The purpose of the Climate Adaptation and Hazard Mitigation Plan (Plan) is to help Alameda adapt to climate change, reduce the impact of future disasters on our community and help us recovery more quickly when disasters do occur.
We recognize that some members of the community will be more significantly impacted by natural disasters and may have a more difficult time recovering than others due to lack of stable housing, financial resources, and by zoning laws that have disproportionately forced people of color into areas of the city more vulnerable to natural hazards. The goal of this plan is to identify and mitigate those needs to reduce the impact of future disasters on all Alameda residents and speed recovery when disasters do occur.
The City of Alameda Climate Adaptation and Hazard Mitigation Plan:
- Meets the requirements of federal assistance grant programs, including FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) and Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) funding.
- Works in conjunction with other plans, including the City’s Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP), General Plan and the City’s Emergency Management Plan.
- Establishes a basis for coordination and collaboration among community entities such as private and public agencies, key stakeholders, and residents to provide for the fullest amount of transparency.
- Identifies and prioritizes future adaptation and hazard mitigation projects.
The plan addresses natural and climate induced hazards that impact the City of Alameda. A hazard is an event or physical condition that has the potential to cause fatalities, injuries, property damage, infrastructure damage, damage to the environment, interruption of business, or other types of harm or loss. Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation refers to the actions taken reduce or eliminate long term risk to human life and property from natural and climate change-induced hazards and their effects.
The Climate Adaptation and Hazard Mitigation Plan is different from an emergency management for response plan which prepares the City to respond when a disaster occurs, and may include such actions as providing emergency response, equipment, food, shelter, and medicine. However, adaptation and hazard mitigation planning supports emergency response planning by minimizing the loss of life and property resulting from natural disasters and helps the city adapt over time to changing conditions.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requires local governments to update their Local Hazard Mitigation Plan every five years. This plan updates both Alameda's 2016 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan and the adaptation chapter of the 2019 Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP).