Officials tout state disaster plan
OLYMPIA – Washington has become the first state to earn federal approval of a sweeping, detailed guidebook for preventing and dealing with the devastation that natural disasters can bring.
From quakes and volcanos to wildfires and flooding, it’s all in a foot-thick “enhanced hazard mitigation plan” to guide communities.
Gov. Gary Locke and the Bush administration’s top Federal Emergency Management Agency representative in the region said it’s no surprise that Washington is the first to secure federal approval.
The state has been rocked by earthquakes as well as the massive May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens. Fires plague the region and floods devastate low-lying communities and farmland nearly every year. Tsunamis, windstorms, avalanches, drought, landslides and other potential natural disasters also are given prominent mention in the new plan.
The plan gives state and local communities a playbook for getting ready for disasters and finding ways to lower risks, Locke said.
“By doing so, we can help spare individuals and families the heartbreak of losing their homes, as well as injury and even death,” the governor said.
The proposal dovetails with an elaborate new anti-terrorism plan released in January, Locke said.
“The common ingredient is an enhanced level of communication and planning and coordination,” Locke told a news conference. “If we’re going to respond quickly, whether to a flood or an act of terrorism, you have to have good coordination and established protocols.”
FEMA regional chief John Pennington, a former House Republican leader from southwest Washington, said approval of the state plan is “a wonderful and remarkable achievement.” The state has always aggressively protected its people and property, he said.
The backdrop for their news conference was the state Capitol, where crews are at work on earthquake repairs, seismic retrofitting and remodeling of one of state’s most recognizable landmarks. The federal government is helping with the cost.
Many states are expected to submit a bare-bones plan by the Nov. 1 deadline, Pennington said. By gaining approval of a much more elaborate plan, one that fills two six-inch binders, the state becomes eligible for a more generous federal match for hazard mitigation projects after a disaster – up to 20 percent of the total cost, versus 7.5 percent for other states, he said.
Recent examples of such projects include moving homes in flood-prone lowlands in Skagit County, retrofitting the Seattle firehouse that houses the city’s Emergency Operations Center, and repairing and retrofitting a Lakewood child care center.
Locke also praised efforts to improve land use plans for flood plains and shorelines, develop a coastal radio warning system for tidal waves, and educate communities that are in wildfire-prone areas.
The new plan extends the state’s eligibility for federal aid for repairs to public facilities, such as water systems, fire stations and schools, that are damaged in floods, quakes or other disasters.
The state also will remain eligible for firefighting costs and for flood programs.
The plan was pulled together by the Military Department’s state Emergency Management Division, with 27 agencies offering advice, said Gen. Timothy Lowenberg, the state adjutant general and a national expert on homeland security.