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Anoka County 2019 Multi-Jurisdictional All Hazards Mitigation Plan 1 0BSECTION 1: PLAN INTRODUCTION This section provides a general introduction to the Anoka County Multi-Jurisdictional All Hazards Mitigation Plan. It consists of the following: • Overview • Emergency Management Background • Hazard Mitigation Legislative Background • Plan Purpose • Plan Scope • Plan Authority • Plan Outline 7B1.1 Overview Anoka County has and may in the future experience a variety of natural and manmade hazards that cause loss of life and damage to property. Anoka County Emergency Management has prepared a countywide hazard mitigation plan that re-shapes Anoka County and local communities into a more resilient framework, enabling it to recover more quickly and easily from disasters. Using this plan, Anoka County and the local jurisdictions will decrease the community’s vulnerability to disasters and enhance response to disasters and public threats. The plan provides a framework on which to base comprehensive mitigation of hazards for all Anoka County political jurisdictions. Risk management tools were used to prioritize and identify vulnerabilities to hazards. The overall hazard analysis determines which areas of the community are affected by hazards, how likely it is that a disaster may occur, and what impact a disaster might have. By assessing the vulnerability countywide, it can be determined which government and private facilities are at risk and to what degree they may be impacted. Natural and manmade hazards pose a threat to every citizen and community within Anoka County on some level and frequency. Often, the reality of potential hazards to a community are not fully understood or realized until a major disaster occurs. It is then that a community experiences the extreme hardship of significant human and economic losses. The process of all-hazard mitigation planning is the first step toward protecting a community from losses associated with hazards and resulting disasters. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regarding hazard mitigation planning provides the following definitions: • Hazard mitigation - Any sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate the long- term risk to human life and property from hazards. • Planning - The act or process of making or carrying out plans, specifically, the establishment of goals, policies, and procedures for a social or economic unit. The process of hazard mitigation planning is a critical part of any community’s planning program. Because most hazards occur infrequently, mitigation programs for hazards are usually initiated and funded as a reaction to recover from the most recent disaster event. This form of hazard mitigation response is typically costlier, both in property and human losses, on a long- term basis, than is pre-disaster planning and mitigation.