard Mitigation Grant funding following a Presidential
declared disaster.
The mitigation
plan identifies risk and hazards in communities and strategies to lessen
the impact of them. Mitigation activities are those that protect life
and property and lessen funding for repetitive losses during a disaster.
BCOEM (Bergen County Office of Emergency Management) proposed to FEMA
and NJOEM (New Jersey Office of Emergency Management) that a County-wide
plan for Bergen (rather than 70 individual plans). The municipalities
agreed and other counties adopted this format.
The New Jersey
Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) volunteered to develop the plan for Bergen
and its municipalities. NJMC had the technical expertise to compile
a meaningful mitigation plan. On November 7th, 2008 FEMA approved the
Bergen County Multi-Jurisdictional Local Hazard Mitigation Plan. The
plan is due for re-certification in 2013 and allows for the County and
all 70 municipalities to be eligible to apply for the following grant
programs:
-
Hazard Mitigation
Grant Program (HMGP)F
-
Flood Mitigation
Assistance (FMA)
-
Pre-Disaster
Mitigation (PDM)
-
Severe repetitive
Loss (SRL)
The completion
of this critical project for Bergen would not have been possible if
not for the dedication and commitment of the personnel from the New
Jersey Meadowlands Commission.
To download a
copy of Bergen's approved Multi-Jurisdictional Local Hazard Mitigation
Plan (349 pages) please
click here
For more information
on FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, please
click here