Plan for Hazards - Hazard Mitigation - NYCEM

Emergency Management


Make Your PlanCommunity PlanFor BusinessesPlan for Hazards

Building Collapses & Explosions
Carbon Monoxide
Coastal Storms & Hurricanes
Cybersecurity
Disease Outbreaks & Biological Emergencies
Earthquakes
Extreme Heat
Fire
Flooding
HazMats, Chemical Spills & Radiation
High Winds
Terrorism
Thunderstorms & Lightning
Tornadoes
Utility Disruptions
Winter Weather
Hazard Mitigation

Building Collapses & Explosions

Carbon Monoxide

Coastal Storms & Hurricanes

Cybersecurity

Disease Outbreaks & Biological Emergencies

Earthquakes

Extreme Heat

Fire

Flooding

HazMats, Chemical Spills & Radiation

High Winds

Terrorism

Thunderstorms & Lightning

Tornadoes

Utility Disruptions

Winter Weather

Hazard Mitigation


Hazard Mitigation

Hazard mitigation is any cost-effective and sustained action taken to reduce the long-term risk to human life, property, and infrastructure from hazards.

While mitigation activities can and should be taken before a disaster occurs, hazard mitigation is essential. Often after disasters, repairs and reconstruction are completed in such a way as to simply restore damaged property to pre-disaster conditions. The implementation of such hazard mitigation actions leads to building stronger, safer and smarter.

What is the disaster cycle? How does hazard mitigation fit?

Hazard mitigation is the first step in the disaster cycle and is followed by preparedness, response, and recovery. Although it is often overlooked, hazard mitigation is an important step: it focuses on risk reduction to break this expensive cycle of repetitive loss. This is changing. New York City has fundamentally shifted towards mitigation, the critical step that can break this cycle and reduce losses after a disaster. It is estimated that for every $1 dollar invested in hazard mitigation, an average of $6 is saved in the long-term.

Contact the Hazard Mitigation Team

Hazard Mitigation Plan

Expand All Collapse All

What is NYC's Hazard Mitigation Plan?

New York City's Hazard Mitigation Plan identifies the hazards that pose a risk to the city and actions City agencies are taking to reduce the impacts of these hazards.

To be eligible for FEMA post-disaster mitigation funding, including Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding, hazard mitigation plans must be updated every five years. In March 2009, NYC Emergency Management completed the first New York City Hazard Mitigation Plan to help make the city more resilient to hazards. Five years later, NYC Emergency Management partnered with the Department of City Planning and the he Mayor's Office of Resiliency to create the 2014 NYC Hazard Mitigation Plan update. Following the adoption of the 2014 HMP, NYC Emergency Management released annual updates in 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Click on the following links to view previous plans and updates:

View the 2009 plan

View the 2014 plan

View the annual update for the HMP (2015)

View the annual update for the HMP (2016)

View the annual update for the HMP (2017)

In 2019, NYC Emergency Management released the five-year hazard mitigation plan update as a website. New York City is the first City in the region to create a web-based FEMA-mandated hazard mitigation plan, which represents the City's plan for assessing hazards that pose a risk to its people and infrastructure, and strategies for reducing the impacts of emergency events.

The website includes:

Key features of the city's environment that makes it vulnerable to hazards

Risk assessments for nine hazards discussing probability, location, and historic events

Best practices and specific City-led strategies for managing risks associated with each of these hazards

What hazards are included in the plan?

Hazards included in the plan are: coastal erosion, coastal storms, disease outbreaks, drought, earthquakes, extreme temperatures, flooding, thunderstorms, tornadoes, windstorms, wildfire, winter storms, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN), cyber threats, and infrastructure failures.

What is New York City doing to make it more resilient to hazards?

Part of the plan development process includes identifying what initiatives — mitigation actions — the City is taking (existing) or could take (potential) to minimize the effects of a significant event on New York City's population, economy, property, building stock, and infrastructure.

The comprehensive list of mitigation actions and interactive mitigation strategy map can be found under the all hazards tab, titled mitigation strategy.

Is a hazard mitigation plan required by law?

Yes.

The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act) was signed into law in 1988 and provides the authority for federal disaster assistance activities, including preparedness and mitigation along with assistance for response and recovery.

The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000) amended the Stafford Act to reinforce the importance mitigation planning and emphasize planning for disasters before they occur. DMA 2000 established provisions and requirements for state, local, and Indian Tribal entities to closely coordinate mitigation planning and implementation efforts. States and communities must have an approved Hazard Mitigation Plan to be eligible to apply for and receive FEMA hazard mitigation funds.

NYC's Risk Landscape: A Guide to Hazard Mitigation

The NYC's Risk Landscape: A Guide to Hazard Mitigation is based on the 2019 Hazard Mitigation Plan website and focuses on the hazards that pose a risk to New York City and includes information on how the City approaches risk management in a user-friendly and accessible format.

Download the full guide, or view one of the documents listed below. (A high-resolution PDF is also available.)

Record Rain in NYC: The Impacts of Post-Tropical Cyclone Ida - Damage report

The Record Rain in NYC report is the culmination of storm impact analyses conducted following Post-Tropical Cyclone Ida (PTC Ida), created by combining many disparate datasets of damage indicators that were collected the days, weeks, and months following the event. NYC Emergency Management's Resiliency and Recovery Planning Unit aims to use this analysis to better understand the city’s risk to inland flooding, to inform mitigation investments and recovery capabilities, and better protectNew Yorkers from future flood events.

Ready New York: Reduce Your Risk guide

Learn how to protect your property from hazards with the Ready New York: Reduce Your Risk guide.
Learn more

Interim Flood Protection Measures (IFPM) Program

The Interim Flood Protection Measures program is designed to protect critical facilities, infrastructure, and low-lying areas in New York City from flooding caused by a hurricane.
Learn more

More Resources

2019 NYC Hazard Mitigation

NYC Sandy Recovery

The Mayor's Office of Sustainability and the Mayor's Office of Recovery and Resiliency

A Stronger, More Resilient New York (in PDF)

NYC Department of City Planning (DCP) Resiliency Initiatives

NYC Department of Environmental Climate Resiliency Initiatives

Read the City's Stormwater Resiliency Plan (in PDF)

New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (NYS DHSES) Mitigation