IUP Creating Disaster Resistance Plan

February 22, 2007


For more information or to volunteer to participate in the plan development, contact Bill Montgomery, IUP Director of Public Safety, at 724-357-2141.

Across the United States, natural and human-caused disasters have led to increasing levels of death, injuries, property damage, and interruption of business and government services.

In order to mitigate the effects of disasters, IUP's Disaster-Resistant University Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee is preparing a Hazard Mitigation Plan. This project will not only guide the university toward greater disaster resistance, but is part of on-going efforts to create a more sustainable university community.

To qualify for federal aid for technical assistance and post-disaster funding, the university must comply with the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA) and its implementing regulations of 2002.

The university’s Hazard Mitigation Plan will be prepared to meet Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requirements, so that IUP will be eligible for funding and technical assistance from state and federal hazard mitigation programs.

Hazard mitigation is a phrase that describes actions taken to prevent of reduce the long-term risks to life and property from hazards. Pre-disaster mitigation actions are taken in advance of a hazard event and are essential to breaking the typical disaster cycle of damage, reconstruction, and repeated damage. With careful selection, mitigation actions can be long-term, cost-effective means of reducing the risk of loss.

The hazard mitigation planning process consists of public involvement through a series of meetings; identification of hazards that could affect the university; assessment of the university’s vulnerability to these hazards in terms of the number of structures and people affected; identification of mitigation actions that can reduce the risk from these hazards; and development of an implementation strategy identifying roles and responsibilities.



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