Local governments must be prepared for the damage a natural or manmade disaster can cause when one happens in their communities.
And although no one likes to think about these sorts of things happening, they can and do, which makes Catawba County's current efforts to develop a hazard mitigation plan an important process for all residents to take part in.
A hazard mitigation plan forms the foundation for a community's long-term strategy to reduce disaster losses and break the cycle of disaster damage, reconstruction and repeated damage. The planning process is as important as the plan itself. It creates a framework for risk-based decision making to reduce damages to lives, property and the economy from future disasters.
This is why all county residents have a stake in the plan. It can help officials make better decisions when a disaster strikes, which can save property and lives. Hazard mitigation is sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and their property from hazards.
Local governments are required to develop a hazard mitigation plan as a condition for receiving certain types of non-emergency disaster assistance from the federal government. The county's current plan expires next year.
Catawba County's second community meeting on its multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan is 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Agricultural Resources Center. We urge residents to attend the meeting and let county officials know what the plan should contain.
After the first meeting in May, county officials drafted a plan and now need the public's assistance in refining it. The goal is to update the county's current plan, created in 2004, to prepare for future emergencies and reduce their affect. The plan covers the municipalities of Claremont, Conover, Hickory, Newton, Brookford, Catawba, Long View and Maiden.
Its purpose is to identify and assess the natural hazards and risks that exist in the county, such as wrecks on Interstate 40, floods, winter storms, tornadoes and wildfires, and determine how to best minimize or manage those risks.
This may not sound important today when there is no threat of a natural disaster here, but what happens tomorrow or the next day may dictate the need for a solid plan in Catawba County, just in case.
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